This Wednesday, I'll publish the 200th Bootstrapped Founder podcast ep — an interview with @mijustin, one of my favorite indie hackers.

Without Justin's @TransistorFM, all these amazing conversations wouldn't have happened!

Tune in at tbf.fm 🥰

(Links below!) @mijustin @TransistorFM Here's the latest episode where @robfitz talks about the Mom Test, writing useful books, the future of AI and what it means for founders, creators, and our collective knowledge production systems.

share.transistor.fm/s/fd014e11

A recent 99% Invisible episode caught my… ear:

In the early web —think GeoCities— people were taught how to use the web without being taught how to perform.

The result we’re honest, authentic, sometimes cringy but always earnest websites.

👇

99percentinvisible.org/episode/lost-c… I feel like today, we’re seeing the exact opposite. People don’t know how to technically build a website but they sure know how to present a fake life that appeals to other users of the medium.

In the early web, we didn’t have anything to optimize for.

A lot of "Twitter 2-factor authentication removal" outcry on my feed right now.

Apparently, there are phone companies out there creating massive amounts of bot accounts to be able to charge Twitter for SMS fees.

How many? 390 companies! Causing 60mil in damages per year!

👇 It's essentially caused by regulation and guaranteed pricing schemes that can be gamed. And some companies have no inhibitions to doing just that.

In Europe, you have to pay 3ct to send an SMS to your customer. That adds up. And sucks when it's fraud.

Here's @elonmusk's view:

Remote work is here to stay. Stay-at-home work, so to speak. 🏡

But our homes are usually ill-equipped to make working a full-time job enjoyable or productive.

This can —and will— change.

What would the ideal futuristic remote-first home look like?

Here are 5 predictions 👇 1) Every house will have at least one office space. In fact, new builds might focus on having one office per adult inhabitant. With that comes a hunger for reliable bandwidth, which will move from afterthought to determining factor for building location. Partnerships will thrive.

I turned 38 last week. As a LotR fan, I follow the Hobbit tradition & GIVE gifts instead of getting them.

Here’s my birthday gift to YOU: for the next 24 hrs, my books & course are "Pay What You Want", $1 minimum.

15.000+ copies sold; go check ‘em out!

bootstrappedfounder.gumroad.com This is my gift to you: for just today, my work, valued at $150+ at the very least, will be $5 if you buy everything at its minimum price. Two eBooks, two audiobooks, and an extensive course.

Of course, you can pay as much as you’d like, but that’s 100% up to you.

I'm looking for sponsors for The Bootstrapped Founder (podcast & newsletter) in 2023.

If you're running a business that helps and empowers creators & entrepreneurs and want to reach thousands of them, reach out at empowerment@thebootstrappedfounder.com or book here: The link to book: passionfroot.xyz/arvid-kahl

All bookings will be vetted by me, of course. First come, first serve.

Here are the most popular interviews of The Bootstrapped Founder in 2022 (links below):

@dvassallo: 1055 listens
@shl: 919
@damengchen: 885
@agazdecki: 727
@mjwhansen: 707
@jakobgreenfeld: 706
@rosiesherry: 621
@NotechAna: 596
@jayclouse: 483

That's 6699 listens. Nice.

🎧🎙️⤵️ I talked to @dvassallo about what small bets look like, how to find ideas to bet on, and how to use Twitter to build wealth.

share.transistor.fm/s/8afb746c

As a creative entrepreneur, it's crucial to diversify your portfolio and have multiple projects in progress in order to reach a wider audience, stabilize income streams, and protect yourself from platform risk.

Here's what I focus on.

share.transistor.fm/s/8b30a532 1) Owning the means of communication with your audience, such as through a newsletter or blog, is essential. If you can't reach your audience when you're logged out of social media, you don't have an audience.

In my interview w/ @agazdecki, we talked about competitive advantages & moats as an incentive to drive up the valuation of a business.

But how can indie hackers create moats? Is it even possible with often gaint competitors?

I think so, and here is how:

thebootstrappedfounder.com/build-a-defens… Want to listen to this? share.transistor.fm/s/778d4f9a

We all want to build a sellable business. So what exactly are acquirers looking for? Is this something we can intentionally build from the start?

Here's @agazdecki with his insight from seeing hundreds of businesses being sold on his platform. @agazdecki Want to see the full show? Right here:

Ah, Sunday. A great day to relax — or work on your thing.

While doing either of those, how about listening to one of the interviews on The Bootstrapped Founder podcast:

Maybe @rosiesherry? or @dvassallo? how about @jakobgreenfeld, @mjwhansen, or @damengchen??

Links below :) Well, say no more :)

Here's @rosiesherry:
thebootstrappedfounder.com/building-profi…

Followers, likes, subscribers, shares, retweets.

Chasing these metrics is a huge part of many people's social media journey. It's also the least effective way of making meaningful progress.

Today on the podcast: how to avoid focusing on vanity metrics.

share.transistor.fm/s/71ca9b91 Here's the video version:

My podcast guest @rosiesherry talks about why community tools are focusing on the wrong things — and forget to make easier the things that actually strengthen the bonds of your community. You can watch the full interview here:

Trying to make better YouTube thumbnails.

Ready to fail in public.

What do you think of this one for tomorrow's podcast episode? Another experiment, not straying too far from the original.

After talking to two email experts last week, @brennandunn and @louisnicholls_, I'm improving my newsletter behind-the-scenes.

The large grey dip is unsubscribers on Black Friday. Today's dip is something else, and I appreciate BOTH of these events.

Here is why in 3 learnings: I believe in list hygiene. I want my emails to reach people who want me to reach them. So if someone unsubscribes, it's, at worst, a neutral and, at best, a good thing: one less person who'll contribute to the "unopened" segment.

Learning #1: People saying "no" is a good thing.

Building a business is a progression, often involving making significant changes in your life. There are several ways to finance this journey: moonlighting, going part-time, freelancing or consulting, and productized services. And then some.

More:
thebootstrappedfounder.com/paying-the-bil… Would you like me to read this to you?

share.transistor.fm/s/e8d03de6

Today marks the release of my 4th interview podcast episode 🥰

I've chatted with @mjwhansen, @damengchen, @dvassallo, and @jakobgreenfeld so far.

And I have to say, these have been the most exciting conversations of my founder life. I love this!

Links and future guests below! @mjwhansen @damengchen @dvassallo @jakobgreenfeld In my conversation with @jakobgreenfeld, you'll learn how writing can be used to reflect and clarify, and Jakob will share how he is learning the ropes of entrepreneurship.

share.transistor.fm/s/214d238a

When you make $72k in Black Friday week sales, you must be doing something right.

That's why I talked to @dvassallo last week — about small bets, promising business ideas, and how to monetize them.

Here's the podcast: share.transistor.fm/s/8afb746c
On YouTube:

https://twitter.com/dvassallo/status/1597187964152741890

@dvassallo Here's what we're talking about:

In a world where everyone doom-scrolls their social media, you already stand out if you WANT to use it productively.

Well, there is so much more.

Here's how you can leverage your social media feed to come up with & validate real business opportunities.

thebootstrappedfounder.com/find-business-… If you prefer audio, you can listen to this as a podcast.

share.transistor.fm/s/9a652b79

"www" is such a weird abbreviation.

There are twice as many syllables in "w w w" than there are in "world wide web" (in English, at least).

When your abbreviation takes longer to verbalize than the word it's "short" for, you might be doing something wrong :D Related (and inspiration for this):

https://twitter.com/cblavier/status/1595697669707419648

Coming tomorrow at 9am EST on The Bootstrapped Founder Podcast.

I hope you're ready for this. If you want to listen to last week's interview with @damengchen, here's our chat about how he got his solo business to $400.000 in ARR?

share.transistor.fm/s/16c39042