Make Lemonade

The podcast discusses the recent Black Friday period, the release of new features, team growth, and building a marketplace. They also talk about starting a company remotely and building trust with someone they have never met. They mention challenges and strategies of hiring, as well as their excitement about upcoming launches and encounters with renowned figures in the industry.

The podcast discusses mental health challenges in startups, sharing personal experiences with depression and anxiety. They explore the root causes and burnout in startups, as well as how to address employee mental health. The hosts emphasize the importance of knowing when to push and finding balance. They also provide updates on Lemon Squeezy, including new features and increased GMV.

Aaron Francis, Educator at Planet Scale, talks about launching Screencasting.com, including structuring the course, marketing, pricing, and future plans. Also discusses the challenges of balancing work and family life, transitioning from accounting to software development, targeting developers, finding and purchasing the perfect domain, and strategies for avoiding burnout and finding success.

The podcast discusses the importance of shipping fast and the Simple Loveable Complete (SLC) approach to product development. They debunk the misconception around MVPs. They also talk about the benefits of shipping quickly over a weekend and the significance of open source contributions. The advantages of marketplace distribution and handling fees are explored. Different types of products available on Lemon Squeezy are discussed.

Now, if you knew you were going to sign a piece of paper that was going to make your company worth $50m, would you turn it down and walk away? Well, that’s exactly what has happened with JR and the Lemon Squeezy team, and is why we’ve had a brief break from the pod.But we’re back, and JR is ready to share all. We’ve lined up a cracking few episodes for this series of the show, including talking about walking away from the money, how shipping works at Lemon Squeezy, some of the mental challenges that come along with building a startup and a few special guest appearances along the way.In this episode, we’re going to be unpacking the process of raising series A funding, what are the things they don’t tell you, how long does it take, do you have to go to San Fransisco and ultimately making the big decision to turn down a life changing raise.Timestamps00:00 Intro02:15 Topics for Season 304:15 What's been happening at Lemon Squeezy08:11 The different types of raises12:42 Why explore fundraising?15:21 Raising in a challenging market16:27 The pitching process21:16 Choosing the right partner/VC23:22 Things JR got caught out by30:39 Why turn down the funding?As always thanks for being a listener of the Make Lemonade show. Hosted by @jrfarr & @jmckinven— brought to you by LemonSqueezy.com. If you're looking to sell digital products online, be sure to check out Lemon Squeezy or follow us on Twitter @lmsqueezy

Today we’re joined by the formidable Jack Ellis, co-founder of Fathom Analytics, the simple, privacy focused alternative to Google Analytics. While Jack isn’t running a successful software company, he spends time teaching people with his courses. He has two, which have made over $250k cumulativelyTimestamps:01:31 - Becoming the face of Fathom10:35 - Google vs Fathom13:22 - What are the alternatives to GA?15:56 - Product Growth Challenges18:27 - How does the Fathom team work?22:30 - Handling growth when questioning growth (at all costs)25:09 - Charging for a product that is usually free28:49 - Why focus on privacy34:24 - Who is Lemon Squeezy's customer?36:00 - Afilliates update37:18 - Making $250k with courses43:10 - Would they ever sell Fathom?45:42 - Jack Outside of workAs always thanks for being a listener of the Make Lemonade show. Hosted by @jrfarr & @jmckinven— brought to you by LemonSqueezy.com. If you're looking to sell digital products online, be sure to check out Lemon Squeezy or follow us on Twitter @lmsqueezy

Today JR and James joined by Arvid Kahl, who previously built and sold his SaaS, Feedback Panda, for a life changing amount of money. From then Arvid has made it his mission to help other indie founders build a successful bootstrapped business, through his books Zero to Sold and The Embedded Entrepreneur and also his weekly blog, newsletter and podcast, The Bootstrapped Founder.In this episode we talk all about how Arvid motivates himself to show up to write content every week, the economics behind a creator business and why he doesn’t just build another SaaS.Timestamps:03:49 Arvid's backstory06:25 Writing Zero to Sold11:54 Life after exiting your company13:23 What's it like writing a book16:41 Thinking in decades19:05 Would Arvid start another SaaS?22:42 Hiring external help24:32 Recording interviews vs solo podcasts28:25 The business side of The Bootstrapped Founder34:55 Finding purpose post-acquisition36:51 Funding vs Bootstrapping43:01 Arvid's thoughts on the Great Gumroad Migration48:19 Arvid's reading listAs always thanks for being a listener of the Make Lemonade show. Hosted by @jrfarr & @jmckinven— brought to you by LemonSqueezy.com. If you're looking to sell digital products online, be sure to check out Lemon Squeezy or follow us on Twitter @lmsqueezy

Today we’re bringing you a Lemonhead episode where JR and James take you behind the scenes of what it takes to build a affiliate feature from scratch and how the team are shaping up for launch. Hope you enjoy this little peek under the surface of how the Lemon Squeezy team operates.Timestamps:00:00 Intro00:42 Is running Lemon Squeezy stressful?01:32 Feeling the pull of Lemon Squeezy momentum06:00 Investing in the podcast for transparency09:43 Affliate Beta Launch12:14 What is different about Lemon Squeezy affiliates13:23 Why go so deep on the affiliate programme features?19:24 Creator Highlight - Cedric MooreAs always thanks for being a listener of the Make Lemonade show. Hosted by @jrfarr & @jmckinven— brought to you by LemonSqueezy.com. If you're looking to sell digital products online, be sure to check out Lemon Squeezy or follow us on Twitter @lmsqueezy

Thomas Frank, a YouTube creator with over 2.8m subscribers, talks about his transition from helping college students to selling Notion templates, making over $100k p/m. He also shares insights on consistency, growing on YouTube, going niche, and building a streaming service called Nebula. The discussion covers productivity tools, revenue sources, and their journey in finding the right payment platform.

In this episode, JR and James are joined by Brett Williams, the founder of Designjoy, a one-man productized design service that was making $160k p/m at it's peak. People have been asking the question “how does he do it?” and previously you had to rely on meta-analysis to find out. Now Brett is going to tell you EXACTLY how he runs a one-person, $1m a year business with his new course, Productize Yourself. We chat with Brett to find out all about his new course, which in itself has made over $100k in it’s pre-sale.Timestamps:01:01 - Brett's background08:34 - Launching Designjoy14:01 - Dealing with Twitter backlash21:35 - Brett's "Productize Yourself" course30:49 - How Brett spends his moneyAs always thanks for being a listener of the Make Lemonade show. Hosted by @jrfarr & @jmckinven— brought to you by LemonSqueezy.com. If you're looking to sell digital products online, be sure to check out Lemon Squeezy or follow us on Twitter @lmsqueezy