I've been part of negotiations related to agreements a few times now in my entrepreneurial career. I've been fooled a few times, made decent agreements a few other times. The first indication that the other party wants to fool you is: they bring more people to the table. The typical example is: you are doing a partnership agreement with someone and he brings in a person … [Read more...]
How I stay productive
Entrepreneurship is about making decisions quickly with incomplete information. From that definition we can infer that: Entrepreneurship is a roller coaster, far from the concept of something stable. An entrepreneur's job is therefore to fight entropy: things brake all the time, it's just the way it is and will always be - it's always day one - we might be one iteration … [Read more...]
Is being a maker a disadvantage in the job market?
As you know I believe in stacking multiple streams of income. I currently have ~10 SaaS, a productized service, a course, and I consult. I'm missing one important stream of income, though. A job. I decided to apply for a full-time job at popular tech companies I admire, usually fully bootstrapped - on top of the other things I do.I wouldn't do it for the money, as I'll always … [Read more...]
Space occupation đź‘ľ
Today I'm launching 10 products on ProductHunt. All at the same time. I wanted to expand on why I'm doing this. It comes down to a very simple marketing concept: space occupation 👾 Before we get into that, here's a disclaimer: If you do try to replicate what I'm doing, please do it with real products. Marketers tend to ruin everything and I can see how someone might think to … [Read more...]
We launched Signl (2022)
Today we are announcing Signl.vc Signl aggregates and quantifies evidence of a company's traction by scouring news articles, media coverage, social buzz, and more. And yes, I've got the idea by reading on Crunchbase about a defunct company that tried to do the same thing, with the same name! Here you go:Â Â https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/signl We now crawl thousands and … [Read more...]
We launched Metaverve Records (2021)
Today we are announcing Metaverve Records. It's the first (?) web3 jazz record label. The intent is to get more exposure for little-known, amazing artists. The label is only focused on publishing music that was not published before, ever! Unique pieces, exclusive demos & outtakes! NFTs value will likely increase as these artists get more and more stage time. Since I … [Read more...]
We launched JobScout.co (2021)
At my company, we (which really means I), launch 5 or more products per year. I write these “launch” posts as a way to encapsulate my thinking at the time of launch. Here are some other launches that we made in the past: * I launched Angage (now Cart, 2017) * I launched Dealflow (2019) * I launched Treendly (2019) * I launched Podda (2021) * I launched Leadhall … [Read more...]
On partners
The best partners are doers, possibly coders, who don't get in the way of each other and move fast. Whenever I deviated from this, I got partners who needed hand-holding, or worse. Thanks,Mike … [Read more...]
Announcing my tiny bootstrapped fund (and first acquisition)
As you probably know, I’ve been spinning up profitable SaaS for years with no team, no money, no investments of any kind. Almost all of my SaaS are making money - not huge $$$, but definitely some $. Today, I'm announcing my alternative, bootstrapped fund. Investment thesis we only invest in products that are not yet executed (little or no revenue is totally fine) we only … [Read more...]
Reversing SaaS demos, and going extreme
Recently, I've highlighted some SaaS playbooks that are currently working for me. In that article, I've discussed how one type of SaaS products I run is b2b-like, high-ticket, high-touch; almost, software with a service. It's nearly impossible to sell these kinds of products without demos. Currently, what we do is: I meet with the client over a Google meet callI do my … [Read more...]
About playbooks
As you probably know, one of my core values is multiplicity, which allows me to mitigate my entrepreneurial risk by having many, loosely-connected products. Nowadays, I run three types of SaaS products: b2c-like, low-ticket, self-serve, low-touch SaaS productsb2b-like, high-ticket, high-touch SaaS products (almost software with a service)combinations of #1 and #2 When … [Read more...]
How I would grow gumroad.com
This is the second blog post in the "How I would grow" series. The first one is about how I would grow getrewardful. This blog post is about reinventing the discover page over at Gumroad, a site that allows creators to get paid. The goal is to bring in more money for creators by driving more eye balls to their products in the discover page. The page is pretty static at the … [Read more...]
We launched LeadHall.com (2021)
At my company, we (which really means I), launch 5 or more products per year. I write these “launch” posts as a way to encapsulate my thinking at the time of launch. Here are some other launches that we made in the past: * I launched Angage (now Cart, 2017) * I launched Dealflow (2019) * I launched Treendly (2019) * I launched Podda (2021) Yesterday we soft-launched … [Read more...]
My first hire
In 2021, I’m hiring people to help me out. Hiring has many problems, and I already wrote about how relationships are not linear here. I also outlined my very opinionated candidate persona here. As I reach my goal of $100k ARR with just SaaS products, I’ll be bringing on one person, and then possibly another one (for redundancy). My first hire My first hire is Clarice, she is … [Read more...]
Paperback over digital?
Paperback over digital? A simple question someone asked me on Facebook, commenting on a photo of some books I just purchased. What do I prefer? I replied: yes, and yes. In life, people often think they have to choose between two things. Or, put one before the other. Here is the thing: you can just have both. In this case, the cost of a book is so trivial compared to the upside … [Read more...]
We launched Podda.io (2021)
At my company, we (which really means I), launch 5 or more products per year.I write these “launch” posts as a way to encapsulate my thinking at the time of launch.Here are some other launches that we made in the past:* I launched Angage (now Cart, 2017)* I launched Dealflow (2019)* I launched Treendly (2019) A couple of days ago we soft-launched Podda.ioI coded this in ~5 … [Read more...]
1:1
In 2021, I’m thinking about hiring people to help me out. Just thinking, not actively doing it yet. Hiring has many problems, and I already wrote about how relationships are not linear here. Delegate to machines it’s far easier for me: * they almost never fail; * if they fail, it’s most likely your fault. Sometimes, though, you can’t not hire humans. So, I’ve been thinking … [Read more...]
Does it make sense?
This a blog post about finding the thing that makes the other things you do meaningless. For me, that thing is music. And, I’ve always known. First of all, when I hear music (whenever I play or not), I have no other thoughts. It’s like meditation in a way, its purest form.The other thing is: everything else that I do during the day becomes meaningless: software, marketing, … [Read more...]
Speed by subtraction
An obvious point that took me way too long to appreciate: in software engineering, you should probably optimize for speed even when you don't have to, because it's one of the easiest/best ways to prioritize subtraction and parsimony in the solution space. https://t.co/kYulYoV3uN. — Patrick Collison (@patrickc) April 9, 2021 … [Read more...]
The era of gods
In a previous blog post, I’ve discussed how I think code is becoming a commodity. Still, I think the difference in the (somewhat near) future will be made by technology. A reader asked me to clarify my position on that. First of all, technology is not only code. There was a point in time where your bicycle was, in fact, technology. Now everyone has a bike. It’s a … [Read more...]