4. Strategic Investments: Balancing Risk vs. Reward for Indie Founders

Today's episode​ is a summary of our top advice on becoming a non-tech founder in this developer-dominated world.

We also cover an update on Laura's WordCamp EU experience and share some news about the future of this podcast. 

We cover:

• Laura's first WordCamp EU experience and overcoming fears about public speaking
• Why Laura thinks non-tech founders should go audience first when launching a product
• Nathan's tips on the importance of finding product-market fit and testing EARLY 
• Our views on bringing on a technical co-founder vs. going it alone
• The question of building a product based on an existing company (e.g. an extension) and whether it's worth it
• Some news about the future of this podcast

This episode is an off-the-cuff one where we decided to do an update on both Nathan and Laura's current state of affairs. We ended up talking about a couple of really interesting topics ranging from managing your time to making your first full-time hire.

We cover:

• How Nathan's doing after his move into a new apartment
• The challenges that come with managing your time when you're in different seasons of life (spoiler: every season has its own issues!)
• What time-boxing is and how Nathan is going to experiment with it to see if he can balance client work with growing his business
• Laura's big update: how she hired her first full-time employee (!)
• Musings about why in-person everything seems to work better – even for introverts

I (Laura) mentioned a couple of episodes of the Diary of a CEO podcast. If anyone wants to give them a listen, here they are: 

•  No.1 Habit & Procrastination Expert: We've Got ADHD Wrong! Break Any Habit And Never Be Distracted 
•  10 Life-changing Lessons From The Longest Study Ever On Human Happiness 

In this episode we delve into finding product market fit as a solo, non-tech founder – preferably as early and with as little up-front investment as possible. 

We cover: 

• What exactly product market fit is – and how we define it
• The three stages to determining product market fit (market research, creating an MVP, and looking for signs of traction) 
• How we think about product market fit for Client Portal and Feature Flux 
• Subtle signs that might indicate that you don't have product market fit (even if everyone is saying that you do) 
• Key considerations that every solo founder should keep in mind when determining product market fit
• The least risky (but not necessarily fastest) way to build a SaaS with product market fit

In this episode Nathan and Laura talk about setting goals (and why they’re so important), splitting your work into sprints, and taking regular time off. 

We cover:

• Why goals are so important – and how to set them correctly 
• How many goals should you have at a time? And how do you accurately measure a success or failure? 
• How sprints have changed my (Laura's) business for the better 
• How I set up my sprints and track them with my goals 
• Taking sabbaticals: why you should even if you don't feel like you can

This episode is all about running a business at home with kids: how to balance work life with home life – when they're both in the same physical space. 

We cover:

• Does age matter? What are the different challenges between an infant/toddler vs. an older child? 
• How to fit work around extracurricular activities
• Is having a lifestyle business setting an unrealistic expectation for your child? 
• How to ruthlessly prioritise your schedule with sprints
• Why regular 'sabbaticals' are even more important when you're juggling work and kids

This week we talk about building and running a SaaS during a recession: what you can do and how you can not only survive but thrive.

We detail a popular Twitter thread by Patrick Campbell (who built – and sold –  ProfitWell ). This thread is basically the blueprint for what I'm (Laura 👋) working on with Client Portal, so it seemed like a good idea to run through some of the ideas and how we are implementing them in our businesses. 

We cover:

• Why you should focus more on existing customers than new customers and some simple strategies to increase your profits.
• How offering a lower discount can actually prevent churn and make you more money.
• The benefits and drawbacks of freemium – and who should consider it.
• Why you should focus on building a community and helping people – even if they're not ready to buy.
• Should you go after your competitor's customers? 
• Playing the long game. How you can plant the right seeds now and harvest them later.

This week, Nathan and Laura deep-dive into the topic of Education as Marketing.

In the age of #buildinpublic, good old-fashioned marketing seems to have gone the way of the dodo. Is there still value in this tried and tested method of attracting customers?

We think there probably is... but we could be wrong.

Client Portal
Badass: Making Users Awesome
Nontechpodcast (Twitter)

In this episode of the podcast, Laura and Nathan delve into the topic of launching a new SaaS (Software as a Service) and discuss important considerations around timing, product readiness, and generating interest. They explore questions such as, "When is the right time to launch a new SaaS?" and "How polished does it need to be before launch?"

Client Portal
Feature Flux
The Transistor Journey
The Lab

Today’s episode is the first in our ask an expert series. This is a bit experimental but the idea is that for some episodes we will bring in experts on specific topics to essentially co-host the podcast with us. This week we chatted with Brennan Dunn. Brennan is one of the brightest minds when it comes to email automation. He's successfully built and run multiple businesses using email automation as the backbone for growth.

So, if you want to learn how to get started with email automation or grow your business further, check out today's episode.

https://createandsell.co/
https://palladio.dev/
https://rightmessage.com/
https://twitter.com/brennandunn
https://convertkit.com/
https://client-portal.io/
Feature Flux

Being a non-technical founder brings its own unique set of struggles. And one of the areas that we always seem to struggle with is hiring a good developer.

Today Laura and Nathan talk about their experiences in hiring developers. They share their thoughts on some best practices you can follow and how to get the most out of your time with your new hire.

If you have any additional tips, send them to us on Twitter. 

Forefront Agency
Client Portal
Feature Flux

A special shoutout and thank you to Yoren Chang for showing Laura what working with a fantastic developer looks like.