Rob Walling

Whether I was running SaaS companies or now it's MicroConf, TinySeed, I'm writing books, I talk with people a lot. And putting a support person between me and all the end users did nothing to curb that. It did nothing to dissuade me from talking to and hearing from my customers.

Whether I was running SaaS companies or now it's MicroConf, TinySeed, I'm writing books, I talk with people a lot. And putting a support person between me and all the end users did nothing to curb that. It did nothing to dissuade me from talking to and hearing from my customers.

Because my support guy, Andy, would say anytime there was new feedback, new input, anything he thought was novel or that I should know, he would either CC me on it or he'd assign it to me once it was resolved. Any of the rote tasks or the rote responses that he could just hammer out, he would get back to him, he would close them because I didn't need to see over and over.

Because my support guy, Andy, would say anytime there was new feedback, new input, anything he thought was novel or that I should know, he would either CC me on it or he'd assign it to me once it was resolved. Any of the rote tasks or the rote responses that he could just hammer out, he would get back to him, he would close them because I didn't need to see over and over.

that someone wanted to reset their password or someone had a question about pricing. Now, if those questions came in a lot, Andy would then say, hey, a lot of people are having questions about pricing. Can we clarify this on this page, right?

that someone wanted to reset their password or someone had a question about pricing. Now, if those questions came in a lot, Andy would then say, hey, a lot of people are having questions about pricing. Can we clarify this on this page, right?

So there is a key factor here of hiring someone in that support role who is good and is willing to escalate things to you or at least pass things along that they think are notable. Another thing that I regretted, I remember regretting this in the days of Drip, was continuing to handle social media for my products. And it's not that I should have hired it out.

So there is a key factor here of hiring someone in that support role who is good and is willing to escalate things to you or at least pass things along that they think are notable. Another thing that I regretted, I remember regretting this in the days of Drip, was continuing to handle social media for my products. And it's not that I should have hired it out.

I just don't think I should have done any of it. I really don't. Social media did so little for us as a SaaS tool. We were not Intercom and HubSpot and Salesforce. We were a tiny bootstrapped product that was growing. And social media was nothing but a headache. if you want to know the truth. And if it drove five customers in the entire history of the company, I'd be shocked.

I just don't think I should have done any of it. I really don't. Social media did so little for us as a SaaS tool. We were not Intercom and HubSpot and Salesforce. We were a tiny bootstrapped product that was growing. And social media was nothing but a headache. if you want to know the truth. And if it drove five customers in the entire history of the company, I'd be shocked.

And so what I would do these days, I would just get off social media. I wouldn't try to hire someone for it. I wouldn't use it as a marketing approach for now. I would focus on blocking and tackling on SEO, on content, on sales. on real inbound marketing, on integration marketing, on attending live events, on going on podcasts, on talking to my customers.

And so what I would do these days, I would just get off social media. I wouldn't try to hire someone for it. I wouldn't use it as a marketing approach for now. I would focus on blocking and tackling on SEO, on content, on sales. on real inbound marketing, on integration marketing, on attending live events, on going on podcasts, on talking to my customers.

There's so many other things that I would be doing to not waste time because social media is a distraction that masquerades itself as productivity. And people justify it by saying, well, I'm working, well, I'm marketing. No, you're not. You're not marketing. You're getting on social media and you're feeding, frankly, feeding an addiction that these apps are really good at feeding.

There's so many other things that I would be doing to not waste time because social media is a distraction that masquerades itself as productivity. And people justify it by saying, well, I'm working, well, I'm marketing. No, you're not. You're not marketing. You're getting on social media and you're feeding, frankly, feeding an addiction that these apps are really good at feeding.

And they have entire teams engineered to make us feel this way, to make us feel productive when it's actually a distraction. So if I were just starting out today, I would focus on marketing and sales and I would ignore social media altogether until such a point that it became important.

And they have entire teams engineered to make us feel this way, to make us feel productive when it's actually a distraction. So if I were just starting out today, I would focus on marketing and sales and I would ignore social media altogether until such a point that it became important.

And frankly, there are tiny seed companies doing millions of dollars a year that still have almost no social media presence. So it is not only possible to get there, I would say it is easier to get there if you're not focused on that distraction.

And frankly, there are tiny seed companies doing millions of dollars a year that still have almost no social media presence. So it is not only possible to get there, I would say it is easier to get there if you're not focused on that distraction.

And lastly, the thing that you're going to have to weigh as a bootstrap founder is the next sentence I'm going to say, which is, I know some devs, and I was in this spot where I regretted continuing to write all the code. Now, some devs bootstrap because they want to write all the code. Realize that will probably hamper your growth. But if you're okay with that, that's why you've bootstrapped.

And lastly, the thing that you're going to have to weigh as a bootstrap founder is the next sentence I'm going to say, which is, I know some devs, and I was in this spot where I regretted continuing to write all the code. Now, some devs bootstrap because they want to write all the code. Realize that will probably hamper your growth. But if you're okay with that, that's why you've bootstrapped.