Episode 817 | Bootstrapping in the Age of AI with Jason Cohen
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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I'm your host, Rob Walling. In this episode, I talk with Jason Cohen. You might know him online as AsmartBear. He's been blogging for almost 20 years at AsmartBear.com. He has started two unicorns, including WP Engine, of which I was an angel investor. It was my first ever angel investment back in 2011. And Jason has just been a longtime supporter of MicroConf and now TinySeed. He has given several talks at MicroConf, including one that is widely considered to be the best talk ever given at a MicroConf. And I think it's the best talk ever about bootstrapping startups. And we talk about that. In this episode, I actually struggled to title this episode because we talked about so many topics, including mistakes founders make in the early days.
We wrap it up with a discussion about AI and where Jason feels like the opportunity would be if he was starting over today. But in the end, we cover some meaty topics and Jason is just so thoughtful and deliberate in his thinking and so clear in his thinking. I have infinite respect for him, and it was a pleasure to have him on the show today. Jason's actually going to be speaking at MicroConf US in Portland in just a couple months. Tickets are selling fast, and we will sell this event out. MicroConf.com slash US if you're interested. And the promo code you'll want to use is ROB50 for $50 off. And with that, let's dive into our conversation.
Jason Cohen, welcome to the show.
Hey, thanks for having me. It's always great to talk.
It feels criminal that this is your first appearance on Startups for the Rest of Us.
I know, I don't understand. Maybe because I was busy the last 15 years.
Yeah, what have you been up to, man? Growing another unicorn. No, it really, I mean, you and I talk often enough that I just, and you've spoken at Microcomp so many times that it just feels like you're a staple in the ecosystem. And when producer Ron and I were talking, it was like, how has Jason never been on the show? Like, it's not great.
Well, I mean, you're an angel investor in WP Engine, so you're probably happy that I stayed focused on that instead of doing podcasts.
Heck yes, man. That bought our house, paid cash for our house. It was great. So a lot of folks will be familiar with you as the founder of WP Engine, as well as SmartBear, which was the software company before that. Both are unicorns at this point. And you've been a longtime blogger at asmartbear.com. hundreds of essays, if I were to guess. But what did I miss in that intro? Like, how else would you like folks to know who you are and what you do?
I think that's good. That's my best work.
Well, that's your best work in the rearview mirror. I want to call people's attention to Hidden Multipliers at hiddenmultipliers.com. It's your first book that you have for pre-order right now.
That's right. Yeah. So I'm not here to promote it. Although maybe we can do another one where I am there to promote it. I don't know. But yes, I've been writing for 18 years, like you said. But one of the things I felt was I've been writing on all these topics, but there's no... like central idea. There's no central framework. There's no, like, it's just a bunch of random stuff. And so when things would come up in conversation or online or whatever, and I'd say, oh yeah, I wrote about that over here.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–14:30
2
What is Jason Cohen's Hidden Multipliers concept and why did he write the book?
14:30–18:13
3
How did Jason identify systematic small changes that produce outsized results?
18:13–36:30
4
How does Jason use writing as a tool to develop business frameworks?
36:30–53:18
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from Startups For the Rest of Us
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