Justin Jackson

Justin Jackson

Internet stuntman

https://justinjackson.ca

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Building a business is kind of like riding the subway across town: you're probably going to need to take several trains to get there. At each stage, you want to make sure you're getting on the right train. First, you need to find something that customers want. What are they already searching for? If you find something that many customers desire, it's very likely that there will be competition (other businesses who have realized the same thing). Competition is a big reason startups fail. 😉 Just because you catch the first train (finding something customers want) doesn't mean you'll catch the second train (being able to compete with the other businesses). What helps you compete? - Having a good network (Who knows you? Who do you know?) - Having investment (or your own cash in the bank) - Having better skills than your competitors - Understanding the market better than your competitors - Having a better brand than your competitors
Question: How do startups find their product?

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The first paying customers for Transistor.fm came from our existing network. In the beginning the two most important traits are: "who do you know?" and "who knows you?"
Question: How did you get a first paying customer? And how?

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I speak with existing users! I ask them: "What drove you to seek out Transistor, and how did you find us?"
Question: What do you do when you meet the difficulty of gaining new users?

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I think everyone learns differently. What worked for me: networking and meeting people, who I then started "pairing" with on different projects.
Question: How did you learn to code? Let me know some good references for programming beginners.

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Renting a small office (or joining a coworking space) is what helped me the most. Having a separate place to work away from home helps you make the contextual shift in your brain: "This is where I work." "This is where I sleep." "This is where I spend time with family."
Question: How do you balance your work and personal life?

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That changes week by week. 😉 There are so many good bootstrapping podcasts right now: FounderQuest Art of Product Bootstrapping Digest Bootstrapping SaaS
Question: What is your favorite podcast?

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Brian Balfour recommends looking at three business metrics: 1. Top-Line Growth 2. Retention 3. Meaningful Usage If you're growing at a healthy pace, retaining most of your users, and are seeing recurring usage from those users, Brian thinks that's a good sign of product/market fit.
Question: How do you know when you have product/market fit?

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