The Bootstrapped Founder

Aaron Francis (@aarondfrancis) lost his job and gained a new outlook on life — or rather, he stepped into entrepreneurship for good. Aaron weighed his options, found old friends who were ready for new adventures and finally took the plunge that his supportive audience wanted to see him take.Building his platform in public got him here. The skills he developed along the way keep t

This week, I share my journey to finding Ideal Customer Profile — live on air. In this episode, I share my framework for determining who I will build for, market to, and sell to. I have a few candidate, and I work through my steps to find the right one for Podscan.fm.This episode is sponsored by Acquire.comThe blog post: https://thebootstrappedfounder.com/finding-my-ideal-custome

Jessica Malnik (@jessicamalnik) deeply understands how remote work has changed the world of marketing and running a business. And fortunately, she's sharing her knowledge.In fact, we talk a lot about how to communicate right: with your customers, with your market, and even with your globally distributed remote employees. From preventing coworker burnout to customer engagement strat

Big news! Podscan.fm, my B2B SaaS that alerts you when your keywords or topics are mentioned in any podcast anywhere, has received bootstrapper-aligned funding from Calm Company Fund.Booya!I share why I, ever the solopreneur bootstrapper, said yes to venture money, what that enables, what risks I see, and just exactly how this kind of non-crazy funding works.Calm Company SEAL: http

Mike Taylor (@hammer_mt) literally wrote the book on Prompt Engineering. He paints a vivid picture of a future where generative AI could make our traditional databases look like ancient relics, and the role of developers shifts dramatically. Instead of crafting code, they could be steering the helm of AI-generated software, potentially dealing with the whims of a virtual 'petulant

I’m a pretty okay developer, but when it comes to marketing and sales, I really need help. And for the longest time, I’ve held myself back.That ends today.My current SaaS business, Podscan, is at a point where some very important decisions need to be made. I’ve got something quite big in the works, and I’ll be talking about this next week in much more detail, but it made me

Johannes Radig (@joradig) runs a SaaS from the Canary Islands — the most recent stop on a globe-spanning digital nomad trip. Johannes and I chat about building a software business for agencies, how hard it is to find just the right prices, and what traditional marketing efforts can do for indie hackers. We dive into Leadsie, the social media onboarding SaaS he co-founded, and how

“If this tech keeps developing as fast as it does right now, will I ever be able to catch up?” is a question on my mind and the minds of many founders I’ve been talking to recently.So, what about AI should we focus on? Where will this tech slow down, where will it speed up even more, and what should we focus on for our businesses?This episode is sponsored by Acquire.comThe bl

Tyler Tringas (@tylertringas) invests in bootstrapped businesses. Wait… Aren't those supposed to NOT take investment money? What's going on here?Alignment is what's going on. Where traditional VC's often have very different goals from founders, funds like Tyler's Calm Company Fund focus on helping niche software businesses that don't chase hypergrowth. Instead, Tyler supports tho

Ever since I started building Podscan in public, I’ve received a lot of attention.And it’s been spectacular: I’ve found early users, prospects, customers, and cheerleaders.Apparently, when people see something get traction, they want to be a part of it. Besides the much welcome support on social media, this has also resulted in a few offers that go beyond monthly subscription