Build Your SaaS

We shipped our new feature!

• American Express called Justin twice at 5am
• The new enhanced podcasts feed is live.
• Pete Marcano: “I’ll be honest, when I listened to the Build Your SaaS episode on this feature being launched, I didn’t really think much of it. Listening to this episode connected the dots. This is awesomely game changing.”
• Now we’re technically in a “cool down” cycle” - is this how this should feel?
• When should you push back on customers' feature requests?
• We're looking into SSO - what a rabbit hole!
• What happened to Spots.fm?
• How could we help indie podcasts?

★ Thanks to our sponsors:

• ActiveCampaign. Get the world's most advanced marketing & sales automation platform. Use the code activecampaign.com/buildyoursaas and get two months free + 2 free One-on-Ones!
• Honeybadger. A web developer's secret weapon! Modern error management that gives you more than an email and a backtrace. They also have an amazing podcast: FounderQuest.

Show notes:

• What is Single Sign-On?
• Basecamp "Shape Up"
• Zapier
• The Spots.fm episode
• Art of Product: Becoming a Multi-Product Company (with Amir Salihefendić)

You can reply to this podcast here:

• Leave a comment on PodHunt; it's like Reddit, but for podcasts.
• Leave a comment on Breaker, the podcast app for iPhone.
• Interact on WhatPods.
• Otherwise, get us on Twitter: @transistorfm or email us: [email protected]

Thanks to our monthly supporters:

• James Sowers with UserInput.io
• Travis Fischer
• Matt Buckley, from Nice Things
• Russell Brown
• Evandro Sasse
• Pradyumna Shembekar (PD)
• Noah Prail
• David Colgan
• Robert Simplicio
• Colin Gray alitu.com
• Josh Smith
• Ivan Curkovic
• Brian Rhea (Pronounced “Ray”)
• Shane Smith
• Austin Loveless
• Simon Bennett
• Corey Haines
• Michael Sitver
• Paul Jarvis and Jack Ellis
• Dan Buda danbuda.com
• Darby Frey
• Samori Augusto
• Dave Young
• Brad from Canada
• Sammy Schuckert
• Dan Ericson
• Mike Walker
• Adam DuVander
• Dave Giunta (JOOnta)
• Kyle Fox GetRewardful.com
• ProfitWell
• ActiveCampaign
• Honeybadger
• GetRewardful.com

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, @jonbuda
• Leave 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: [email protected]

Thanks to our monthly supporters:

• Sofia Quintero
• Diogo
• Chris Willow
• Mason Hensley
• Borja Soler teami.io
• Ward from MemberSpace.com
• Eric Lima
• James Sowers (like Flowers) with UserInput.io
• Travis Fischer
• Matt Buckley, from NiceThings.io
• Russell Brown
• Evandro Sasse
• Pradyumna Shembekar (PD), pradyumna.dev
• Noah Prail, eventOneHQ.com
• Robert Simplicio, Simplicio.com
• Colin Gray alitu.com
• Josh Smith, hellosift.com
• Ivan Curkovic
• Brian Rhea (Pronounced “Ray”)
• Shane Smith, dev.transistor.fm
• Austin Loveless
• Simon Bennett, snapshooter.io
• Michael Sitver, letterjoy.co
• Paul Jarvis and Jack Ellis, usefathom.com
• Dan Buda danbuda.com
• Darby Frey
• Samori Augusto, thebicrowd.com
• Brad from Canada
• Sammy Schuckert
• Mike Walker
• Adam DuVander
• Dave Giunta (JOOnta)
• Kyle Fox GetRewardful.com

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-a247ec80f6a7
• Good 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 are
  • Continued 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, @jonbuda
• Leave a comment on PodHunt; it's like Reddit, but for podcasts.
• Email us: [email protected]

★ 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 Condo
• Sofia Quintero
• Diogo
• Chris Willow
• Mason Hensley
• Borja Soler teami.io
• Ward from MemberSpace.com
• Eric Lima
• James Sowers (like Flowers) with UserInput.io
• Travis Fischer
• Matt Buckley, from NiceThings.io
• Russell Brown
• Evandro Sasse
• Pradyumna Shembekar (PD), pradyumna.dev
• Noah Prail, eventOneHQ.com
• Robert Simplicio, Simplicio.com
• Colin Gray alitu.com
• Josh Smith, hellosift.com
• Ivan Curkovic
• Brian Rhea (Pronounced “Ray”)
• Shane Smith, dev.transistor.fm
• Austin Loveless
• Michael Sitver, letterjoy.co
• Paul Jarvis and Jack Ellis, usefathom.com
• Dan Buda danbuda.com
• Darby Frey
• Samori Augusto, thebicrowd.com
• Brad from Cana...

This week on the show:

• Jon baked bread. Got some sunshine. Avoiding social media, the other disease
• Justin 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/1251946371050954752
• What 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?
  • API
  • Helping podcasters make money
  • Analytics
  • Private podcasting feature
  • Podcast websites

You can reply to this podcast here:

• Twitter: @buildyoursaas, @mijustin, @jonbuda, @shpigford
• Leave a comment on PodHunt; it's like Reddit, but for podcasts.
• Email us: [email protected]

★ 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 Quintero
• Diogo
• Chris Willow
• Mason Hensley
• Borja Soler teami.io
• Ward from MemberSpace.com
• Eric Lima
• James Sowers (like Flowers) with UserInput.io
• Travis Fischer
• Matt Buckley, from NiceThings.io
• Russell Brown
• Evandro Sasse
• Pradyumna Shembekar (PD), pradyumna.dev
• Noah Prail, eventOneHQ.com
• Robert Simplicio, Simplicio.com
• Colin Gray alitu.com
• Josh Smith, hellosift.com
• Ivan Curkovic
• Brian Rhea (Pronounced “Ray”)
• Shane Smith, dev.transistor.fm
• Austin Loveless
• Simon Bennett, snapshooter.io
• Michael Sitver, letterjoy.co
• Paul Jarvis and Jack Ellis, usefathom.com
• Dan Buda danbuda.com
• Darby Frey
• Samori Augusto, thebicrowd.com
• Brad from Canada
• Sammy Schuckert
• Mike Walker
• Adam DuVander
• Dave Giunta (JOOnta)
• Kyle Fox GetRewardful.com

Jon and Justin are wrestling with thoughts about growth:

• "Our current rate of growth is nice: it feels sustainable." – Justin
• "It feels less sustainable for me, because I'm working a full-time job." – Jon
• We’re able to keep up with demand, and enjoy the process.
• There are all these stories about folks whose companies are growing like crazy. They’re just always adding more people, more process, more stress. Do we want that?
• Peldi tells this story about starting Balsamiq. He said his launch was like “holding on to a rocket ship with his fingernails.”
• Some folks would say we should be capturing more of the market. There’s this idea that you can’t be satisfied with what you have. That you have to juice every bit of growth you can.
• But then you’re building all of these dependencies that you have to keep up even when the market goes down.

★ Thanks to our sponsors:

• Balsamiq: If you’d like to help in make Balsamiq Wireframes better, and help them shape the future of wireframing, join their Customer Advisory Board at balsamiq.com/support/makeusbetter
• Clubhouse.io: Clubhouse is the first project management platform for software development that brings everyone together. It's designed for developers, but product folks, marketing, support folks love using it. Get two months free: clubhouse.io/build.

Show notes:

• Greg Wade, the baker that Jon apprenticed with, just won a James Beard award.
• Peldi's interview on Indie Hackers.
• Paul Jarvis on growth and sustainability.
• Bootstrapped Web podcast: Jordan loves building his team.

You can reply to this podcast here:

• Leave a comment on Breaker, the podcast app for Android and iPhone.
• Leave a comment on CastBox, the podcast app for Android and iPhone.
• Otherwise, get us on Twitter: @transistorfm or email us: [email protected]

Thanks to our monthly supporters:

• Miguel Piedrafita
• Shane Smith
• Austin Loveless
• Simon Bennett - SnapShooter
• Corey Haines
• Michael Sitver
• Paul Jarvis and Jack Ellis
• Dan Buda
• Darby Frey
• Samori Augusto
• Dave Young
• Brad from Canada
• Kevin Markham
• Sammy Schuckert
• Dan Ericson
• Mike Walker
• Adam DuVander
• Dave Giunta (JOOnta)
• Balsamiq.cloud
• Clubhouse.io
• GetRewardful.com