Today marks three months of Software Ideas!
I wrote a retrospective, summarizing how I created, discovered, validated, and grew Software Ideas to $6k MRR in only three months. Check it out!
https://t.co/OmIqfQszMr
AI is killing the business models for Open Source companies 😥
Starting with orgs that don’t have a hosted upsell like Tailwind, but any company whose business model is “convenience as an upsell” should be in full-blown panic.
Here’s 6 solutions: 🧵
I honestly think founders are too quick to build an MVP.
I see a lot of readers want to jump right to building, instead of talking to leads, learning how to speak their language, and learning how to market and sell to that audience.
My hottest take is that I believe 99% of bootstrapped founders should be doing pre-sales.
Here's some advice I gave to a peer on Indie Hackers that explains why I feel so strongly about it:
(Thread)
"Find an audience" <- Wrong.
Can you imagine trying to 'find an audience' in real life? Walk around the streets until you find one?
You build an audience by doing useful or interesting things.
Start by finding a MARKET, and do useful things until an audience finds you.
The must-read business books for founders:
* The Mom Test by @robfitz
* Obviously Awesome by @aprildunford
There's 50 more that are great, but these are the two that you need to read even if you HATE reading.
No excuses to not have read these two.
It's always interesting to me when I get compliments for being a "good marketer". I'm an introverted developer by nature, so it's a huge compliment!
Just goes to show that it's a skill that can be learned.
The simplest checklist that I can think of for evaluating a product idea:
1) When your ideal customer hears about it, do they say, "Shut up and take my money!"
2) Do you have a way to get a lot of ideal customers to hear about it?
If both are a "yes," you have a good idea!
Your first time writing CSS as a startup founder:
"Hmm, maybe I should consider BEM or SMACSS for my naming conventions? I want to make sure my CSS is clean and robust..."
Your 100th time writing CSS as a startup founder:
Your first time writing CSS as a startup founder:
"Hmm, maybe I should consider BEM or SMACSS for my naming conventions? I want to make sure my CSS is clean and robust..."
Your 100th time writing CSS as a startup founder:
The Software Ideas audience is 96.6% male. I imagine that it's a reflection of the larger startup audience in general.
What can we do as a community to encourage more female bootstrappers?
I talk a lot about “product risks” - risks that a product can’t be built, even if there is market demand for it.
A lot of founders don’t get the concept at first, but I think I just found a good example 😅
Submissions for the first ever "Glam That Plugin" series are open now!
Better yet, the smart and saavy @lesley_pizza will be co-hosting as well!
If you want a free marketing audit of your free/mium WP plugin, fill out the form and watch your inbox!
https://t.co/7xsZzLzy04