See how Scott took an idea, executed and made it a reality. Plus see what other lessons he has learned along his product journey.

Show Notes

• AppPresser – Mobile Apps for WordPress Sites
• Holler Box – Lead Generation & FOMO Popups for WordPress Stores
• Scott’s Personal Site
• Scott on Twitter
• Ahrefs Blogging for Business course
• Sponsor: Coming Soon Page by SeedProd

In this episode, Kyle Brown shares his experience learned from providing a support service to product founders.

Show Notes

• wpSaaS – WordPress Support-as-a-Service
• Kyle’s Personal Site
• Kyle on Twitter
• Help Scout
• Sponsor: WP Simple Pay

Learn what takeaways John and Phil got out of Microconf 2018.

Show Notes

• MicroConf
• MicroConf Recap – Talk summaries, slides, speaker info, etc.
• goodemailcopy.com

Tune in to hear co-host John Turner’s journey with products and how his business grew from the start to the point it’s at today.

Show Notes

• johnturner.blog
• John on Twitter
• seedprod.com
• Founder Cafe
• Thrivecart

In this episode, we sit down with Sara Dunn and try to get inside the mind of a potential customer of a WordPress product.

Show Notes

• Sara’s Agency – 11Web
• Sara’s Personal Site
• Sara on Twitter
• Sara’s YouTube channel

Key Takeaways

• For Sara, word of mouth is the biggest influence for purchase decisions, including from Slack and Facebook group discussions.
• Screencasts to show off a premium WordPress product’s admin is a big help.
• Step by step documentation is preferred for onboarding.
• As an agency, Sara strives to remove as many hurdles for her clients as possible, including purchasing WordPress products and activating their licenses.
• There should be an easier way to hand off licenses purchased by agencies to their clients down the road.
• Predictable annual subscription costs keep things simple.
• Most premium plugins don’t seem overpriced for Sara’s B2B client projects.

Hear co-host Phil Derksen’s backstory with products and how he got to where he is today.

Show Notes

• philderksen.com
• Phil on Twitter
• WP Simple Pay
• Founder Cafe
• 8 Years to Overnight Success – Startups for the Rest of Us podcast – March 2015
• Cashing Out (selling Simple Calendar) – Rogue Startups podcast – December 2017
• wpSaaS (WordPress support service)

Matt Medeiros joins the show to talk about running multiple businesses (products, services, podcasting, etc.) and the challenges faced along the way.

Show Notes

• Crafted by Matt – Matt’s collection of all the stuff he does
• Matt Report podcast & blog
• Matt on Twitter
• Matt Report YouTube channel
• Conductor plugin
• Slocum Studio – Matt’s digital agency
• Pagely – Managed WordPress hosting

Key Takeaways

• Blue-collar hard-working product creators can make a good living.
• Focusing on a smaller niche and staying small can work well, especially when starting out.
• Offset sales volatility of any single product by providing multiple streams of income (i.e. other services or products).
• When asking interview questions on a podcast, think about what questions the audience wants to hear.

Brad Touesnard joins Phil and John to discuss hiring, firing and growing a team around his software business.

Show Notes

• brad.ta
• Brad on Twitter
• Delicious Brains
• Mergebot
• Delicious Brains 2017 Year in Review post
• Zoom
• MicroConf
• WordCamp Europe

Key Takeaways

• As a founder don’t outsource the marketing tasks at first.
• Have an interview and trial period, but ultimately let your existing team approve new hires.
• You need to be able to rely on your team to communicate issues to you and each other.
• Pay attention to discontent amongst your team.
• Recognize when you, as a founder, are not satisfied with answers to your questions to team members.
• Attempt to warn folks when they aren’t living up to expected standards.
• Don’t wait too long to let someone go if they aren’t a good fit.

In this episode, we talk with Robby McCullough about Gutenberg and how it’s affecting Beaver Builder’s products.

Show Notes

• robbymccullough.com
• Robby on Twitter
• Beaver Builder’s post on Gutenberg
• Beaver Builder’s post on pricing models
• Beaver Builder Facebook Group
• Microconf

Key Takeaways

• Talk to your customers.
• Know your target market and marketing channels.
• Be able to pivot.

Dan Cameron joins John and Phil to discuss the daily life of a solo founder and the challenges that come along with it. At the time of this recording, all three of us are the only founders and developers of each of our companies with no full-time employees or contractors. We talk about managing our time and schedules, battling burn out, and making the effort to meet with real people on a regular basis.

Dan is the founder of Sprout Apps, a suite of WordPress plugins including Sprout Invoices and Help Scout Desk.

Resources

• dancameron.org
• Dan on Twitter
• Sprout Apps
• Sprout Invoices
• Help Scout Desk
• “Review Gate” incident of July 2016
• WordCamp US 2017

Key Takeaways

• Break up your workday with different physical and social activities (working out, lunch with family and friends, etc).
• Make sure you have a separate office/work area at home to work in, especially if you have little kids running around.
• Having a dedicated home office can help you separate work time and family time at home.
• Good noise-canceling headphones are a must!
• Coffee shops and co-working spots work for some but not others. It just depends on your type of work, what helps you focus and the commute time.
• Get involved in a mastermind with other product founders if you haven’t already.
• Battle burn out by working on “fun” new features and/or plan on seasons of less work (i.e. summer time off with family).