Rob Walling

And so the idea here is that if you've built a million dollar business and it's a bubble app, how long would it take you to completely rebuild that in another platform? if Bubble 10x their pricing, if Bubble went out of business, if Bubble had two weeks of outages. And one might say, well, couldn't AWS 10x their pricing? Yeah, highly, highly unlikely. I just don't see it.

That's not been the pattern. But what about AWS going out of business? Highly, highly unlikely. And that's why I put them down at the two level. And is AWS going to have a two-week outage? Again, highly, highly unlikely. A small no-code startup is more likely to have any of those, you know, black swan-ish events happen. And that's why I have them at number five.

That's not been the pattern. But what about AWS going out of business? Highly, highly unlikely. And that's why I put them down at the two level. And is AWS going to have a two-week outage? Again, highly, highly unlikely. A small no-code startup is more likely to have any of those, you know, black swan-ish events happen. And that's why I have them at number five.

Coming in at number six, I have all your leads coming from a single marketing channel such as Google. So basically it's 100% lead flow risk. Now, I'm not including app stores in this, like app marketplaces. I will get to those. Those are seven and eight. But in this case, I'm thinking of being solely reliant on a single flow of leads. And I think, is that a platform risk?

Coming in at number six, I have all your leads coming from a single marketing channel such as Google. So basically it's 100% lead flow risk. Now, I'm not including app stores in this, like app marketplaces. I will get to those. Those are seven and eight. But in this case, I'm thinking of being solely reliant on a single flow of leads. And I think, is that a platform risk?

I do think there is risk there. There is no replacement. usually, right? There's no direct replacement. If you rank in Google and you get amazing organic search, trying to replace that with something else, switching costs is irrelevant because you just can't do it, right?

I do think there is risk there. There is no replacement. usually, right? There's no direct replacement. If you rank in Google and you get amazing organic search, trying to replace that with something else, switching costs is irrelevant because you just can't do it, right?

Customer concentration is irrelevant because they're not reliant on Google, you know, once they come through SEO, but your lead flow and your growth plateauing feasibly, it could kill the business. And here's what's interesting is you'll notice in these eight levels, the lower end ones are all kind of technology based.

Customer concentration is irrelevant because they're not reliant on Google, you know, once they come through SEO, but your lead flow and your growth plateauing feasibly, it could kill the business. And here's what's interesting is you'll notice in these eight levels, the lower end ones are all kind of technology based.

And it's the business factors, it's the growth and new customers and customer concentration that I've put at the six, seven, and eight spot. Because those are the ones that are so hard to replace. And I've seen several businesses killed. You talk about Google changing their algorithm every, what, three, six, nine months?

And it's the business factors, it's the growth and new customers and customer concentration that I've put at the six, seven, and eight spot. Because those are the ones that are so hard to replace. And I've seen several businesses killed. You talk about Google changing their algorithm every, what, three, six, nine months?

And entire affiliate businesses that were doing millions of dollars basically go to zero overnight. So the reason I have this as number six is is that if Bubble 10x their pricing or had a big outage, you could rebuild that. And if you're hosted on AWS or using SendGrid or using WordPress, you can rebuild it.

And entire affiliate businesses that were doing millions of dollars basically go to zero overnight. So the reason I have this as number six is is that if Bubble 10x their pricing or had a big outage, you could rebuild that. And if you're hosted on AWS or using SendGrid or using WordPress, you can rebuild it.

The risks are there, but they're lower than if you lose Google where there is no replacement and you lose all your organic rankings, it can be existential to the business. The seventh level of platform risk, I've put a friendly app ecosystem. So an example of this is Heroku. Like Heroku apps in general thrive.

The risks are there, but they're lower than if you lose Google where there is no replacement and you lose all your organic rankings, it can be existential to the business. The seventh level of platform risk, I've put a friendly app ecosystem. So an example of this is Heroku. Like Heroku apps in general thrive.

Heroku has not, at least to date, and this could change, but they have not screwed their developers. Unlike number eight level of platform risk or aggressive platforms, but... Heroku is one example. I'm sure there are many, many others. In fact, we have a list of, I think, 80 SaaS marketplaces. And it's microconf.com slash latest slash SaaS dash marketplaces. We'll link it up in the show notes.

Heroku has not, at least to date, and this could change, but they have not screwed their developers. Unlike number eight level of platform risk or aggressive platforms, but... Heroku is one example. I'm sure there are many, many others. In fact, we have a list of, I think, 80 SaaS marketplaces. And it's microconf.com slash latest slash SaaS dash marketplaces. We'll link it up in the show notes.

But there's Salesforce, AppExchange, Zoho Marketplace, HubSpot App Marketplace, Pipedrive, Less Annoying CRM, Microsoft App Store, Slack App Directory, on and on and on. There are 80 of them. I won't read them here. And look, here's the thing. Can I name all of the ones that are friendly and all the ones that are aggressive? No, because I don't know enough about them.

But there's Salesforce, AppExchange, Zoho Marketplace, HubSpot App Marketplace, Pipedrive, Less Annoying CRM, Microsoft App Store, Slack App Directory, on and on and on. There are 80 of them. I won't read them here. And look, here's the thing. Can I name all of the ones that are friendly and all the ones that are aggressive? No, because I don't know enough about them.

I would guess that big companies like Salesforce and now Slack, because it's owned by Salesforce, are kind of a pain in the ass. And if they're not yet, that they will become that. And I would guess that smaller companies and those that have not yet been acquired by a bigger player or a public company or private equity are going to be... likely more friendly, but those are just guidelines.