Let's talk about audience-building today. Last week, I talked about how I use Twitter, and that was received reasonably well. That's why I want to talk about why audience-building is such a good idea. I'm aware that many of you already know that I'm working on a book called Audience First. That means I'm currently … Continue reading The Two Goals of Audience-Building
Author: Arvid Kahl
Arvid Kahl is a software engineer turned entrepreneur. He co-founded and FeedbackPanda, an online teacher productivity SaaS company, with his partner Danielle Simpson. They sold the business for a life-changing amount of money in 2019, two years after founding the business.
Arvid writes on TheBootstrappedFounder.com because bootstrapping is a desirable, value- and wealth-generating way of running a company.
In over a decade of working in startup businesses of all sizes, Arvid has learned a thing or two about what works, what doesn't, and how to increase the chances of building a successful business.
How I Use Twitter
Today, I want to talk about how I leverage Twitter to build an audience, build relationships, and find opportunities. I'll talk about my overall strategy and the little day-to-day things I do, and which tools I use. I started using Twitter regularly to engage with other founders and talk about my work in October 2019, … Continue reading How I Use Twitter
On Offering Public APIs for Your SaaS
Many bootstrapped SaaS founders see other successful SaaS businesses and think, "Hey, they offer an API, I should do the same" — But should they really? I believe that there are two answers to this question, and they're determined by which phase of your business you're in. For companies in the Survival Stage, adding public … Continue reading On Offering Public APIs for Your SaaS
Motivation Will Eventually Go Away: Build Accountability Systems Instead
Motivation is a powerful initial force. It provides momentum. When we start projects, we need that momentum to push us through the initial collision with reality when we learn of all the complex choices we have to make to get things off the ground. It's the motivation to learn, to discover, and to create that … Continue reading Motivation Will Eventually Go Away: Build Accountability Systems Instead
Audience-Building through Podcasting
Today I want to share my learnings from a year of intense podcasting. I've been publishing new episodes of the Bootstrapped Founder podcast for almost a year now, just shy of twelve months. At the same time, I have been a guest on more than twenty podcasts. Both hosting and appearing on podcasts has changed … Continue reading Audience-Building through Podcasting
Avoiding the Validation Trap
When founders talk about validation, we often engage in wishful thinking. We say that we want to validate an idea, an audience, or a problem, but in reality, we hope to find a way to be sure. We hope to discover a guaranteed win—a surefire way to build a successful business. There is no such … Continue reading Avoiding the Validation Trap
Open-Source and Bootstrapping
This week, a few remarkable things happened in the open-source scene. First, Mapbox decided to change the license on their popular Mapbox-gl-js library, used by many to power their fancy in-app maps. They went from the very permissive BSD license to one that contains these fragments: "This license allows developers with a current active Mapbox … Continue reading Open-Source and Bootstrapping
Tech Stacks and Indie Hacking
David Heinemeier Hansson tweeted about Shopify this week. A lot. He was shining a light on their use of the Ruby on Rails framework, which he open-sourced back in 2004. That sixteen-year-old software powers a business that processed over $100m in sales per hour at peak Black Friday. Not only is Shopify running on Ruby … Continue reading Tech Stacks and Indie Hacking
The Rewards and Perils of Being Your Own Customer
There are many risks and advantages to being your own customer. Today, I want to talk about how I am doing this with my current business, PermanentLink, and how Danielle and I did this with our previous company FeedbackPanda. So, what do I mean by being customer #1? I'm talking about using your own product … Continue reading The Rewards and Perils of Being Your Own Customer
When Privacy and Customer Value Clash
This week, I want to talk about a critical decision in the life of my new SaaS project PermanentLink. I've been doing some research on competitors and competitive alternatives. I looked into link forwarders, link shorteners, link branding services, pretty much anything that could technically compete with my core product, which boils down to branded … Continue reading When Privacy and Customer Value Clash
