My new course "Reverse engineering through technical scraping" is out. I built my career, and 10s of software products on a simple idea: collecting third-party data for profit. In the course, I teach you exactly that: how to collect, transform and use third-party data to get a competitive advantage. Collecting data is more crucial than ever now, as every company needs data. … [Read more...]
Micro feedback
Micro feedback. I've been practicing this for years. How do you know that you are actually helping your customers? You ask them, without getting in the way. Example from one of my SaaS, Cart, below. Feedback comes directly to my inbox: Enjoyed this article? Join my newsletter to learn when new products are launched, as well as other stories from the trenches. People … [Read more...]
How I score tasks
Enjoyed this article? Join my newsletter to learn when new products are launched, as well as other stories from the trenches. People from great companies like Facebook and Hubspot read my newsletter. … [Read more...]
Which product should I work on?
One of the advantages of running multiple software products is that you can make them compete with each other for your attention. For example, right now I run several profitable products. These are just some of them: Treendly, making $1227/m Groouply, making $1100/m FastLien, making $936/m Cart, making $920/m Since all of the software products run under the same conditions … [Read more...]
Taking on complexity
Whenever I hear someone stressing about a problem that is complex, I'm actually happy because there is probably a business opportunity there. In fact, part of the value of any business is taking on complexity for clients. That involves systematizing, creating processes and automating those. The more you optimize, delegate and automate the processes, the higher your margins … [Read more...]
The problem with for loops
Everybody should know a simple programming concept called a "for loop". I think of it as a tool that enables me to do some things repeatedly. For instance, the above example prints the numbers from 0 to 99. One clear benefit of using a for loop is that you don't need to write the same code multiple times to reuse it. You can just repeat and cycle through it. I love this tool … [Read more...]
In the news
I was recently interviewed on a couple of indie media outlets discussing some of the things I like the most like bootstrapping, being a solo founder, balancing being a musician/working on products, and more. I thought to share these interviews with you. Here is a list: [90] Running Lean With Multiple SaaS w/ Mike Rubini - It was a pleasure to be on the Productize & Scale … [Read more...]
Obsess over founder
A lot of people obsess over customers. They put customers at the centre of their business. This is yet another thing that is "mainstream thinking". Bezos did this, so let's all do this. I question that. There's nothing wrong with obsessing over customers, customers are important. After all, no customers = no business. Let's just not forget that there is … [Read more...]
Front-loading the work
Doing a little bit of the work upfront can lead to massive upside. I first learned about this when I was in college, back in 2011. I was trying to get clients for my agency and I was doing a lot of email outreaches. Luckily, some of those secured me meetings with prospective clients. At that time I was following Ramit Sethi, a financial guru and best-selling author, and he … [Read more...]
I earned over 100,000€ as a solo-founder and bootstrapper
My name is Mike and I'm a software entrepreneur from Italy. Specifically, I like SaaS products which I build and bring to market by myself, without a team. SaaS is a business model where you typically sell access to a software solution for a monthly fee. I've been doing this for years, bootstrapping, which means that the products are self-sufficient: I don't put any money … [Read more...]
More core, less features
Nothing compares to building the core of your product. Everything that comes after that seems a distraction and won't ever have the same impact. Build more core, less features. Thanks for reading,Mike Rubini Enjoyed this article? Join my newsletter to learn when new products are launched, as well as other stories from the trenches. People from great companies like … [Read more...]
What do you do when nobody sees you?
Today I went for a run. Usually, a bunch of people are around so you kind of keep pushing and keep running because of the "social pressure". In your mind you think: "what would this person think of me if I stop running now?" and thereby, you continue to run. For context, I also live in a relatively small town (~30k inhabitants) so it is likely that you will bump into the same … [Read more...]
How many jobs?
How many jobs are you doing? If it's just one, you probably have a problem. If it's a lot, you probably have a problem. Thanks for reading,Mike Rubini Enjoyed this article? Join my newsletter to learn when new products are launched, as well as other stories from the trenches. People from great companies like Facebook and Hubspot read my newsletter. … [Read more...]
Thinking in systems
What system can you implement or refine today? Thanks for reading,Mike Rubini Enjoyed this article? Join my newsletter to learn when new products are launched, as well as other stories from the trenches. People from great companies like Facebook and Hubspot read my newsletter. … [Read more...]
What makes you uncomfortable?
What makes you uncomfortable? Push there. Thanks for reading,Mike Rubini Enjoyed this article? Join my newsletter to learn when new products are launched, as well as other stories from the trenches. People from great companies like Facebook and Hubspot read my newsletter. … [Read more...]
About energy
Life is energy over time. Where you put your energy determines what you get. Thanks for reading,Mike Rubini Enjoyed this article? Join my newsletter to learn when new products are launched, as well as other stories from the trenches. People from great companies like Facebook and Hubspot read my newsletter. … [Read more...]
Skills are blocks, but not legos
Skills (for me) are little things you can do. Maybe you can type fast. Maybe you can design better than the average guy. Maybe you can understand code. Maybe you can sing. Those are skills, and skills are blocks. Then, there are levels. Maybe you are level 1 in design and level 2 in singing. The skills you accumulate define what you can and can not do. More skills != more … [Read more...]
Progress through action
Progress is simple. You have been doing some actions. Are they working and getting you towards where you want to be? Do more. Are they not? Replace them. Thanks for reading,Mike Rubini Enjoyed this article? Join my newsletter to learn when new products are launched, as well as other stories from the trenches. People from great companies like Facebook and Hubspot … [Read more...]
On repetition
If you do it once, it can be luck, it can be a mistake. If you do it twice, it's a thing. You can't argue with that. You just validated it and gave it a new meaning. I use repetition a lot in jazz, because jazz is daring and repetition builds up confidence to say what you want to say, without thinking about mistakes you can make. There are no mistakes. One of the things I … [Read more...]
Same same but different
The most beautiful thing I heard this week: improvisation is like a sunset. The same, but different every time. P.S. Today is the International Jazz Day. Celebrate with me! UNESCO believes in the power of Jazz as a force for peace, dialogue and mutual understanding and this is why in November 2011, the UNESCO General Conference proclaimed 30 April as "International Jazz … [Read more...]