Bootstrapped Web | For Entrepreneurs Bootstrapping Web Startups | Interviews & Business Case Studies

This week, Brian and Jordan yap about: – Strategic partnerships – Pricing on transactions – Communicating company direction (internally) – Developer-focused content – …Creatine pills? We’re running out of ideas! Hit us up on Twitter (@casjam, @jordangal) and tell us what we should talk about. Brian on Twitter Jordan on Twitter  ZipMessage Rally As always, thanks for tuning in. Head here to leave a review on iTunes. 

Back for our weekly founder therapy session, err… podcast episode Here’s what’s up this week: – Brian (finally) ships sub-threads in ZipMessage – Jordan’s hiring an SDR – Learning from strategic decisions that went wrong – Product insights with vs without a product in market Brian on Twitter Jordan on Twitter  ZipMessage Rally As always, thanks for tuning in. Head here to leave a review on iTunes. 

We kick off 2023 with a grab bag of topics: – Jordan’s building in public more – Brian’s building solo with contractors – Headless ecom becoming “a thing” – ChatGPT is firmly in Brian’s coding workflow Brian on Twitter Jordan on Twitter  ZipMessage Rally As always, thanks for tuning in. Head here to leave a review on iTunes. 

We look back on the ups and downs in 2022 and look ahead to 2023. The emotional rollercoaster rolls on… Thanks for listening and for sticking with us another year on Bootstrapped Web. “Everything before product-market fit is a form of suffering” – Jordan Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This Talking Points:  Viruses, holiday cards, and coming back from vacation 2022 for ZipMessage and Rally Lack of product-market fit  Tim Ferriss’ Fear Setting The Ten-Year Business Staying “based” and staying true to your vision Themes and goals for 2023 Building features specifically for specific markets “The first year [for Zipmessage] was a dream and the second year was more bumpy and challenging.” – Brian Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This Resources: Brian on Twitter Jordan on Twitter  ZipMessage Rally As always, thanks for tuning in. Head here to leave a review on iTunes. 

We asked ChatGPT to suggest some topics for today’s episode but it came up short. So you’ll have to settle for the boring human versions of Brian and Jordan, talking about what’s happening in ZipMessage and Rally. Enjoy. If you have any questions, comments, or topic ideas for Bootstrapped Web, leave us a message here. “What can this do? How does this change our product? Does this change things significantly enough that we should come off our roadmap?” – Jordan Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This Here are today’s conversation points: The future of AI and creators Q4 spreadsheets and budgeting Updates in Rally and ZipMessage SEO content Marketing and sales Product-led content “If we’re not working on those growth graphs, I don’t feel comfortable. But, at the same time, I need to work more on the product” – Brian Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This Resources: Brian on Twitter Jordan on Twitter  ZipMessage Rally A

Our obligatory take on Twitter in the Elon era.  Also: SEO, board meetings, and growth targets.  What are your thoughts on Twitter in the time of Elon? How do you run your board meetings? When it comes to growth targets, where do you focus your energy?  If you have any questions, comments, or topic ideas for Bootstrapped Web, leave us a message here “The more Twitter is in everyone’s everyday lives, the more leverage Twitter and Elon have to start taking marketshare in these parts of life.” – Brian Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This Here are today’s conversation points: The conclusion of Jordan’s moving sagaThe new era of TwitterVerificationTwitter as a productBuilding in publicTeam retreats and all-hands meetingsZipMessage updatesSEO: quantity, speed, and AI toolsBoard meetings and keeping recordsGrowth Targets “I would love to build a culture where anyone in the company can say, ‘I think we’re focusing on this thing when we shouldn’t’ or ‘I think we’re missing this enti

Jordan talks defining their category and stepping back into the sales demo seat. Brian launched a community strategy while big product plans are underway in Q4. If you have any questions, comments, or topic ideas for Bootstrapped Web, leave us a message here. “The single, most important element was… record your demos.” – Jordan Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This Here are today’s conversation points: NoSnowTinyConf RecapResidual issues that arise after raising fundsRally updatesLaunch of Coach Club and Coach Club DigestTreating marketing as a productTeam updates, accountability, and weekly stand-ups “[I love] approaching marketing like its a product in itself.” – Brian Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This Resources: Coach Club Brian on Twitter Jordan on Twitter  ZipMessage Rally As always, thanks for tuning in. Head here to leave a review on iTunes. 

What tools do you use for sales and support? Which tools work best for project management? How do you know who to hire first if you’re a bootstrapped company? Brian and Jordan asked for your questions and Twitter delivered. Today, they are answering Twitter’s questions about what tools they use, and who to hire, and when.   If you have any questions, comments, or topic ideas for Bootstrapped Web, leave us a message here. “It’s interesting the way we think of tools and how we sell tools to other companies.” – Jordan Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This Here are today’s conversation Points:  NoSnow TinyConfTools that we use: Techstack (Laravel, Angular, React, Ruby on Rails, PHP, Tailwind)Project Management (Github, Notion, MixPanel, Confluence, Jira)Marketing Changelog Sales, Marketing, and Support (Pipedrive, Asana, Hubspot, Salesforce, Intercom, Customer.io, HelpSpace, HelpScout)Metrics and Internal Tracking (Grafana, Profitwell, ChartMogul, MixPanel, Amplitude, Googl

Brian and Jordan are back behind the mic and are powered by the chilly fall weather and some pretty strong cold brew. Are you ready for the most random Bootstrapped Web episode yet?  How do you navigate the Catch-22 that is operations versus growth? If you were to jump into a completely different niche or industry right now, what business would you start? Brian and Jordan are answering some of your questions and topics submitted through Twitter.  If you have any questions, comments, or topic ideas for Bootstrapped Web, leave us a message here “Every business that I’ve ever had, has been a reaction to the previous business.” – Brian Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This Here are today’s conversation Points:  Operations versus growth In SaaS versus as a freelancerWhat you need to do in order to not interrupt the forward momentumInvite-only feature launch with ZipMessageDoes funding really help extend your roadmap?The Catch-22 of growth and operationsNew and differen

What are the rocks in your life right now? How do you balance work and life? What are some good compartmentalizing tactics, so you can leave work at work? What are routines and habits that work for your schedule and team? Today, Brian and Jordan are talking about their daily routines and how they plan their days around work, their personal life, exercise, and with team members that are scattered all around the globe. They share different time-saving tricks, apps that help hold them accountable to staying healthy, and their opinions on morning productivity and pulling all-nighters. If you have any questions, comments, or topic ideas for Bootstrapped Web, leave us a message here “I have some real issues with the morning. I’m not very productive in the morning.” – Jordan Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This Here are today’s conversation Points:  Rocks, pebbles, and boulders (and hair and sand)Daily routines and how to optimize your dayPersonal lifeProfessional lifeMorning producti