Startups For the Rest of Us
The original podcast for bootstrapped and mostly bootstrapped startups, this show follow the stories of founders as they start, acquire, and grow SaaS companies. Hear when they fail, struggle, succeed, and take you with them through the tumultuous life of a SaaS founder. If you like Mixergy, This Week in Startups, or SaaStr, you’ll enjoy Startup for the Rest of Us.
Show episodes
What's it really like to attend MicroConf? In this episode, Rob Walling and Laura Sprinkle, founder of Rootabl, recap MicroConf Europe 2025 in Istanbul. They discuss the MicroConf vibe, standout talks on AI, affiliate marketing, and SaaS growth, as well as the value of networking and connecting while getting outside th
Episode 802 | Marketing Not Scaling, Where to Publish Content, and More Listener Questions (A Rob Solo Adventure)
Where’s the best place to publish if you’re starting content from scratch? In this episode, Rob Walling flies solo, answering your questions on marketing and audience building. He covers what to do when your channels stop scaling, where to publish early on, and the "media company first" approach. Episode Sponsor: Are y
Episode 801 | Competing Against Incumbents, Technical Co-Founders, Trademarks, and More Listener Questions with Derrick Reimer
Can churn ever be good in SaaS? In this episode, Rob Walling is joined by fan favorite Derrick Reimer for a listener Q&A. They break down what it takes to compete with well-funded incumbents, how to decide whether to pivot or push forward, when a technical co-founder is truly necessary, the right time to think about tr
What if you could get all 15 years of this podcast bundled up into one episode? In episode 800, Rob Walling goes solo for a special milestone installment of Startups For the Rest of Us. He covers the 12 foundational commandments that shape his approach to SaaS, hard-won lessons forged from years of building, investing
What's next for OutboundSync? In the Season 5 finale of TinySeed Tales, Rob Walling talks with Harris Kenny as OutboundSync blows past $500k ARR. Harris shares the wins and struggles of getting here, from choosing not to raise funding (for now), to planning a laser tag event no committee would approve, to what comes ne
How do you bootstrap a SaaS to $1 million+ ARR? In this episode, Rob Walling chats with Colin Bartlett about how he and his co-founder Andy transformed a side project monitoring tool into a seven-figure ARR business that now serves as an early warning system for outages across 6,000+ services. From nearly abandoning t
