Rob Walling

that is not a SaaS product. So I put product is number two, engineering indeed is number three. And I think you can succeed without engineering skills on your founding team. But in the long run, I do think you need, you know, an experienced engineer who's guarding that code base fiercely. And fourth is hiring and managing people, hiring well and managing well.

that is not a SaaS product. So I put product is number two, engineering indeed is number three. And I think you can succeed without engineering skills on your founding team. But in the long run, I do think you need, you know, an experienced engineer who's guarding that code base fiercely. And fourth is hiring and managing people, hiring well and managing well.

This is one that's often overlooked because a lot of us think that we can do it all on our own. I want to be that single founder, solo engineer, and I'm going to build amazing product and get it to half a million ARR or a million or five million, whatever your goals are.

This is one that's often overlooked because a lot of us think that we can do it all on our own. I want to be that single founder, solo engineer, and I'm going to build amazing product and get it to half a million ARR or a million or five million, whatever your goals are.

And I'm going to do it alone or I'm going to do it with a bunch of contractors because the complexity and the expense of hiring team members and managing them, I don't want to hire or manage. So I'm going to do it on my own. I tried to do that. I thought that that was the way that I was going to be successful. And I kind of did it, right?

And I'm going to do it alone or I'm going to do it with a bunch of contractors because the complexity and the expense of hiring team members and managing them, I don't want to hire or manage. So I'm going to do it on my own. I tried to do that. I thought that that was the way that I was going to be successful. And I kind of did it, right?

I got to about 150K in annual revenue with a bunch of small software products. And it was fun. It was really boring. By the time I tried to do ambitious stuff, I needed to hire a team. I needed people to be on board and to be committed. And so one thing that I see folks who have successful SaaS companies where they know how to market,

I got to about 150K in annual revenue with a bunch of small software products. And it was fun. It was really boring. By the time I tried to do ambitious stuff, I needed to hire a team. I needed people to be on board and to be committed. And so one thing that I see folks who have successful SaaS companies where they know how to market,

they're good with product, they found product market fit, and they're engineers and they're shipping and they're doing all this stuff, but they can't hire or manage people, is they hit a ceiling quite quickly. And oftentimes they burn out because they're doing everything themselves.

they're good with product, they found product market fit, and they're engineers and they're shipping and they're doing all this stuff, but they can't hire or manage people, is they hit a ceiling quite quickly. And oftentimes they burn out because they're doing everything themselves.

They are on a hiring treadmill where they hire people and they either are mishiring or they're not managing them well. And so they can constantly are churning through people and they just can't make headway or make progress. And so could hiring managing actually be maybe number three above engineering? Feasibly.

They are on a hiring treadmill where they hire people and they either are mishiring or they're not managing them well. And so they can constantly are churning through people and they just can't make headway or make progress. And so could hiring managing actually be maybe number three above engineering? Feasibly.

I could probably steal man an argument that says hiring and managing, if you are really good at it, could feasibly trump engineering. But those are the four skills. And those are the order I am in marketing and sales, then product and engineering. than hiring and managing. So think about that.

I could probably steal man an argument that says hiring and managing, if you are really good at it, could feasibly trump engineering. But those are the four skills. And those are the order I am in marketing and sales, then product and engineering. than hiring and managing. So think about that.

If you're a software engineer, your skill set, of course, is critical to building the SaaS, but it's much less critical to the success of the business than you might think. This is why in Start Small, Stay Small, 15 years ago, I wrote product last, marketing first, because nothing happens until you get someone to pay you for your product.

If you're a software engineer, your skill set, of course, is critical to building the SaaS, but it's much less critical to the success of the business than you might think. This is why in Start Small, Stay Small, 15 years ago, I wrote product last, marketing first, because nothing happens until you get someone to pay you for your product.

And that's where marketing and sales are number one in my book. My last topic for today is, it's a story. It's a story from 2015. Boy, it might have been January of 2016. And it is the one time in the history, as Derek and I were building Drip,

And that's where marketing and sales are number one in my book. My last topic for today is, it's a story. It's a story from 2015. Boy, it might have been January of 2016. And it is the one time in the history, as Derek and I were building Drip,

that we committed to a deadline for a feature, that we publicly committed, and it was that one time that we forgot a big development task or a big product task. The moment. It was absolutely Murphy's Law that the moment we announced it, we realized, uh-oh, we shouldn't have done that. So we took the tact as we were building Drip that... We obviously wanted high feature velocity.

that we committed to a deadline for a feature, that we publicly committed, and it was that one time that we forgot a big development task or a big product task. The moment. It was absolutely Murphy's Law that the moment we announced it, we realized, uh-oh, we shouldn't have done that. So we took the tact as we were building Drip that... We obviously wanted high feature velocity.