MegaMaker

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3/2/2024
8 : 14

Product Hunt – worth it?

Remember when... ​ Launching your product on Product Hunt (in the old days) could get you hundreds (or thousands) of new users. In his recent post, Tibo reflected: "When we launched Tweet Hunter
2/19/2024
1 : 44

Do this first, 100x

Howdy! ​ It's time for another SaaS marketing tip. When you're about to launch something new, your first step shouldn't be buying ads, optimizing for SEO, or posting on social media. One of
2/10/2024
21 : 44

Is once enough?

Howdy! ​ Eight years ago, I wrote a piece asking: are we at peak SaaS? My thesis was that people were tired of paying subscriptions for software and that the SaaS market was ripe for disruption.* Late
2/3/2024
10 : 14

A simple tip for user signups

Howdy! ​ A local company here in Vernon asked if I could go for coffee. They are in a bind: they need to increase revenue dramatically, or they won't be able to pay their operational expenses. They
1/27/2024
9 : 24

I can't believe they chose us

Howdy! ​ I've been a huge fan of the Acquired podcast for a while. They do deep-dive episodes on the history of great companies: Nike, Costco, NFL, Nintendo. They're a big deal, with nearly a
1/20/2024
9 : 24

What are you doing now?

Howdy! ​ Thanks to everyone who replied to last week's newsletter. I got more responses than I expected! Seems like lots of folks are excited about this year's direction. As mentioned last week
1/14/2024
9 : 24

What you'll get this year

Howdy! ​ I've decided that in 2024, the main theme of my writing will be marketing and growth tips for SaaS founders. Why? I listen to a lot of bootstrapping podcasts. A recurring sentiment by
1/5/2024
9 : 54

My 2023 year in review

​ Howdy! ​ Happy New Year! Today, I'm sending you my annual review. Justin in Berlin For the last ten years, I've been sharing my thoughts and reflections in a year-in-review post each year. As
11/21/2023
20 : 24

Please don't do this

I can't believe someone just sent me this. ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌
11/17/2023
2 : 52

Don't ignore the Prosumer market

The normal advice for people building SaaS companies is "Don't build software for consumers (B2C); build it for businesses (B2B)." ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌
9/30/2023
12 : 4

How to do indie marketing these days

Here's 9 ideas that I think still work in 2023 ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌
9/22/2023
18 : 44

Flipping tables and hiring kids

It's me, JJ. ​ I have tons of stuff to share with you: the Transistor team and I just got back from our team retreat in Nashville (here are some photos). And soon, I'll be heading to Belgium to
9/5/2023
13 : 34

How I would build a new startup if I had to do it all over

I've been brainstorming how I would build a new indie startup if I had to do it again in 2023. Here are 5 principles I'd use. ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌
8/5/2023
8 : 14

Haven't heard from Paul Jarvis in a while

What ever happened to Paul? ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌
7/22/2023
8 : 14

What I learned about you

hey, here's a few thoughts from today Thanks to everyone who replied to last week's email. I believe I got 63 responses, and while I couldn't respond to every email, I read all of them.
7/16/2023
13 : 14

Where are you at?

hey, here's a few thoughts from today One of the challenges of running this email list (which I started in 2008!) is knowing where everyone's at in their journey and what they're looking
7/8/2023
8 : 14

Ouch.

hey, here's a few thoughts from today Well, this hasn't been the most fun week on my mountain bike. 😬 I was heading down to the chairlift at the downhill park, slipped on some gravel, and fell
6/21/2023
19 : 34

Are you too cheap?

At one point, he admitted that his product was priced lower than his competitors. ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌
6/20/2023
5 : 44

So much going on

hey, here's a few thoughts from today June is a busy month: my wife just started a new job, school is winding down for all my kids, my eldest son is graduating grade 12, my daughter is visiting us
5/12/2023
7 : 29

Another perspective: can parents bootstrap?

hey, here's a few thoughts from today That last email (and this blog post and this tweet thread) elicited a lot of responses. It tuns out, many of you are parents thinking about bootstrapping (or