Jon's back from his first real vacation in years. In this episode, we discuss how we've been removing inactive accounts on Transistor, SVB, Section 174, Revin is shutting down their Merchant of Record service, SaaS sales tax compliance:(00:37)

Why Customer Support = Startup Success

1 Mar 22nd, 2022 49m 6s

Helen and Justin talk about the importance of customer support for indie SaaS companies.1:08 The hardest part about podcasting is doing it every week1:38 We just launched the new podcast website themes feature.2:24 Getting feedback, or seeing p

Founders' retreat

Jan 18th, 2022 19m 42s

Jon and Justin recorded this episode sitting on the same couch!Photo of the Coeur de BoeufThe last time we were together in person: April 30, 2019 [Photo]2022 roadmap planning. We're exploring what we'd like to accomplish this year. Update and

Why should we care about our customers' feelings?

1 Sep 7th, 2021 1h 8m

This week Justin chats with Michele Hansen, founder of Geocodio. I got fired up about interviewing customers! Get Michele's new book! Deploy EmpathyListen to Michele's podcast: Software Social"Empathy is a skill you can learn."Get Michele's new

How are founders handling the pandemic?

1 1 Mar 24th, 2020 44m 46s

Jon and Justin are hunkered down, and reeling from COVID-19:This is moving fast, so this podcast might already be out-of-date.Difference between the restrictions in Chicago and Vernon."It's hard to focus on Transistor and write any code.""There

WHO DELETED MY CODE?!?!

Aug 20th, 2019 45m 23s

Jon and Justin are tracking a bunch of stuff this week:We're moving from WordPress to Statamic CMS"I had no idea how to set up PHP on my laptop."We want to treat our marketing site the same way we work on our productWe're trying to optimize our

Bonus

The opposite of bored money

Jul 24th, 2018 9m 58s

In 2013, I interviewed Jason Calacanis, the angel investor.One of the things I asked him: "Why do venture capital investors take these big risks with their money?" "There's a lot of money in the world. There are trillions of dollars just sittin

Startup coaching: helping founders and team members realize their full potential

Jun 7th, 2023 57m 18s

This week Jon and Justin are joined by Marcella Chamorro. Previously, she worked in startup marketing but has recently transitioned to coaching founders and teams. We discussed how startup founders and their team members can realize their full

Jon & Justin reveal everything (part 2)

Aug 16th, 2022 36m 5s

It's the fourth anniversary of Transistor's public launch! This is part 2 of "Jon and Justin answer your questions."(00:37) - When did you start paying yourself how much you wanted to make?(01:39) - Any broad advice for startups?(11:43) - How

Jon & Justin reveal everything (part 1)

Aug 10th, 2022 59m 50s

It's the fourth anniversary of Transistor's public launch! In this two-part series, Jon and Justin answer your questions.01:22 - Our history14:51 - What is the secret to running Transistor as a company? See our values here.21:19 - What was the

What's it like getting acquired by Spotify? (Dave Zohrob from Chartable)

Jun 14th, 2022 56m 26s

Dave Zohrob is the co-founder of Chartable (a podcast analytics startup), talks about selling his company to Spotify in February 2022. Highlights (go straight to 🔥 for the best stuff):1:00 – What's the Spotify office in New York like?5:24 – Da

Is ONCE enough?

Feb 10th, 2024 1h 12m

A panel discussion on 37signals' first ONCE product, the launch of Campfire ("pay for it once, install it, and run it on your own server"). Ian Landsman, Tyler Tringas, and Justin Jackson share what they expected to happen before the launch, wh

Bonus

How Ben and David bootstrapped the Acquired podcast

Jan 25th, 2024 1h 8m

Fast Company called Acquired "the #1 tech podcast sensation." I've been a huge fan of the show for years. So, I was surprised when they contacted me and wanted to switch to Transistor for podcast hosting!Since switching, they've had a breakout

Nashville team retreat: scary birds, country music, and a photo shoot

Sep 26th, 2023 45m 51s

The whole team is on the show! Jon, Helen, Jason, Josh, and Justin are on the mics to discuss our recent team retreat to Nashville, Tennessee. If you're wondering what a retreat looks like for a remote team, you'll get a lot out of this episode

Paul Jarvis: gaining freedom by building an indie business

Aug 1st, 2023 1h 11m

Justin catches up with his old internet friend Paul Jarvis. Today, Paul co-founded Fathom Analytics with Jack Ellis: a simple alternative to Google Analytics. Paul is also the author of the book "Company of One," which has influenced a whole ge

How Tim worked on side-projects for 10+ years, and finally went full-time (with kids)

Jun 20th, 2023 55m 16s

Tim reached out after the Aaron Francis episode: "I wanted to pitch you on the idea of coming on the podcast and sharing my journey of building side projects for the last decade while raising a family. I can also share the guardrails I put in p

Michele Hansen update: Section 174 and bootstrapping with kids

May 16th, 2023 1h 2m

In this podcast episode, Michele Hansen (Geocodio) gives us an update on Section 174 and provides her take on "bootstrapping with kids."Michele explains you can be a part of the Small Software Business Alliance, and fight Section 174. If you're

Should a parent with young kids try to bootstrap a new startup?

May 9th, 2023 1h 5m

In this episode, Justin speaks with Aaron Francis about being a new parent and trying to bootstrap a startup. Aaron argued the other side of Justin's tweet thread: "Wait until your kids are older to start a company." Aaron is well-positioned to

Why we hired someone new

Apr 20th, 2023 46m 29s

Jon and Justin welcome Joshua Anderton to the Transistor team! Josh is an amazingly talented full-stack web developer (Laravel, Rails, Tailwind CSS, Alpine, and more!) He's been helping us as a part-time contractor since Oct 2022, and we're exc

Act now before it's too late: Section 174

Mar 28th, 2023 34m 13s

Michele Hansen (co-founder of Geocodio) is raising the alarm about Section 174. This legislation could dramatically increase your tax bill this year if you're a small software company in the USA. Michele is organizing a response through the Sma

Bonus

One pepperoni pizza please

Mar 1st, 2023 2m 6s

"I don't get it: if that money is for the government, how come the pizza place put it in their cash register?!?"(Jon is on vacation - our next real episode is coming soon!)Listen to our past episodes on the headache that is SaaS sales tax compl

Super Fun SaaS Sales Tax (Part Deux)

Feb 21st, 2023 47m 28s

Last week's episode hit a nerve! "The idea that every small software company in the world will be able to be in perfect compliance will every foreign federal, provincial, state, and municipal government that imposes a sales tax is ridiculous. I

Nobody wants to talk about this (SaaS sales tax)

Feb 10th, 2023 50m 9s

Sales tax compliance: nobody in SaaS wants to talk about it. Jon and Justin tried to do something about it and it turned into a nightmare. According to Stripe Tax, there are about 90 different regions that software companies may have to registe

The gang goes to Montréal

Oct 18th, 2022 45m 46s

The whole Transistor team got together for a retreat in Montréal. Jon, Justin, Helen, and Jason chat about the experience. What should we talk about next? Twitter: @buildyoursaas, @mijustin, @jonbuda, @jsonpearl, and @helenrylesLeave a review/c

Bootstrapping in France (Baptiste Jamin from Crisp)

Jul 12th, 2022 1h 7m

Baptiste Jamin co-founded Crisp with a friend he met in high school. Highlights (go straight to 🔥 for the best stuff):1:42 – Crisp competes with massive companies: Zendesk, HelpScout, Intercom2:52 – How did Crisp get started? (they started you