Build Your SaaS

👋 Justin here. This episode is to let you know why there's no episode today. (I've had a few DMs from folks that were worried!)We're good; we had some server trouble this morning that took all our time and attention today. We're hoping to be back next Tuesday with a full episode.Thanks everyone; we appreciate your support! ✌️Special thanks to Dean Layton James, from CloudPeriscope and Benedikt Evans from UserList for giving us ideas on how to fix our issues today! ❤️You can reply to this podcast here:Twitter: @buildyoursaas, @mijustin, @jonbudaLeave a comment on PodHunt; it's like Reddit, but for podcasts.Email us: mail@transistor.fm★ Bootstrapper shout-out of the week:SeekWell.io"Send SQL (MySQL, Postgres, Snowflake, Redshift, and SQL Server) to Google Sheets, Excel, Slack, or email"Thanks to our monthly supporters:Colt BorgMarc BeinderAnton ZorinBill CondoSofia QuinteroDiogoChris WillowMason HensleyBorja Soler teami.ioWard from MemberSpace.comEric LimaJames Sowers (like Flowers) with UserInput.ioTravis FischerMatt Buckley, from NiceThings.io Russell BrownEvandro SassePradyumna Shembekar (PD), pradyumna.devNoah Prail, eventOneHQ.comRobert Simplicio, Simplicio.comColin Gray alitu.comJosh Smith, hellosift.comIvan CurkovicBrian Rhea (Pronounced “Ray”)Shane Smith, dev.transistor.fmAustin LovelessMichael Sitver, letterjoy.coPaul Jarvis and Jack Ellis, usefathom.com Dan Buda danbuda.comDarby FreySamori Augusto, thebicrowd.comBrad from CanadaSammy SchuckertMike WalkerAdam DuVanderDave Giunta (JOOnta)Kyle Fox GetRewardful.com Thanks to our monthly supporters Pascal from sharpen.page Rewardful.com Greg Park Mitchell Davis from RecruitKit.com.au Marcel Fahle, wearebold.af Bill Condo (@mavrck) Ward from MemberSpace.com Evandro Sasse Austin Loveless Michael Sitver Colin Gray Dave Giunta 🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.📺 Learn how to start your own podcast! ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

This week on the program, Justin and Jon talk about:The new Transistor UI, and how folks are responding to it."Damn the torpedoes!" – seeing if our update worked in IE11 after we deployed.Tobias Lütke, Shopify: “All the trends have been accelerated. The pandemic has moved everything forward 10 years. So now we need to build 2030 level software in 2020.”Restaurant trends:https://www.exploretock.com/https://themargins.substack.com/p/doordash-and-pizza-arbitrageBug bounties - what do other SaaS companies do with these?Mike Myers on ConanYou can reply to this podcast here:Twitter: @buildyoursaas, @mijustin, @jonbudaLeave a comment on PodHunt; it's like Reddit, but for podcasts.Email us: mail@transistor.fm★ Bootstrapper shout-out of the week:ScrapingBee"A web-scraping API that takes care of proxies and headless browsing for you so you'll never get blocked again while scraping."Used by companies like SAP and Zapier!Thanks to our monthly supporters:Anton ZorinBill CondoSofia QuinteroDiogoChris WillowMason HensleyBorja Soler teami.ioWard from MemberSpace.comEric LimaJames Sowers (like Flowers) with UserInput.ioTravis FischerMatt Buckley, from NiceThings.io Russell BrownEvandro SassePradyumna Shembekar (PD), pradyumna.devNoah Prail, eventOneHQ.comRobert Simplicio, Simplicio.comColin Gray alitu.comJosh Smith, hellosift.comIvan CurkovicBrian Rhea (Pronounced “Ray”)Shane Smith, dev.transistor.fmAustin LovelessMichael Sitver, letterjoy.coPaul Jarvis and Jack Ellis, usefathom.com Dan Buda danbuda.comDarby FreySamori Augusto, thebicrowd.comBrad from CanadaSammy SchuckertMike WalkerAdam DuVanderDave Giunta (JOOnta)Kyle Fox GetRewardful.com Thanks to our monthly supporters Pascal from sharpen.page Rewardful.com Greg Park Mitchell Davis from RecruitKit.com.au Marcel Fahle, wearebold.af Bill Condo (@mavrck) Ward from MemberSpace.com Evandro Sasse Austin Loveless Michael Sitver Colin Gray Dave Giunta 🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.📺 Learn how to start your own podcast! ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

This week on the program:As requested, we're going to start highlighting our listeners who are building their own SaaS.This week: Simon Bennett, a long-time Patreon supporter and a friend of the show.He just went full time on his project https://snapshooter.io, which does automatic backups for Digital Ocean. Simon had just put his kids to bed (he's in the UK) and sat down in his office to have a chat with Justin.You can reply to this podcast here:Twitter: @buildyoursaas, @mijustin, @jonbuda, @MrSimonBennettLeave a comment on PodHunt; it's like Reddit, but for podcasts.Email us: mail@transistor.fm★ Need a podcast?Transistor allows you to host all of your podcasts in one place.We also offer private podcasts: use them with your team, or on your membership site.Get a 14-day trial here.Thanks to our monthly supporters:Anton ZorinBill CondoSofia QuinteroDiogoChris WillowMason HensleyBorja Soler teami.ioWard from MemberSpace.comEric LimaJames Sowers (like Flowers) with UserInput.ioTravis FischerMatt Buckley, from NiceThings.io Russell BrownEvandro SassePradyumna Shembekar (PD), pradyumna.devNoah Prail, eventOneHQ.comRobert Simplicio, Simplicio.comColin Gray alitu.comJosh Smith, hellosift.comIvan CurkovicBrian Rhea (Pronounced “Ray”)Shane Smith, dev.transistor.fmAustin LovelessMichael Sitver, letterjoy.coPaul Jarvis and Jack Ellis, usefathom.com Dan Buda danbuda.comDarby FreySamori Augusto, thebicrowd.comBrad from CanadaSammy SchuckertMike WalkerAdam DuVanderDave Giunta (JOOnta)Kyle Fox GetRewardful.com Thanks to our monthly supporters Pascal from sharpen.page Rewardful.com Greg Park Mitchell Davis from RecruitKit.com.au Marcel Fahle, wearebold.af Bill Condo (@mavrck) Ward from MemberSpace.com Evandro Sasse Austin Loveless Michael Sitver Colin Gray Dave Giunta 🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.📺 Learn how to start your own podcast! ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

What do you do when a competitor steals your idea? (plus: Justin and Jon have the giggles).People in tech get bent out of shape about who owns certain ideas, UI patterns, and business models.“They ripped off my idea”"They copied us!"This blog post by Justin Mitchell:https://medium.com/@itsthisjustin/no-idea-is-unique-but-this-is-insane-a247ec80f6a7Good Stackexchange thread:“In the history of science, this is known as "Railroad time". I.e, when the economy has reached a certain state of infrastructure (coal, steel, and land available, plus steam engines and demand for transportation), it's "Railroad time", and the idea of building railroads occurs to many people naturally at the same time.”Documentary: https://www.generalmagicthemovie.com/Multiple discovery (simultaneous invention): “the hypothesis that most scientific discoveries and inventions are made independently and more or less simultaneously by multiple scientists and inventors”Synchronicity: “the simultaneous occurrence of events which appear significantly related but have no discernible causal connection.”Collective consciousness.How to respond if a competitor rips of your idea: Paul Jarvis tweet: "fathom copycats pop up so often that i've lost count. we honestly don't mind them... they STOKE THE FIRE 🔥 to make our product even better."Hedge against the competition:Build your brand: the way people perceive your company; how “top of mind” are you?Build your audience: competitors can't easily replicate who you know, and who knows you.Customer service: how well you take care of people; how responsive you areContinued product improvement: you don’t have to be the most novel; you just have to show continuous improvement in vectors that customers care about.Last longer than your competition: don’t hire too many people, keep your costs low; if you can outlast your competition, you don’t have to worry about them stealing your stuff.You can reply to this podcast here:Twitter: @buildyoursaas, @mijustin, @jonbudaLeave a comment on PodHunt; it's like Reddit, but for podcasts.Email us: mail@transistor.fm★ Need a podcast?Transistor allows you to host all of your podcasts in one place.We also offer private podcasts: use them with your team, or on your membership site.Get a 14-day trial here.Thanks to our monthly supporters:Bill CondoSofia QuinteroDiogoChris WillowMason HensleyBorja Soler teami.ioWard from MemberSpace.comEric LimaJames Sowers (like Flowers) with UserInput.ioTravis FischerMatt Buckley, from NiceThings.io Russell BrownEvandro SassePradyumna Shembekar (PD), pradyumna.devNoah Prail, eventOneHQ.comRobert Simplicio, Simplicio.comColin Gray alitu.comJosh Smith, hellosift.comIvan CurkovicBrian Rhea (Pronounced “Ray”)Shane Smith, dev.transistor.fmAustin LovelessMichael Sitver, letterjoy.coPaul Jarvis and Jack Ellis, usefathom.com Dan Buda danbuda.comDarby FreySamori Augusto, thebicrowd.comBrad from CanadaSammy SchuckertMike WalkerAdam DuVanderDave Giunta (JOOnta)Kyle Fox GetRewardful.com Thanks to our monthly supporters Pascal from sharpen.page Rewardful.com Greg Park Mitchell Davis from RecruitKit.com.au Marcel Fahle, wearebold.af Bill Condo (@mavrck) Ward from MemberSpace.com Evandro Sasse Austin Loveless Michael Sitver Colin Gray Dave Giunta 🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.📺 Learn how to start your own podcast! ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Justin and Justin talk about where they're at.Podcasts like the Project Journey show, are at the beginning of their journey.Marie Poulin is a good example of an entrepreneur who's experienced a breakthrough this year; we should celebrate those!Justin's tweet: "What are we doing this for? Is the purpose of life to "Start business. Make most money. Die." We want to engage with an audience that wants more out of life.""Stay in your lane." The people who listen to this show aren't one-dimensional. We all live in a social, economic, and political context. We have feelings, families, histories. "Business" exists within these contexts. If our ideas about business are divorced from their human context, how helpful are they really?22:18 – the Tailwind CSS project is plumbing. 23:15 – what kind of SaaS projects would we start right now?27:10 – how much money does Nathan Barry have in the bank?28:50 – you could still build this kind of app (Carrd competitor)29:30 – Miguel's new product SiteSauce.appYou can reply to this podcast here:Twitter: @buildyoursaas, @mijustin, @jonbudaLeave a comment on PodHunt; it's like Reddit, but for podcasts.Email us: mail@transistor.fm★ Need a podcast?Transistor allows you to host all of your podcasts in one place.We also offer private podcasts: use them with your team, or on your membership site.Get a 14-day trial here.Thanks to our monthly supporters:Sofia QuinteroDiogoChris WillowMason HensleyBorja Soler teami.ioWard from MemberSpace.comEric LimaJames Sowers (like Flowers) with UserInput.ioTravis FischerMatt Buckley, from NiceThings.io Russell BrownEvandro SassePradyumna Shembekar (PD), pradyumna.devNoah Prail, eventOneHQ.comRobert Simplicio, Simplicio.comColin Gray alitu.comJosh Smith, hellosift.comIvan CurkovicBrian Rhea (Pronounced “Ray”)Shane Smith, dev.transistor.fmAustin LovelessSimon Bennett, snapshooter.ioMichael Sitver, letterjoy.coPaul Jarvis and Jack Ellis, usefathom.com Dan Buda danbuda.comDarby FreySamori Augusto, thebicrowd.comBrad from CanadaSammy SchuckertMike WalkerAdam DuVanderDave Giunta (JOOnta)Kyle Fox GetRewardful.com Thanks to our monthly supporters Pascal from sharpen.page Rewardful.com Greg Park Mitchell Davis from RecruitKit.com.au Marcel Fahle, wearebold.af Bill Condo (@mavrck) Ward from MemberSpace.com Evandro Sasse Austin Loveless Michael Sitver Colin Gray Dave Giunta 🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.📺 Learn how to start your own podcast! ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

This week on the show:Jon baked bread. Got some sunshine. Avoiding social media, the other diseaseJustin WAS ON SOCIAL MEDIA. Read this Andreesen post that everyone’s talking about: https://a16z.com/2020/04/18/its-time-to-build/That conversation lead to this tweet: https://twitter.com/mijustin/status/1251946371050954752What does the future hold?Dan Price tweet: "After the most recent 15 deadly outbreaks, wages grew over the ensuing 3 decades by a lot."Jamie Lawrence tweet: "What I’d like to see small local businesses come out of this crisis with."Can we give ourselves a deadline for the Tailwind project? What should it be?What should we think about shaping next?APIHelping podcasters make moneyAnalyticsPrivate podcasting featurePodcast websitesYou can reply to this podcast here:Twitter: @buildyoursaas, @mijustin, @jonbuda, @shpigfordLeave a comment on PodHunt; it's like Reddit, but for podcasts.Email us: mail@transistor.fm★ Need a podcast?Transistor allows you to host all of your podcasts in one place.We also offer private podcasts: use them with your team, or on your membership site.Get a 14-day trial here.Thanks to our monthly supporters:Sofia QuinteroDiogoChris WillowMason HensleyBorja Soler teami.ioWard from MemberSpace.comEric LimaJames Sowers (like Flowers) with UserInput.ioTravis FischerMatt Buckley, from NiceThings.io Russell BrownEvandro SassePradyumna Shembekar (PD), pradyumna.devNoah Prail, eventOneHQ.comRobert Simplicio, Simplicio.comColin Gray alitu.comJosh Smith, hellosift.comIvan CurkovicBrian Rhea (Pronounced “Ray”)Shane Smith, dev.transistor.fmAustin LovelessSimon Bennett, snapshooter.ioMichael Sitver, letterjoy.coPaul Jarvis and Jack Ellis, usefathom.com Dan Buda danbuda.comDarby FreySamori Augusto, thebicrowd.comBrad from CanadaSammy SchuckertMike WalkerAdam DuVanderDave Giunta (JOOnta)Kyle Fox GetRewardful.com Thanks to our monthly supporters Pascal from sharpen.page Rewardful.com Greg Park Mitchell Davis from RecruitKit.com.au Marcel Fahle, wearebold.af Bill Condo (@mavrck) Ward from MemberSpace.com Evandro Sasse Austin Loveless Michael Sitver Colin Gray Dave Giunta 🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.📺 Learn how to start your own podcast! ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

This week, Justin called up Josh Pigford, founder of Baremetrics:Baremetrics does analytics for SaaS companiesI called him up just to get a sense of how this pandemic (and looming recession) has already started to affect different SaaS companiesHe's already noticing some trends: "A lot of SaaS companies are seeing the biggest loss they've seen in the past 4 weeks. I've heard from some companies that are seeing a 10-20% decrease in MRR.""Payroll is the biggest challenge over the next year. Payroll is our biggest expense."How are you going to ride this out?"We use Flight Path + Baremetrics to forecast revenue and expenses."Justin's tweet: "here are the companies doing well right now."A preview of a new feature that Baremetrics is building: automated email messaging for SaaS companies.Josh's side-projects: Cedar + Sail, LasertweetsYou can reply to this podcast here:Twitter: @buildyoursaas, @mijustin, @jonbuda, @shpigfordLeave a comment on PodHunt; it's like Reddit, but for podcasts.Email us: mail@transistor.fm★ Need a podcast?Transistor allows you to host all of your podcasts in one place.We also offer private podcasts: use them with your team, or on your membership site.Get a 14-day trial here.Thanks to our monthly supporters:Sofia QuinteroDiogoChris WillowMason HensleyBorja Soler teami.ioWard from MemberSpace.comEric LimaJames Sowers (like Flowers) with UserInput.ioTravis FischerMatt Buckley, from NiceThings.io Russell BrownEvandro SassePradyumna Shembekar (PD), pradyumna.devNoah Prail, eventOneHQ.comRobert Simplicio, Simplicio.comColin Gray alitu.comJosh Smith, hellosift.comIvan CurkovicBrian Rhea (Pronounced “Ray”)Shane Smith, dev.transistor.fmAustin LovelessSimon Bennett, snapshooter.ioMichael Sitver, letterjoy.coPaul Jarvis and Jack Ellis, usefathom.com Dan Buda danbuda.comDarby FreySamori Augusto, thebicrowd.comBrad from CanadaSammy SchuckertMike WalkerAdam DuVanderDave Giunta (JOOnta)Kyle Fox GetRewardful.com Thanks to our monthly supporters Pascal from sharpen.page Rewardful.com Greg Park Mitchell Davis from RecruitKit.com.au Marcel Fahle, wearebold.af Bill Condo (@mavrck) Ward from MemberSpace.com Evandro Sasse Austin Loveless Michael Sitver Colin Gray Dave Giunta 🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.📺 Learn how to start your own podcast! ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Today, we are joined by a very special guest: Dave Giunta! What does Daft Punk look like without their helmets? HomeChef How has demand for meal kits and food delivery increased since coronavirus?You can reply to this podcast here:Twitter: @buildyoursaas, @mijustin, @jonbuda, @dgiuntaLeave a comment on PodHunt; it's like Reddit, but for podcasts.Leave a comment on Breaker, the podcast app for iPhone.Interact on WhatPods.Email us: mail@transistor.fmThanks to our monthly supporters:Sofia QuinteroDiogoChris WillowMason HensleyBorja Soler teami.ioWard from MemberSpace.comEric LimaJames Sowers (like Flowers) with UserInput.ioTravis FischerMatt Buckley, from NiceThings.io Russell BrownEvandro SassePradyumna Shembekar (PD), pradyumna.devNoah Prail, eventOneHQ.comRobert Simplicio, Simplicio.comColin Gray alitu.comJosh Smith, hellosift.comIvan CurkovicBrian Rhea (Pronounced “Ray”)Shane Smith, dev.transistor.fmAustin LovelessSimon Bennett, snapshooter.ioMichael Sitver, letterjoy.coPaul Jarvis and Jack Ellis, usefathom.com Dan Buda danbuda.comDarby FreySamori Augusto, thebicrowd.comBrad from CanadaSammy SchuckertMike WalkerAdam DuVanderDave Giunta (JOOnta)Kyle Fox GetRewardful.com Thanks to our monthly supporters Pascal from sharpen.page Rewardful.com Greg Park Mitchell Davis from RecruitKit.com.au Marcel Fahle, wearebold.af Bill Condo (@mavrck) Ward from MemberSpace.com Evandro Sasse Austin Loveless Michael Sitver Colin Gray Dave Giunta 🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.📺 Learn how to start your own podcast! ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Jon and Justin, still making sense of life (and business) in a pandemic:Jon put on pants today.Justin is mad at Amazon.You can reply to this podcast here:Twitter: @buildyoursaas, @mijustin, @jonbudaLeave a comment on PodHunt; it's like Reddit, but for podcasts.Leave a comment on Breaker, the podcast app for iPhone.Interact on WhatPods.Email us: mail@transistor.fmThanks to our monthly supporters:Sofia QuinteroDiogoChris WillowMason HensleyBorja Soler teami.ioWard from MemberSpace.comEric LimaJames Sowers (like Flowers) with UserInput.ioTravis FischerMatt Buckley, from NiceThings.io Russell BrownEvandro SassePradyumna Shembekar (PD), pradyumna.devNoah Prail, eventOneHQ.comRobert Simplicio, Simplicio.comColin Gray alitu.comJosh Smith, hellosift.comIvan CurkovicBrian Rhea (Pronounced “Ray”)Shane Smith, dev.transistor.fmAustin LovelessSimon Bennett, snapshooter.ioMichael Sitver, letterjoy.coPaul Jarvis and Jack Ellis, usefathom.com Dan Buda danbuda.comDarby FreySamori Augusto, thebicrowd.comBrad from CanadaSammy SchuckertMike WalkerAdam DuVanderDave Giunta (JOOnta)Kyle Fox GetRewardful.com Thanks to our monthly supporters Pascal from sharpen.page Rewardful.com Greg Park Mitchell Davis from RecruitKit.com.au Marcel Fahle, wearebold.af Bill Condo (@mavrck) Ward from MemberSpace.com Evandro Sasse Austin Loveless Michael Sitver Colin Gray Dave Giunta 🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.📺 Learn how to start your own podcast! ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Jon and Justin are hunkered down, and reeling from COVID-19:This is moving fast, so this podcast might already be out-of-date.Difference between the restrictions in Chicago and Vernon."It's hard to focus on Transistor and write any code.""There are all these people out there suffering, it's hard to know what to do.""You see these effects rippling through society, and then rippling towards you."7:50 – "It'd be nice to donate to everyone, but you just can't."8:40 – It's a multidimensional difficulty for businesses.9:15 – The tools for small shops are still not very good (especially the UX).Justin's tweet about Square10:14 – DNS is still the most difficult thing.11:00 – "These people are scrambling to save their businesses."Ivy and Dan Meehan’s podcast, LocalWhen did you start taking this seriously? On the Not Overthinking podcastWhat makes a business recession-proof?Henry Mintzberg: The Three Pillars for rebalancing societyInterview with Henry MintzbergAre we going to band together, and fight this together?MegaMaker SlackYou can reply to this podcast here:Twitter: @buildyoursaas, @mijustin, @jonbudaLeave a comment on PodHunt; it's like Reddit, but for podcasts.Leave a comment on Breaker, the podcast app for iPhone.Interact on WhatPods.Email us: mail@transistor.fmThanks to our monthly supporters:Sofia QuinteroDiogoChris WillowMason HensleyBorja Soler teami.ioWard from MemberSpace.comEric LimaJames Sowers (like Flowers) with UserInput.ioTravis FischerMatt Buckley, from NiceThings.io Russell BrownEvandro SassePradyumna Shembekar (PD), pradyumna.devNoah Prail, eventOneHQ.comRobert Simplicio, Simplicio.comColin Gray alitu.comJosh Smith, hellosift.comIvan CurkovicBrian Rhea (Pronounced “Ray”)Shane Smith, dev.transistor.fmAustin LovelessSimon Bennett, snapshooter.ioMichael Sitver, letterjoy.coPaul Jarvis and Jack Ellis, usefathom.com Dan Buda danbuda.comDarby FreySamori Augusto, thebicrowd.comBrad from CanadaSammy SchuckertMike WalkerAdam DuVanderDave Giunta (JOOnta)Kyle Fox GetRewardful.com Thanks to our monthly supporters Pascal from sharpen.page Rewardful.com Greg Park Mitchell Davis from RecruitKit.com.au Marcel Fahle, wearebold.af Bill Condo (@mavrck) Ward from MemberSpace.com Evandro Sasse Austin Loveless Michael Sitver Colin Gray Dave Giunta 🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.📺 Learn how to start your own podcast! ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★