Should your first customer pay you, or get your product for free?

In this episode, Rob Walling answers listener questions on charging customer zero, what metrics to track for a seasonal transaction fee-based SaaS, what it really means to sell into a low-awareness market, and when freelancers help vs. hurt your bootstrapped business. He also calls in Producer Ron to break down exactly how he thinks about writing copy for a podcast ads. Want to get your question answered? Drop it here.

• (2:42) – Six years to overnight success
• (4:55) – Should customer zero pay or get it free?
• (8:42) – Writing ad copy for podcast ads
• (15:14) – Metrics for a transaction fee-based SaaS
• (18:40) – Moving from GMV-only to subscription plus fees
• (20:38) – Selling into a low-awareness market
• (23:53) – When bootstrappers struggle without problem awareness
• (27:09) – Podcast music history editor Josh
• (31:44) – How to find and work with freelancers

• SaaS Launchpad
• TinySeed SaaS Accelerator
• MicroConf
• The SaaS Playbook
• Zell Wave by Josh Young - SoundCloud
• Dynamite Jobs
• New Rob’s VideoAsk
• Rob Walling (@robwalling) | X

If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you'd like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We'd love to hear from you!

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