On today’s episode, Craig chats with Corey Haines, founder of Conversion Factory. They chat about what it’s really like to be a B2B SaaS owner including how to handle marketing, if it’s necessary to learn the ins and outs of development, and how client work can kick you in the butt so you can stay fresh all the time.

Corey Haines is a marketing-first entrepreneur. He aims to help people with exceptional products, services, and content get the attention they deserve. Corey focuses on entrepreneurship, building a portfolio of small bets to optimize for autonomy, mastery, and purpose. He is currently running Conversion Factory, Swipe Files, and SwipeWell. He has worked with dozens of startups on marketing and growth including Cordial, Baremetrics, SavvyCal, Bonsai, Evercast, Riverside.fm, Holloway, Beamer, and Timetastic.

Do you have any comments, questions, or topic ideas for future episodes? Send Craig an email at [email protected]. As always, if you feel like our podcast has benefited you and it might benefit someone else, please share it with them. If you have a chance, give Rogue Startups a review on iTunes. We’ll see you next week!

Conversion Factory

Reach out to Corey on Twitter/X

Corey on LinkedIn

Corey’s Personal Site

Castos

Founder Insights

Craig and Ed chat about all things bootstrapping, personal branding, social media, and growth trajectory. They also do a bit of catching up. Ed provides a unique perspective on these topics in addition to trying to convince Craig to move back to Europe.

Ed is the co-founder of OpenCage which provides a geocoding API (which converts geographic coordinates to locations around the world). He also organizes Geomob which is an event series (and a podcast) that meets in London, Barcelona, and Berlin. Geomob provides a relaxed forum for geoinnovation and for geospatial enthusiasts. He is also an angel investor (occasionally) whose interests include geo, API-based businesses, developer tools, aggregation, SaaS, and messaging, based out of Berlin, London, and Barcelona. 

Do you have any comments, questions, or topic ideas for future episodes? Send Craig an email at [email protected]. As always, if you feel like our podcast has benefited you and it might benefit someone else, please share it with them. If you have a chance, give Rogue Startups a review on iTunes. We’ll see you next week!

Ed Freyfogle

Ed on Mastodon

OpenCage

Geomob

Geomob Podcast

Castos

Founder Insights

Work smarter on things that really matter instead of working harder on things that make no difference. Today Craig talks about what he has learned about prioritizing, focusing, and honing in on tasks that really mean something. Between his professional experiences and input from his business coach, he’s learned that there isn’t a magic fix-all button that will bring in all the customers. Be critical of the time you spend on your business.

Do you have any comments, questions, or topic ideas for future episodes? Send Craig an email at [email protected]. As always, if you feel like our podcast has benefited you and it might benefit someone else, please share it with them. If you have a chance, give Rogue Startups a review on iTunes. We’ll see you next week!

Reach out on LinkedIn

Reach out on Twitter/X

Castos

Founder Insights

On today’s episode of Rogue Startups, Craig chats with Asia Orangio from DemandMaven about customer research, marketing essentials, and how to stand out from your competitors. Asia also talks about what DemandMaven can do for their customers and how she gets value from Castos. Not to mention, the importance of clarity, dedication, and discipline.

Asia manages operations, strategy, and growth opportunities at DemandMaven. Her expertise includes identifying great SaaS growth blockers, leveraging insights from customer research, and operationalizing growth and marketing. 

Do you have any comments, questions, or topic ideas for future episodes? Send Craig an email at [email protected]. As always, if you feel like our podcast has benefited you and it might benefit someone else, please share it with them. If you have a chance, give Rogue Startups a review on iTunes. We’ll see you next week!

DemandMaven

RS198: Marketing 201 with Asia Matos

Connect with Asia on X/Twitter

Connect with Asia on LinkedIn

Castos

Founder Insights

Craig chats about the difficulties of starting a journey (or continuing a journey) by yourself. Whether it’s business or if it’s a creative endeavor (like a podcast), going at it alone can be hard. How do you motivate yourself? How do you get out of a creative block? How do you convince yourself that you have conviction when something you are passionate about is so unpredictable?

Do you have any comments, questions, or topic ideas for future episodes? Send Craig an email at [email protected]. And as always, if you feel like our podcast has benefited you and it might benefit someone else, please share it with them. If you have a chance, give Rogue Startups a review on iTunes. We’ll see you next week!

Castos

Connect with Craig on LinkedIn

Founder Insights

On this episode of Rogue Startups, Craig chats with Ruben Gamez, the founder of Bidsketch and SignWell. Ruben shares his opinions and tips about various marketing strategies, branding, and growth. In addition to talking about the podcasting industry and Castos, Craig and Ruben also dive into how to proactively find deals and connect with customers.

Originally a software developer, Ruben bootstrapped Bidsketch while working full-time and was quickly able to grow it into a profitable business. He spent several years working for a billion-dollar payroll company. There he helped build and manage a custom proposal system that was used to regularly win seven and eight-figure deals. When he saw there was a need for an alternative to the hard-to-use and expensive e-signature software already out there, he decided to start SignWell in order to simplify how documents get signed for millions of people and businesses.

Do you have any comments, questions, or topic ideas for future episodes? Send Craig an email at [email protected]. And as always, if you feel like our podcast has benefited you and it might benefit someone else, please share it with them. If you have a chance, give Rogue Startups a review on iTunes. We’ll see you next week!

Ruben on Twitter/X

SignWell

Bidsketch

Castos

Founder Insights

As founders I think too often we celebrate only the wins in the business, but we don’t take a critical look at how we could actually be the thing holding our business back from prospering. I’ve had a big breakthrough in this realm lately where I’m being open to the concept that I could be the limiting factor in my business, and I am taking ownership of fixing that.

Today Craig chats with Meryl Johnston, founder of BeanNinjas and host of a new podcast The Lifestyle Accountant Show, the podcast that helps today’s accounting firm leaders build successful businesses while living healthy, happy lives. 

Being able to work less but still watch your company thrive and grow is the goal for many entrepreneurs out there. But in order to do that, you need to ask yourself a couple of important questions. Can your business continue operating (and grow) without you? Are you willing to step aside and let other people make decisions for your business?

It has been a couple of years since Meryl stepped back as CEO. In this episode of the Rogue Startups Podcast, Meryl talks about what the process has been like, why she made the decision, and the challenges of stepping back. 

She and Craig also talk about what it is like to run a flexible productized service startup, the tools they use in order to streamline their processes, and Meryl’s journey from accounting to working only one day a week with the team at BeanNinjas.

Do you have any comments, questions, or topic ideas for future episodes? Send Craig an email at [email protected]. And as always, if you feel like our podcast has benefited you and it might benefit someone else, please share it with them. If you have a chance, give Rogue Startups a review on iTunes. We’ll see you next week!

Follow Meryl on LinkedIn

The Lifestyle Accountant Show

BeanNinjas

Castos

Founder Insights

In this solo episode of Rogue Startups, Craig gives listeners an update on his business, the future of the podcast, as well as his thoughts on how to successfully build a media brand. What is your goal when you post on social media? How do you earn the respect and trust of your audience?

Do you have any comments, questions, or topic ideas for future episodes? Send Craig an email at [email protected]. And as always, if you feel like our podcast has benefited you and it might benefit someone else, please share it with them. If you have a chance, give Rogue Startups a review on iTunes. We’ll see you next week!

Castos

Founder Insights

Today, Craig chats with frequent guest Rob Walling, entrepreneur and podcaster extraordinaire, about marketing and branding when it comes to SaaS businesses and podcasting. They also talk about utilizing YouTube as a platform for growing your audience. After writing a book, Rob has professional insight when it comes to writing for different mediums: long-form books, podcasts, not to mention, YouTube shorts, and videos. He shares the differences between each medium and the importance of leveraging your unique perspective.

Rob Walling is the founder of TinySeed, host of Startups For The Rest Of Us, and of MicroConf. Rob has bootstrapped multiple startups to exit, most recently Drip. He has been advising, mentoring, and investing in startups for more than a decade. He has also written The SaaS Playbook which aims to help entrepreneurs strategize and build frameworks from the trenches so they can grow successful SaaS companies.

Do you have any comments, questions, or topic ideas for future episodes? Send Craig an email at [email protected]. And as always, if you feel like our podcast has benefited you and it might benefit someone else, please share it with them. If you have a chance, give Rogue Startups a review on iTunes. We’ll see you next week!

Rob on Twitter

Rob’s official website

TinySeed

Startups For The Rest Of Us

MicroConf

The SaaS Playbook 

Castos