In episode 688, Rob Walling interviews Lane Wagner, founder of Boot.dev. Boot.dev is a learning platform gamified to teach backend development. They discuss the journey of bootstrapping Boot.dev, its explosive growth, and its unique business model. Lane also shares challenges of running a B2C business, why he took some funding, and the significance of customer lifetime value over MRR in his business.

Topics we cover: 

• 2:38 – Boot.dev seeing incredible growth
• 3:35 – Growing on YouTube with partnerships
• 5:42 – Teaching Python and Go as a B2C business
• 7:49 – “This is not really SaaS”, considering JTBD
• 11:18 – The beginnings of Boot.dev, serving the backend niche
• 14:21 – Gaining the confidence to quit the day job
• 15:51 – Deciding to raise funding and “mostly” bootstrap
• 20:31 – Enduring hardship before turning the corner on growth
• 26:38 – Finding the right revenue metric for the business

Links from the Show: 

• MicroConf US - Atlanta - April 21 - 23, 2024
• Interested in Sponsoring MicroConf Content?
• Subscribe for Exclusive Episodes
• Lane from Boot.dev (@wagslane) | X
• Boot.dev
• Profitable, at last!
• Purple Cow by Seth Godin

If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you!

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