Rob Walling

So it would have been like 30, not quite 30, like 26 or 27, somewhere in there, licenses.

That's not bad at all.

That's not bad at all.

That's an SEO cot. Yeah, exactly. seven to 10 copies, sometimes up to like 13 copies or whatever. So you're talking like two, three, 4,000 a month. And we did have 20% maintenance, but it really was, it was one time. And so when, if we lost our SEO rankings or like during the financial crisis, we would lose like 80% of our revenue overnight.

That's an SEO cot. Yeah, exactly. seven to 10 copies, sometimes up to like 13 copies or whatever. So you're talking like two, three, 4,000 a month. And we did have 20% maintenance, but it really was, it was one time. And so when, if we lost our SEO rankings or like during the financial crisis, we would lose like 80% of our revenue overnight.

So we'd go from like three grand down to like 500 because nothing was recurring. So, you know, you basically front load it, right? It's like they're paying for a year Which is good when you're, which is actually good when you're bootstrapping because you get a lot more cash up front.

So we'd go from like three grand down to like 500 because nothing was recurring. So, you know, you basically front load it, right? It's like they're paying for a year Which is good when you're, which is actually good when you're bootstrapping because you get a lot more cash up front.

Yeah, it was pretty nice.

Yeah, it was pretty nice.

So you had this on-prem software from 05 until you told me 2015 is when you launched a SaaS version. And The question that popped up in my mind around that is, 2015 feels late to launch SaaS. SaaS first became kind of in the zeitgeist in, I would say, like, 07 to 09. That MailChimp became a thing. Certainly there was SaaS before that, but it wasn't called that.

So you had this on-prem software from 05 until you told me 2015 is when you launched a SaaS version. And The question that popped up in my mind around that is, 2015 feels late to launch SaaS. SaaS first became kind of in the zeitgeist in, I would say, like, 07 to 09. That MailChimp became a thing. Certainly there was SaaS before that, but it wasn't called that.

I remember ASPs and whatever, the other acronyms. Basecamp. Basecamp, Salesforce. Salesforce.

I remember ASPs and whatever, the other acronyms. Basecamp. Basecamp, Salesforce. Salesforce.

constant contact you know they were around even a weber was like really early but i remember by like 2011 2012 like sas was that was a thing it was like going so i would think you know you having this on-prem would have have moved to sat and not moved but just deployed a subscription version earlier so what what was the delay and i'm not acting like you you launched it late but it's just in my head yeah that number so what what what took that time

constant contact you know they were around even a weber was like really early but i remember by like 2011 2012 like sas was that was a thing it was like going so i would think you know you having this on-prem would have have moved to sat and not moved but just deployed a subscription version earlier so what what was the delay and i'm not acting like you you launched it late but it's just in my head yeah that number so what what what took that time

How painful was that to go on-premises? Oh, it's painful. Was it brutal?

How painful was that to go on-premises? Oh, it's painful. Was it brutal?

I was going to ask if you still offer on-prem or if at a certain point, obviously, you know, if you still have a bunch of customers using it, paying you, you would let them keep going. But the idea of just going to help spot.com and the only thing you can sign up for is the SAS, you know, did you ever, you haven't done that. You still offer both. What's the thinking there?

I was going to ask if you still offer on-prem or if at a certain point, obviously, you know, if you still have a bunch of customers using it, paying you, you would let them keep going. But the idea of just going to help spot.com and the only thing you can sign up for is the SAS, you know, did you ever, you haven't done that. You still offer both. What's the thinking there?

No, I think that makes sense. I have a, may seem off topic, but I have a question for you about Laravel because you're written on, well, you're written on some custom PHP that you hacked together 20 years ago, but then I know at a certain point, you know, you integrated Laravel and you're pretty heavily involved in the community. Laracon, you know, I think you mentioned some of that earlier.