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[justinjacksoncanada]

New episode of my podcast.

[justinjacksoncanada]

New beginners guide to starting a podcast in 2022!

[justinjacksoncanada]

Making podcast GIFs for Transistor.fm today. 😜

A part of our how to make a podcast series.

[justinjacksoncanada]

Jon and Justin are wrestling with thoughts about growth:

"Our current rate of growth is nice: it feels sustainable." – Justin

"It feels less sustainable for me, because I'm working a full-time job." – Jon

We’re able to keep up with demand, and enjoy the process.

There are all these stories about folks whose companies are growing like crazy. They’re just always adding more people, more process, more stress. Do we want that?

Peldi tells this story about starting Balsamiq. He said his launch was like “holding on to a rocket ship with his fingernails.”

Some folks would say we should be capturing more of the market. There’s this idea that you can’t be satisfied with what you have. That you have to juice every bit of growth you can.

But then you’re building all of these dependencies that you have to keep up even when the market goes down.

★ Thanks to our sponsors:

Balsamiq: If you’d like to help in make Balsamiq Wireframes better, and help them shape the future of wireframing, join their Customer Advisory Board at balsamiq.com/support/makeusbetter

Clubhouse.io: Clubhouse is the first project management platform for software development that brings everyone together. It's designed for developers, but product folks, marketing, support folks love using it. Get two months free: clubhouse.io/build.

Show notes:

Greg Wade, the baker that Jon apprenticed with, just won a James Beard award.

Peldi's interview on Indie Hackers.

Paul Jarvis on growth and sustainability.

Bootstrapped Web podcast: Jordan loves building his team.

You can reply to this podcast here:

Leave a comment on Breaker, the podcast app for Android and iPhone.

Leave a comment on CastBox, the podcast app for Android and iPhone.

Otherwise, get us on Twitter: @transistorfm or email us: mail@transistor.fm

Thanks to our monthly supporters:

Miguel Piedrafita

Shane Smith

Austin Loveless

Simon Bennett - SnapShooter

Corey Haines

Michael Sitver

Paul Jarvis and Jack Ellis

Dan Buda

Darby Frey

Samori Augusto

Dave Young

Brad from Canada

Kevin Markham

Sammy Schuckert

Dan Ericson

Mike Walker

Adam DuVander

Dave Giunta (JOOnta)

Balsamiq.cloud

Clubhouse.io

GetRewardful.com

[justinjacksoncanada]

Routinely sleeping less than six or seven hours a night demolishes your immune system, more than doubling your risk of cancer.

Matthew Walker in Why We Sleep (via joshpigford)

[justinjacksoncanada]

elliottbirthday from MegaMaker on Vimeo.

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pour-mme-lavigne from MegaMaker on Vimeo.

[justinjacksoncanada]

Where good work comes from

How to do good work

I had most of today’s article written on Tuesday.

But in the evening, I started chatting with Adam Wathan. And that chat changed my plans.

It started when I said:

Is my #1 goal in life really to “build software?” To be a “bootstrapper?”

Adam replied:

Nah, it’s probably: “make awesome stuff people are happy you made, and get to do it without stressing about money.”

I like this. It’s easy to get…

[justinjacksoncanada]

Two things that kill bootstrapped companies

There are two big risks founders face when starting something new:

Working on the wrong idea and burning out.

Burning out while working on the right idea.

You could be working on something the market doesn’t want. Every day you work on it, you’re wasting your time. You’re investing in a product that’s never going to be viable.

On the flip-side, you might be on the right track. In which case,…

[justinjacksoncanada]

Unconventional bootstrapping: round 1

Unconventional bootstrapping: round 1

Thanks for reading and responding to last week’s article (The hidden cost of bootstrapping).

Many readers shared their story with me:

“I’m currently running a software consultancy, but have dreams of becoming a product shop.”

“I’m a co-founder of a bootstrapped company. Over the last 5 years, we’ve definitely had to find creative ways to pay our bills.”

“I’m bootstrapping a project with a friend.…

[justinjacksoncanada]

The hidden cost of bootstrapping

A few weeks ago I published this piece called Bootstrapper’s Paradox. (It’s also a podcast here).

It got a lot of attention. Folks like DHH (Basecamp), Des Traynor (Intercom), Natalie Nagele (Wildbit), and Rob Walling (Drip) all responded to it.

The crux of the piece is this: bootstrapping a business is hard, and everyone’s journey is different.

We’ve mythologized self-funded companies likes…

[justinjacksoncanada]

Is this a good idea?

I get this question quite often:

“Can you tell me if my idea is good before I spend too much time building it?”

Generally, this is a hard question to answer.

It’s very likely that I’m not your target market. I also don’t know what research, insights, or experiences have you lead you to this idea. Without that context, I can’t give you the feedback you need.

However, I do have a framework I’ve…

[justinjacksoncanada]

Your business isn't about finding a great idea

What you build isn't as important as who you help (my chat with @adamwathan)

My friend Adam Wathan and I had a good chat on his podcast. Here’s a bit of our conversation.

Justin Jackson:

Tell me about this thing you said on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/adamwathan/status/1015979729013227520

What’s the background there?

Adam Wathan:

Yeah, so I work for myself, and I can kind of spend my time doing whatever I want to do as long as it pays off down the road. I’ve done a…

[justinjacksoncanada]

Optimize for usage, not just sales

Do any of these sound familiar?

“I ordered the book, but never read it.”

“I bought this app, but I never logged in.”

“I backed it on Kickstarter, but it just sat in its box.”

“I got the upgrade, but I kept using the old version.”

As product people, we make things so people will use them.

And yet, we optimize a lot of our marketing around merely getting the sale.

But “getting the sale” isn’t…

[justinjacksoncanada]

What would you do differently?

Adam Clark recently asked me this question on his podcast:

If you woke up tomorrow, and you had to start all over again, what would you do?

It’s a good question. If I didn’t have Transistor.fm or my existing audience, how would I build a business knowing what I know now? What would I change?

Here’s what I said:

First, get a therapist

I struggled with depression this past year. I’ve seen firsthand…

[justinjacksoncanada]

Finally able to share this news: This year, I'm building a podcasting startup with @jonbuda called @transistor.fm! 🎧 Link in bio! 👍 #podcast #podcasting #startup #audio #product #xoxo #launch #tech (at Portland, Oregon)

[justinjacksoncanada]

What affects customer motivation?

Typically, when I’m at Safeway, you’ll find me in the cereal aisle, checking to see if Cheerios are on sale. I have four kids, and cereal is pretty expensive, so I almost always buy what’s on sale.

If I get to the checkout and I’ve saved $5, I feel like I’ve succeeded.

But today was different.

It was the night before Valentine’s Day, and like twenty other men, I was in the floral section looking…