People love to put other people in boxes. Metaphorically, of course. We do love our categories and classifications. On social media, we can leverage one of four major roles: we can be creators, curators, commentators, and connectors. Focusing on one of these roles will provide a clear path toward building an equally focused audience. Let’s … Continue reading Choose Your Own Adventure: Creator, Curator, Commentator, or Connector
Author: Arvid Kahl
Arvid Kahl is a software engineer turned entrepreneur. He co-founded and ran 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.
He has written the best-selling book Zero to Sold and is currently writing The Embedded Entrepreneur.
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.
Scalable Customer Service for Bootstrappers
When we sold FeedbackPanda back in 2019 for a life-changing amount of money, we still ran it as a two-person business. Although we had over 5000 customers at that point —which generated over $55.000 in monthly recurring revenue, we didn't need a dedicated customer support position in our EdTech SaaS business. We built a highly … Continue reading Scalable Customer Service for Bootstrappers
Managing Expectations: Making Good (on) Promises.
https://youtu.be/91ZGnnR-O4U Expectation management. What is that? It sure sounds like mind control. I don’t think my expectations are anything that someone else can manage. Nobody can dive into my mind and magically alter what I believe will happen. The only thing you can do to impact what I expect is to make promises. There is … Continue reading Managing Expectations: Making Good (on) Promises.
You Don’t Need to be an Extrovert to Build in Public — an Introvert’s Perspective
One of the major reasons people don’t start building in public is that they don’t want to stand in the proverbial spotlight. They don’t want to be exposed. Building in public is by definition a public act, and if you’re anything like me, you prefer keeping a low profile. At least, I usually do. But … Continue reading You Don’t Need to be an Extrovert to Build in Public — an Introvert’s Perspective
Why Founders End Up Unemployable
In most entrepreneurs’ lives, there comes a point where they jokingly claim to be “unemployable.” It usually happens in the middle of a conversation about the benefits and drawbacks of having a boss. After setting out on their first self-directed business journey, many founders have a hard time imagining themselves back on the clock as … Continue reading Why Founders End Up Unemployable
Seven Kinds of Entrepreneurial Debt
When I need to relax, I paint little miniatures. It’s a hobby I have had since I was a teenager, and once a nerd, always a nerd. But as an adult nerd with disposable income and dedicated “hobby time,” I am part of a community, and I ran into a YouTube video of a fellow … Continue reading Seven Kinds of Entrepreneurial Debt
Entrepreneurial Anti-Patterns — What to Avoid When You’re Starting a Business
They say all roads lead to Rome. Well, reality proves them wrong. And who are "they" anyway? When we look at successful businesses, we see many different approaches that got them to where they are today. But we can also notice the absence of several strategies that don't seem to create reliable pathways to success. … Continue reading Entrepreneurial Anti-Patterns — What to Avoid When You’re Starting a Business
What Founders Can Learn from Professional WoW Gamers
If you want to see tenacity at work, watch professional gamers racing to be the first to kill the latest dungeon boss in World of Warcraft. Every time Activision Blizzard releases new dungeon content, the world's best guilds join the "Race to World First." They grind through days, sometimes weeks, of trying to overcome the … Continue reading What Founders Can Learn from Professional WoW Gamers
How I Find Twitter Content Ideas
On Twitter's own blog, their "content idea" section suggests that you "tweet a GIF." Yeah. Let's come up with something better. I've been building an audience of over 50.000 on Twitter over the last two years. I will share the strategies and tactics I use to come up with relevant and helpful daily content to … Continue reading How I Find Twitter Content Ideas
How I (Fortunately) Failed to Launch an NFT Collection
A few months ago, I ran an NFT experiment that failed horribly. I put a lot of effort into creating and minting a few pieces of visual art that I thought would resonate with my audience, and then the whole thing fizzled out. I believe it's time to share this particular failure today. There are … Continue reading How I (Fortunately) Failed to Launch an NFT Collection
