MicroConf On Air

SEO is a numbers game. High value keywords can be identified and pages can be optimized to grow in the ranks, but once you have a gold standard asset set for a keyword, you may be able to take that work you put into that optimization and multiply the effects by using programmatic SEO.

Nico will cover how he has built an SEO machine using no-code, how to hone in on a replicable keyword, and what mechanics you need to rank for as many variations under that keyword to own its multiplying effect. Get the Slides

Join the State of Independent SaaS Live Stream where we present the results of the 2022 report. We'll be broadcast live from MicroConf Growth in Minneapolis on Monday, April 4th at 10:15 AM! Register at stateofindiesaas.com and use the promo code: SOIS2022 to register for free!

If you are looking to start selling to customers and earning money on the internet - building a SaaS is rarely going to be the best way to get started. The Stair step Approach to Bootstrapping (microconf.com/stairstep) is a method that Rob Walling charted out in 2015 and it has helped thousands of entrepreneurs slowly build their chops online, find a way to buy back their time from an employer, and build a business that creates financial independence.

In today’s episode of MicroConf On Air, we’re going to take a look a prime example of the Stairstep Approach in Action by talking to Corey Haines (@CoreyHainesco https://twitter.com/coreyhainesco), who is currently leading Swipefiles (https://www.swipefiles.com/), a community focused on growth marketing strategies.

We’ll chat about Corey’s journey up the stair step method, from his two courses, content marketing as a funnel, community building to find his audience, and finally, his focus on SaaS marketing and increasing his prices to get to a position that has him Default Alive and building on the success of SwipeFiles.

Learn more about the stairstep approach straight from the source.

https://microconf.com/latest/the-stairstep-approach-to-bootstrapping

In this episode, you'll hear the following:

Corey's First Step: (9:20)

What SaaS ideas Cory would avoid (13:00)

How Corey acquired his marketing skills (16:45)

Advice for marketing to customers who aren't that active online (21:50)

Corey's Next Steps (29:05)

Advice for absolute SaaS beginners (40:00)

Leapfrogging early stair steps (41:30)

Advice to consultancy owner on starting the stairsteps (44:40)

Advice on translating websites (49:00)

Book mentioned in the show:

The Ultimate Sales Machine (https://www.amazon.com/The-Ultimate-Sales-Machine-audiobook/dp/B000VRA0ZW/) by Chet Holmes

No-code is the word of the year, but the tools, processes, and ideas behind the movement have been around for years. As SaaS founders, we’ve been using no-code without calling it no-code for years.

In this talk, we’ll cover some of the history of automations and linking tools, how it has evolved into the no code movement it is today, and where we see it going in the years to come.

This recording is from MicroConf Remote 3.0. To see other past events and to get a copy of the slides, visit: https://microconf.com/remote

Want to come to our next MicroConf Growth in Minneapolis? Tickets will sell out soon: https://microconf.com/growth

Don't want to miss the next MicroConf Remote? Sign up for our mailing list: https://microconf.com/events

The Updated Survival Guide for Bootstrapping SaaS

A few years ago, Omar Zenhom shared the story of how it went from being broke with fewer than 300 people on his email list to having 14,000 paying customers and 1 million attendees for WebinarNinja in 5 years. 

We recently caught up with him to hear what he's been up to with WebinarNinja since then. 

In this podcast, you'll hear about the following:

Setting goals and managing growth projections (6:11)

How WebinarNinja fared in the spring of summer of 2020 (6:57)

The specific adjustments he made to the company structure when the pandemic first started back in 2020 (13:40)

How his team structure has evolved since 2019 (26:55)

Where he sees the webinar landscape heading in the next 3-5 years (33:05)

The most surprising thing he’s learned to date running WebinarNinja (37:16)

Relevant links mentioned in this episode:

https://twitter.com/TheOmarZenhom https://webinarninja.com/

https://100mba.net/ https://microconf.com/upcoming-events

https://microconfremote.com

https://microconfconnect.com/

https://microconf.com/

https://facebook.com/microconf

https://twitter.com/microconf

You can watch the original talk back here: https://bit.ly/surviving-bootstrapped-saas

Listen on the go by subscribing to The MicroConf Podcast: microconfpodcast.com

Omar Zenhom is co-founder and CEO of WebinarNinja, a super-simple online teaching, coaching, and marketing platform. Founded in 2014, over 2 million people have attended workshops and other events on WebinarNinja. WebinarNinja remains a self-funded software company with over 20,000 stakeholders- their customers.

He's also the host of the popular small business podcast, The $100 MBA Show.

Omar, WebinarNinja, and The $100 MBA Show have been featured in Inc, Forbes, Fast Company, Entrepreneur and Product Hunt, as well as numerous other small businesses blogs and podcasts.

How did Omar Zenhom go from being broke with fewer than 300 people on his email list to 14,000 paying customers and 1 million attendees in 5 years?

Omar speaks about his journey from 0 to 14,000 customers, launching his podcast The $100 MBA, which won several prestigious awards from iTunes, Forbes, and Fast Company) and the journey of bootstrapping WebinarNinja

The not-so-secret to his success was treating relationships as his biggest asset.

In this podcast, you'll hear about the following:

His early background when he had no traffic or audience

Why he pivoted and launched a 2nd podcast, The $100 MBA

How pain points he experienced with The S100 MBA led to the early idea behind WebinarNinja

Creating the initial MVP for WebinarMBA as a first-time SaaS founder who wasn't a professional developer

The compound effect of building and managing relationships at scale 

Relevant links mentioned in this episode:

https://twitter.com/TheOmarZenhom

https://webinarninja.com/

https://100mba.net/

https://microconf.com/upcoming-events

https://microconfremote.com

https://microconfconnect.com/

https://microconf.com/

https://facebook.com/microconf

https://twitter.com/microconf

With applications for our next round of companies to join the TinySeed Accelerator program in full swing, we are sitting down with Alex McQuade, Program Manager for TinySeed EMEA to talk about his goals for launching a successful EMEA focused accelerator for bootstrapped startup founders.

Alex McQuade has worked alongside hundreds of bootstrapped businesses, in addition to growing his own. He exited his business in 2020, and prior to that ran operations at the Dynamite Circle

Watch the live stream @ https://bit.ly/on-air-tinyseed-europe 

Welcome to MicroConf - Where Independent SaaS Founders Launch, Meet, Learn, and Grow! MicroConf is the world’s most trusted community for bootstrapped SaaS founders.

MicroConf is a community of SaaS founders that brings together bootstrapped and independently-funded B2B SaaS companies who are not looking to chase “unicorn status'' or venture capital.

We provide SaaS training, education and networking opportunities for other founders who are pre-product, focused on scaling their business, and looking for an exit strategy.

MicroConf began almost a decade ago. Since then, we’ve hosted 19 events with nearly 200 speakers, helped thousands of attendees, and impacted tens of thousands more through our videos and online community.

Ready to take your SaaS startup to the next level? Check these out:

In Person Events:

https://microconf.com/upcoming-events

Digital Events: https://microconfremote.com

MicroConf Connect: https://microconfconnect.com/

Let’s Connect...

Website: https://microconf.com/

Facebook: https://facebook.com/microconf

Twitter: https://twitter.com/microconf

Change is tough. The decision to charge more for your software can be one of the biggest changes you can make - impacting your customers in a pretty meaningful way. This episode dives into the pricing and rebranding that his startup had to go through.

Eran Galperin is the founder of Gymdesk, online management software for gyms. He has been building tech companies since 2003 and has over 20 years of experience in software development and leading product teams.

Episode will cover: - How our value proposition changed over the years - Planning for and rolling out a pricing update - Reasons and considerations for a rebrand - Executing a rebrand and dealing with the fallout

This week, Rob is joined by Jessica Malnik, our MicroConf Community Manager, to talk about the future of MicroConf Connect, the community, and we introduce the MicroConf Accountability Challenge.

Join our January Accountability Challenge and get a head start on your 2022 goals.

“You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.” This is a quote from James Clear’s book, Atomic Habits. (Good read btw!)

The end of December and the beginning of January are a natural time to reflect and set goals.

These goals can provide the necessary vision and direction.

However, setting goals without a detailed plan for how you will hit them is a recipe for failure. The difference between smashing your goal and falling shot often lies in the tiny habits and wins along the way—the 5, 15, or 60 minutes you are spending each day directly focused on one thing that will help you reach your goal.

That’s what inspired the idea behind this community accountability challenge.

For the month of January, we’re going to post an accountability thread in the #hallway-track channel every Monday.

Join MicroConf Connect ➡️ https://microconfconnect.com

All you have to do is share one tiny thing you plan to accomplish this week that will get you one step closer to reaching your goal. :muscle:

Then, on Friday, when you complete that task, post about it in the #tiny-wins channel so we can cheer you on. :tada:

Here is an examples of what this could look like:

Let’s say your big, scary goal for 2022 is to Reduce churn by 10%. Trying to achieve this in a month, a quarter, or even 6 months is hard. However, you can break this goal into 50+ tiny tasks that need to happen and will get you closer to this goal. The key is that each task shouldn’t take more than a week to finish (ideally far less time than that!)

Here are some examples of tiny tasks that can get you closer to your goal:

Week 1 task - Send a NPS survey to your customers to get a baseline metric.

Week 2 task - Review NPS survey findings.

Week 3 task - Email 5 customers, who completed your survey, to schedule calls.

By reverse-engineering your goal into 52 (or more) micro-milestones, your results are likely to compound and in turn increase the likelihood you hit your big goal.

Want in? All you have to be in MicroConf Connect, share the one tiny task you will accomplish this week that will get you closer to your goal.

If you are feeling brave, you can also share your big annual goal in this thread too.

(Totally optional but highly encouraged) - Each week, share the task that you are going to complete on Twitter too and make sure to include the #MicroConf hashtag in your tweet.

Then, once you complete your tiny task, post it in #tiny-wins, so we can celebrate with you. You can also tweet it too!

Jordan Gal is the co-founder of Rally and Carthook. During his time building Carthook, he learned some hard lessons about building on an existing platform, challenges to overcome bootstrapping, and how to implement those lessons into your next business.

TinySeed, the MicroConf Startup Accelerator and Fund, announced their Investment Syndicate today.

Join the co-founders of TinySeed, Rob Walling and Einar Vollset, as we discuss what it means to be an investment syndicate, how it can help startup founders more broadly than our accelerator program, and more.

At TinySeed we operate several funds, all with the same underlying thesis: Invest broadly into the earliest stages of B2B SaaS companies worldwide.

Typically, the kinds of companies we back are early stage — usually, $3-15k MRR at the time of application (although the range is much wider) — and those investments join our year-long remote accelerator in batches. The TinySeed Funds do not invest directly into any TinySeed company that decides to raise additional funding (a so-called “follow-on” round), or make any other kinds of investments.