Code and Bootstrapping

Code and Bootstrapping

By Alchemist CampBusinessTechnology
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Code and Bootstrapping episodes

  • S1E9 - Bootstrapping and selling Feedback Panda with Arvid Kahl

    Arvid and his partner Danielle just sold their company, Feedback Panda, after scaling it to a $55k MRR in just under two years. The product is aimed at online English teachers serving the Chinese market, but they were working from Germany.

    We talked a bit about how he evaluated the market opportunity in online English teacher pains Danielle identified. I also asked Arvid how he thought about how much and where to invest engineering efforts, the pros and cons of open metrics for startups, book recommendations and more.

    I was definitely in this conversation to learn as much as possible to apply to my own bootstrapping efforts!

    Arvid on Twitter: https://twitter.com/arvidkahl

    Feedback Panda's acquisition announcement on IH: https://www.indiehackers.com/product/feedbackpanda

    Also mentioned:

    - Microconf

    Books:

    - The Membership Economy
    - Built to Sell
    - The 4-Hour Workweek

    Transcripts posted at Alchemist.Camp/podcasts

    Leave reviews on iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/code-and-bootstrapping/id1448157275

    52 min
  • S1E8 - Tactics of a prolific builder with Mubs
    Episode Notes

    Mubashar Iqbal is a multi-time Product Hunt maker of the year. At the time of this recording, he's released 67 products and most have 100+ upvotes! I asked him about he ships so quickly.

    Mubs on Twitter: https://twitter.com/mubashariqbal

    His latest project: https://podhunt.app

    Recorded for the Code and Bootstrapping podcast

    Check out our podcasting host, Pinecast. Start your own podcast for free, no credit card required, forever. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-bbb60e for 40% off for 4 months, and support Code and Bootstrapping.

    24 min
  • S1E7 - Julien of EatTheBlocks
    Episode Notes

    I sat down for a chat with my friend, Julien and asked him about his story of moving from the finance industry into tech, why he did it and how he goes about jumping into a new tech stack.

    Recorded for the Code and Bootstrapping podcast:

    Find Julien at EatTheBlocks

    Related: Engines vs Power-ups: learning skills with a shelf life

    Full transcript: https://alchemist.camp/code-bootstrapping/julien-eat-the-blocks

    Check out our podcasting host, Pinecast. Start your own podcast for free, no credit card required, forever. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-bbb60e for 40% off for 4 months, and support Code and Bootstrapping.

    20 min
  • S1E6 - Using Heatmaps and Surveys
    Episode Notes

    In this episode Mark talks about how heatmaps and surveys were useful in the very early days of Alchemist Camp, how he used them and a common pitfall when taking surveys.

    Links

    Companion screencast: Using heatmaps and surveys to drive content production

    The heatmap and survey tools I used: Hotjar
    The Markdown to HTML converter I used: Dillinger.io

    10 min
  • S1E5 - Rise to the level of confusion
    Episode Notes

    In this episode, Mark talks about feeling confused as a developer, why the feeling continues despite gaining technical skills and why a lack of confusion could be a bad sign.

    Links

    From Nand to Tetris

    Also see the previous episode on Automation

    5 min
  • S1E4 - Scalability Arrogance
    Episode Notes

    In this episode, Mark talks about common scalability concerns and why they're not generally a good thing for an early stage boot-strapper or even most funded startups to worry about.

    Links

    Firebase Costs Increased by 7,000%!

    Twitter crashes hard, Internet freaks out

    Twitter can't kill the Fail Whale

    Crash Shuts Down Ebay for Much of the Day

    18 min
  • S1E3 - Automation
    Episode Notes

    In this episode, Mark talks about automation, where Unix luminaries saw its rise and where it's still undervalued, decades later.

    See: The Practice of Programming

    11 min
  • S1E2 - Frugality
    Episode Notes

    In this episode, Mark talks about the single largest reason Alchemist Camp has worked—frugality.

    Leaving the San Francisco / Silicon Valley area to be a digital nomad and drastically cut rent, using open source and very inexpensive equipment and spending under $10/month total for a revenue-generating site... it was about as lean an operation as it gets.

    13 min
  • S1E1 - An experiment
    Episode Notes

    Alchemist.Camp has been running for a year and it's time for a new experiment.

    In this episode, Mark gives a brief introduction and shares his motivations and plans for this podcast.

    6 min

About Code and Bootstrapping

From the publisher's feed

I'm Mark and I've long had a love of both business and programming. I've run two moderately successful brick and mortar businesses, a failed tech startup and now a lifestyle business.