Starting & Sustaining

Recently I sat down this Thomas Smale of FE International. Thomas and FE International helped me sell Sifter and made the whole process seem easy. After selling so many online businesses, FE International has the process down to a science, and they've been able to pick up on quite a few trends. So Thomas takes some time to share what they've seen and what matters when it comes to buying or selling an online business.

Special Guest: Thomas Smale.

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• Starting & Sustaining: The second edition of Starting & Sustaining will be out in late 2017. Visit the site to get on the list and be the first to know as well as receive a launch discount.

Links:

• FE International

Nathan and I talk about the early days of ConvertKit, reaching a point where he had to make a decision to invest more significantly in it or walk away. He invested a significant portion of his income from other projects and really doubled down to make it work long before it was obvious things were going to take off. He talks about his sales process and how it simultaneously helped him better understand the needs of potential customers as well as build a relationship and find his first customers.

Special Guest: Nathan Barry.

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Sponsored By:

• Starting & Sustaining: The second edition of Starting & Sustaining will be out in late 2017. Visit the site to get on the list and be the first to know as well as receive a launch discount.

Links:

• ConvertKit

Courtland's story is great because he's been on a bit of the roller coaster, and now he's starting fresh with Indie Hackers. He's interviewing other founders of businesses of all sizes and helping to shed light on what's possible for small independent software-based businesses. At the same time, the stories are also grounded in realistic stories of slow growth and hard work instead of just focusing on those businesses that hit the jackpot. Courtland's past experience combined with his discussions with other founders has given him some great perspective and insight on what works and doesn't work for small software businesses.

Special Guest: Courtland Allen.

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Sponsored By:

• Starting & Sustaining: The second edition of Starting & Sustaining will be out in late 2017. Visit the site to get on the list and be the first to know as well as receive a launch discount.

Links:

• Indie Hackers

Ruben's story with Bidsketch is a great example of how a simple small business can grow into something healthy sustainable on a reasonable timeline. He started out simply with very little in the way of expectations, and bootstrapped the business to profitability it on the side of a full-time job and now manages a remote team of four additional people. We talk about the challenges of growing and managing a remote team as an introvert, the process of recovering after he accidentally deleted all of the customer billing data, and much more.

Special Guest: Ruben Gamez.

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Sponsored By:

• Starting & Sustaining: The second edition of Starting & Sustaining will be out in late 2017. Visit the site to get on the list and be the first to know as well as receive a launch discount.

Links:

• Bidsketch

During a time when seemingly everyone is trying to build a product and move away from consulting, Allan is doing just the opposite and moving from SaaS and recurring revenue back to good old-fashioned consulting. We talk a little about the process of selling LessAccounting, the ups downs of trying to grow a SaaS application, and some ways to take a step back and make sure that you're working on things you're passionate about.

Special Guest: Allan Branch.

Read the book online for free

Sponsored By:

• Starting & Sustaining: The second edition of Starting & Sustaining will be out in late 2017. Visit the site to get on the list and be the first to know as well as receive a launch discount.

Links:

• LessEverything

Drew and I discussed his various projects that led him to create Plasso as well as how successful businesses developed out of years of experimentation and cross-pollination. We also talked about some of the differences with bootstrapping versus raising an angel round through Drew’s experience on both sides.

Special Guest: Drew Wilson.

Read the book online for free

Sponsored By:

• Starting & Sustaining: The second edition of Starting & Sustaining will be out in late 2017. Visit the site to get on the list and be the first to know as well as receive a launch discount.

Links:

• Plasso

Josh and I discussed bootstrapping, accepting outside money, the drawbacks of hiring too fast and having to ask his team to take a pay cut. We also talk about how metrics simply aren't important in the early days and how nothing beats spending time to talking to your customers in person.

Special Guest: Josh Pigford.

Read the book online for free

Sponsored By:

• Starting & Sustaining: The second edition of Starting & Sustaining will be out in late 2017. Visit the site to get on the list and be the first to know as well as receive a launch discount.

Links:

• Baremetrics

Natalie and I talk about bootstrapping, learning that marketing is a necessary part of growing a software company, and the transitions that led Wildbit to be a family-focused company. We touched on the benefits and challenges of running a multi-product company, the inspiration for the various products, and the difficulties of hanging in there as a business gets older and the responsibilities grow and change.

Special Guest: Natalie Nagele.

Read the book online for free

Sponsored By:

• Starting & Sustaining: The second edition of Starting & Sustaining will be out in late 2017. Visit the site to get on the list and be the first to know as well as receive a launch discount.

Links:

• Wildbit

JD and I talk about buying and selling SaaS applications and share some details from the process of selling and transferring Sifter. JD shares what it's like juggling multiple businesses and how he makes it work, and he dives into the attributes and insights he uses to decide whether a SaaS application is a good opportunity or not and how he does business a bit differently. This is an episode that's near and dear because I feel like it shares some of the less-often seen aspects of transactions like selling businesses. I really hope you enjoy it.

Special Guest: JD Graffam.

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Sponsored By:

• Starting & Sustaining: The second edition of Starting & Sustaining will be out in late 2017. Visit the site to get on the list and be the first to know as well as receive a launch discount.

Links:

• Graffam Cos.

Format had seven people on the payroll before Tyler even got paid. We talk about bootstrapping in Canada, the amazing story of how they acquired the Format.com domain name, and what it's like transitioning from a survival mentality to a growth mentality as a business grows.

Special Guest: Tyler Rooney.

Read the book online for free

Sponsored By:

• Starting & Sustaining: The second edition of Starting & Sustaining will be out in late 2017. Visit the site to get on the list and be the first to know as well as receive a launch discount.

Links:

• Format