The Bootstrapped Founder

Hi! I’m Arvid. I empower founders & creators who want to build calm & sustainable businesses in public.

The Bootstrapped Founder is the home of my Twitter course Find your Following, the books Zero to Sold and The Embedded Entrepreneur, where I share how to build a business, an audience, and a path to financial independence.

You will also find the Bootstrapper’s Bookshelf, the Bootstrapped Founder Podcast, the YouTube channel, and the Bootstrapped Founder Newsletter here.

Book a Clarity Call with me. I will help you unearth the underlying problems of your entrepreneurial journey, what to do about them, and how you can break the chains of self-imposed limitations. ($500, 2h workshop)

I also offer to create a 15min Twitter Teardown video (example) of your current Twitter presence if you want to get started building an audience right away. ($100, 15min video)

Here are my most recent blog posts:

Pet Rock Projects (And Why They… Rock)

Reading Time: 3 minutes Tony Dinh, a well-known indie hacker, recently shared an article about his Indie Hacker journey that reached the top of Hacker News. As usual, some people reacted negatively to an indie hacker sharing their story. One common criticism was that these small projects, or “pet rock projects,” aren’t valuable. There was a strong sentiment in…

Aprilynne Alter — Behind the Scenes of a Successful YouTuber

Reading Time: 38 minutes Unearth the secrets of YouTube monetization and growth in our conversation with YouTube creator Aprilynne Alter. Prepare to be enlightened as Aprilynne reveals her journey, from retaking control of her editing process to experimenting with an array of content styles and formats. We dive into her daring exploration of NFTs and the groundbreaking transformation that…

Focusing on Customer Retention Features

Reading Time: 4 minutes I read an article this week about the “Tyranny of the Marginal User.” The author discussed how large companies focus more on attracting new customers than retaining current ones — primarily due to unit economics and internal company politics. It’s a fascinating read from the perspective of a Google insider. And it talks about products…

Erica Schneider — Build Your Personal Platform (And Not Just a Brand)

Reading Time: 38 minutes Getting started often brings valuable lessons that shape our paths in life; my chat with Erica Schneider, an expert in building authentic personal platforms, is a testament to this. We navigated the terrain of creating an authentic personal brand, focusing on the courage it takes to do so and the power of authenticity in the…

What I Learned From 250 Podcast Episodes

Reading Time: 5 minutes This week, I celebrated the podcast reaching 250 episodes with my most recent interview with Amanda Goetz. Just last week, the podcast hit 250,000 overall downloads. These are numbers I never expected to reach. And here I am, still enjoying creating new episodes and interviewing people every week. Today, I want to reflect on the…

Amanda Goetz — The Antidote to Hustle Culture

Reading Time: 34 minutes I finally got to talk to Amanda Goetz, a marketer-turned-full-time-creator, who’s generously poured out her wisdom on navigating the creator economy. Amanda’s journey from corporate life to the creator economy is filled with valuable lessons about embracing awkward self-promotion, overcoming ‘Cringe Valley’, and the journey of (maybe?) writing a book. This conversation is a must-listen…

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You’ll find all blog posts in the archive.