Craig Hewitt

Hey, Rob. Long-time listener, first-time caller. Thanks so much for the podcast and for the SaaS Playbook. I listen to the podcast every week, and I've read the SaaS Playbook five or six different times. And each time I extract new information and insight from it, it's just such an incredible resource for Bootstrap founders. So first of all, thanks so much for all you do.

Hey, Rob. Long-time listener, first-time caller. Thanks so much for the podcast and for the SaaS Playbook. I listen to the podcast every week, and I've read the SaaS Playbook five or six different times. And each time I extract new information and insight from it, it's just such an incredible resource for Bootstrap founders. So first of all, thanks so much for all you do.

provides an analytics platform to HR teams to help them make data-informed decisions about their talent. So think about things like collaboration insights, employee engagement drivers, predictive attrition. And for this, we use a variety of different data sources, such as HR systems, business systems, and employee surveys.

provides an analytics platform to HR teams to help them make data-informed decisions about their talent. So think about things like collaboration insights, employee engagement drivers, predictive attrition. And for this, we use a variety of different data sources, such as HR systems, business systems, and employee surveys.

For MVP, we built many components, such as our data marts and pipelines, but for others, we decided to white-label other SaaS solutions. For example, for the surveys, there's so many great survey platforms out there, we just couldn't justify custom building something given the relatively low expense we would incur by white labeling an existing solution.

For MVP, we built many components, such as our data marts and pipelines, but for others, we decided to white-label other SaaS solutions. For example, for the surveys, there's so many great survey platforms out there, we just couldn't justify custom building something given the relatively low expense we would incur by white labeling an existing solution.

Ideally, though, we would prefer not to have these dependencies on other SaaS companies because we would like the flexibility and control over the cost and features within our platform. Since we are a bootstrap startup, however, we found white label components to be a quick and low-cost method of achieving product market fit and launching our MVP. I've got a few questions around this.

Ideally, though, we would prefer not to have these dependencies on other SaaS companies because we would like the flexibility and control over the cost and features within our platform. Since we are a bootstrap startup, however, we found white label components to be a quick and low-cost method of achieving product market fit and launching our MVP. I've got a few questions around this.

Number 1, how would you advise thinking about the mix of custom-built versus white-label components? Does the optimal mix vary based on growth stage? Number 2, is there an inflection point at which we should consider prioritizing a migration away from these white-label components?

Number 1, how would you advise thinking about the mix of custom-built versus white-label components? Does the optimal mix vary based on growth stage? Number 2, is there an inflection point at which we should consider prioritizing a migration away from these white-label components?

And then lastly, if we were to sell the company one day, does a reliance on other SaaS for specific capabilities impact our valuation versus a fully custom solution? Thanks for your time.

And then lastly, if we were to sell the company one day, does a reliance on other SaaS for specific capabilities impact our valuation versus a fully custom solution? Thanks for your time.

Hello and welcome back to Startups for the Rest of Us. I'm your host this week, Craig Hewitt. You may have heard me on the show before. I'm the founder of Castos. I'm the host of the Rogue Startups podcast. Been on this show as a guest a few times. And I'm sitting down with Rob this week to talk about his new course.

Hello and welcome back to Startups for the Rest of Us. I'm your host this week, Craig Hewitt. You may have heard me on the show before. I'm the founder of Castos. I'm the host of the Rogue Startups podcast. Been on this show as a guest a few times. And I'm sitting down with Rob this week to talk about his new course.

Rob, let's dive in and kind of like set the stage for why I think there's a good place to start, right? You've written a few books, very active in the community, 730 episodes of this podcast have given so much to the kind of SaaS and startup community. Why a course and why now?

Rob, let's dive in and kind of like set the stage for why I think there's a good place to start, right? You've written a few books, very active in the community, 730 episodes of this podcast have given so much to the kind of SaaS and startup community. Why a course and why now?

As a creator, you mean?

As a creator, you mean?

Yeah.

Yeah.