Welcome bootstrappers!

Discussions
#1

Welcome!

Let me tell you a story. Long ago Joel Spolsky started a little forum called The Business of Software. It was a great place where people just getting into the software business could ask questions, share ideas, and meet like-minded individuals. In fact, Andrey and I met on those forums and have stayed in touch ever since as our software busineses have grown and evolved.

In 2013 we started the Bootstrapped.fm podcast as a place to share what we’ve learned, voice our frustrations (Andrey seems to do this a lot), and once again try and connect with other bootstrapped startups. The podcast has grown faster than imagined and when approached by Mike Jones (and seconded by Rachel Andrew) to start a forum for bootstrappers we saw it as an opportunity to attempt to recreate the magic which was the original Business of Software forums; a place to swap stories and learn the latest techniques to help our businesses prosper.

We hope you find this forum useful and informative through your own journey as a software Bootstrapper. Let’s get started!

Ian Landsman
UserScape

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#2

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#3

Thanks @ianlandsman and @andrey for building this. The bootstrappers of the world need a place to share ideas.

In fact I was just thinking the bootstrapper voice is often not heard. How often do you see a bootstrapped company featured on Techcrunch? Almost never. Everyone talks about the VC backed companies. Because few talk about the bootstrapped companies communities of bootstrappers tend not to form.

Thanks!

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#4

Yeah that’s true. We have to make our own luck as they say! That said, the few times UserScape has been mentioned in even mid tier publications the effect is always negligible on sales. The relationships I’ve built from the BOS forums, conferences, twitter, etc have all always paid off for me far more both personally and from a business perspective.

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#5

This is great @ianlandsman and @andrey. Thanks for putting it together!

#6

Great forum @ian & @andrey, it’s like the BaconBiz conference all year long!

#7

Yeah, that’s pretty much the thinking!

#8

Ah, yes, I remember that forum. Lots of eye-opening stuff going on there back in the day. I still remember when Andrey wrote his book. Too bad it’s not as prominent now as it was then.

But hey, now we have this place!

#9

Out with the old, in with the new!

#10

I am sooooo glad you made this forum. I have been looking for something like this for a while now and was very close to making it myself but was dreading the time it would take to build a large enough audience to make it beneficial. It’s absolutely perfect that it is being done by someone who’s already started building an audience.

BTW, Discourse would have been my choice too! It’s a very nice deviation from the typical forum scripts we’ve all gotten accustomed to over the years. How do you like it from the admin perspective?

#11

I am really excited about this. Thanks @ian and @andrey for providing this!

#12

Great to see this forum. I’ve been looking for something for a while for something like the BoS forum used to be. I also like the guidance points:

  • Be kind to your fellow community members.
  • Constructive criticism is welcome, but remember to criticize ideas, not people.

Nice!

#13

This is incredible. You guys are awesome. So excited about this. Been wanting to connect with other bootstrappers so much lately.

#14

Glad to stumble upon this community. Already found lot of good stuff in discussions!

#15

Thanks! Welcome to the community.

#16

So glad to find this place. From first glance it looks superb!

#19

Love the platform… we all need each other and its great to connect!

#20

I really like this platform and reading through some of these discussions (I am new) I cane see how helpful it will be. Good stuff indeed!

#21

accually I think this is one of the best websites to help beginners to start earning money online

#22

Hi Ian!

Bootstrapped is an awesome and worthy successor to BOS, now that I’ve found it, I plan to hang out here. Looking forward to participating!

Cheers,
Bob Walsh