TMBA 696: The Current Landscape for Bootstrapped Businesses with Rob Walling
Podcast 46:12 | Download | Spotify| Stitcher | iTunes
The first quarter of the year has been volatile for many large US-based tech companies, with thousands of staff layoffs. Inflation and the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank have added to the sense of uncertainty. Yet, through all of this. bootstrapped businesses have proved remarkably resilient.
On this week’s show Dan talks to Tiny Seed founder Rob Walling about how the economies of running smaller online businesses enable them to be nimble and resourceful in all circumstances. They also discuss Rob’s forthcoming book The SaaS Playbook, what it takes to build a Unicorn (and do you want to go there?) and the potential impact of AI:
“It’s both over-hyped and under-hyped. Just like I think the Web was and just like I think with Web3, and crypto and blockchain … (they’re) not dead. Like I hear people saying, ‘Is crypto even worth anything anymore?’ It's still a thing. And I don't just mean Bitcoin as a currency but the idea of a blockchain, these have applications that will carry on. That's how I think of AI. I think if I was an employee today, or I was doing low skilled work, I would be shaking in my boots. For smart entrepreneurs, it is much like offshoring was - being able to hire a developer in the Philippines in 2009 changed the way I could operate business. I think AI is the same”.
Listen and learn:
Why Bootstrapped businesses are so resilient
What AI has in common with offshoring
The psychology needed to build a Unicorn
Achieving product market fit
Want More TMBA and Lifestyle Businesses?
Join the conversations happening all over the interwebz:
TikTok
YouTube
Instagram
@AnythingIan
@TropicalMBA
Join the Dynamite Circle
Mentioned in the episode:
Before the Exit – Our New Book
Partner With Us
The Dynamite Circle
Dynamite Jobs
Post a Remote Job
Tropical MBA on YouTube
Dynamite Jobs – Remote Recruiting Sales Page
Tiny Seed
Rob Walling
MicroConf
Startups For The Rest of Us
The SaaS Playbook
Start Small, Stay Small
Sherry Walling
Bolt
Basecamp
Mailchimp
Baremetrics
The Lean Startup
Zoom
Dropbox
Ruby on Rails
Python
Django
The 4-Hour Workweek
Getting Real
Coinbase
ChatGPT
Sam Altman
YCombinator
ConvertKit
AWeber
Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber
Travis Kalanick
We Work
Adam Neumann
Lyft
5 Types of People Who Can Ruin Your Life
Jeff Bezos
Dan Kennedy
Joe Polish
Perry Belcher
Derrick Reimer
The Hacker News
Einar Vollset
Capterra
Enjoyed this podcast? Check out these:
TMBA 479: Quitting Social Media - “The ‘Walled Garden’ Experiment Is a Big Failure”
TMBA 632: A Journey From Productized to SaaS, Plus The Return Of ‘Donate a Business Idea’
TMBA 436: The Entrepreneur's Guide to Keeping Your Sh*t Together
This week’s sponsors:
Don’t Get Held Up While You’re Trying to Scale Up. Experience the ease of remote hiring with dedicated experts by your side. Book a call at https://www.remotefirstrecruiting.com/
Listening options:
Subscribe via iTunes.
Listen on Stitcher Radio.
Android users can grab our RSS feed here.
Right-click and “save file as” for direct download.
Or click here to get sent to the top of the page where the on-site player is.
Have comments about the show?
Do you have ideas for things you’d like Dan and Ian to discuss on future episodes?
Our producer Jane would love to hear from you at jane@tropicalmba.com or leave us a voice message using the record button below.
Thanks for listening to our show! We’ll be back next Thursday morning 8AM EST.
Cheers,
Dan & Ian