Startup to Something
By Marc and Matt
A weekly podcast by two indie hackers, Marc and Matt. They share their ups and downs of building their bootstrapped online businesses. They prefer to show instead of teach, so you get to see the real story about what it's like to “startup to something” - raw and unpolished.
Startup to SomethingJan 25, 2024
00:00
01:03:58
110: Free and untethered
Jan 25, 202401:03:58
109: The right kind of rest
Jan 11, 202454:12
108: Sometimes garbage is actually garbage
Dec 14, 202348:55
107: Finding early traction
Nov 30, 202355:23
106: A purely creative act
Nov 16, 202359:48
Nov 09, 202334:59
Nov 02, 202346:31
103: Matt gets users, Marc goes serverless
Oct 19, 202301:05:08
102: Rebuilding the right muscles
Oct 06, 202356:15
101: Keeping momentum and keeping books
Sep 21, 202358:01
100: We are so back!
Sep 07, 202347:08
Jul 06, 202327:38
Jun 29, 202314:43
97: I built this for you Marc
Jun 15, 202343:42
96: It's my browser, dammit
May 25, 202350:54
95: MemberRow resurgence
May 18, 202339:08
94: Marc the snowflake
Marc is working on the refactoring for PowerImporter and finds himself wishing he had a better pre-composed starting blocks for his projects that he could use to get off the ground faster. Matt had an insightful discussion around the Amazon product discovery app he's building. The guys discuss Copilot and how to use it to maximize productivity.
May 04, 202341:33
93: I can guarantee you do not use ChatGPT the way Marc does
Once you hear about how Marc uses ChatGPT to help him in the day to day, it will open your mind.
The guys talk through how they are using ChatGPT in their workflows, how to engineer better prompts, and how Marc tweaks his experiences on the web to make his life better.
Apr 27, 202336:48
92: Matt, the demo illusionist
Matt is back in the hot seat this week. He has been in transit to Portugal, and has a v1 of a product demo video for the Amazon product research tool he's building. The guys talk through ways to use AI to help developers be more productive.
Apr 20, 202319:56
91: AI musings
The guys talk through the incredible innovation that is ChatGPT and what it means for emerging software engineers.
When everyone has a calculator, should we bother learning long division?
Apr 13, 202326:16
90: Hotseat: Matt, Shopify reflections
Matt is in the hot seat this week. He discusses the end of his Shopify experiment, and what his next focus is.
The guys talk through driving traffic to test landing pages and what constitutes a good CTA.
Apr 06, 202326:00
89: Lower hanging fruit
Mar 23, 202344:47
88: Aboard the struggle bus
Matt is struggling with next steps and bets to make in the ecommerce space. Marc is seeing his hosting bill going up as a result of an acquisition. The guys talk through what Matt should do next and the idea of barriers to entry in different markets.
Mar 09, 202342:58
87: Cultivating curiosity
Feb 23, 202344:32
86: Momentum
Marc is ready to hit the beach for vacation, and Matt has made progress on GDriveFixer and other opportunities. The guys talk through Matt's decision making and evaluating new market opportunities.
Feb 09, 202359:59
85: Tests of markets and skills
Marc has been shipping a new performance update for PowerImporter as well as hacking on a chrome extension for fighting the Twitter algorithm. Matt is running is first test: a fixer for google drive favourites in finder. The guys discuss Matt's experiment, what's come of it and what the next steps are.
Jan 26, 202355:40
84: Working backwards
The guys are BACK and ready to conquer. Matt is doubling down on goalsetting and working backwards from them but needs some help for the more amorphous goals. Marc is doing some housekeeping for PowerImporter.
Jan 12, 202340:33
83: Ending the year with a bang!
The guys review their 2022 and set intention and goals for 2023. Matt has big news!
Dec 15, 202237:28
82: Build in private
Marc was a part of the recent Webflow marketplace launch, but the rush burned him out. Matt is getting inspired by AI businesses showing up in his facebook feed and contemplating an offer to be a technical cofounder. The guys discuss how to come back from burnout and moving away from building in public.
Dec 01, 202231:09
81: How you define work
Matt is drinking port and finally offloading the operations of his business. Marc is drinking rum and coke and is questioning if the job of marketing that he dislikes so much is serving him. The guys discuss the definition of work and AI powered products.
Nov 08, 202243:37
80: Profitable bug fixes
Matt is in Portugal slacking off. Marc has found and fixed a very profitable bug in PowerImporter. The guys discuss foreign transactions and the best ways to retain revenue when moving between currencies.
Oct 27, 202234:05
79: Haters gonna hate—lifestyle businesses unite!
Marc has been working on a new WordPress importer. Matt is about to head to Portugal. The guys discuss the shift in popular media away from creating lifestyle businesses, and how the lifestyle is the reason they both began indie hacking.
Oct 20, 202247:53
78: The business of podcasting
Matt is back after vacation/sickness and is working on cultivating Matt Time. Marc is feeling filled with podcast related business ideas after taking over editing this podcast for a few weeks. The guys talk through Marc's business ideas and evaluate their potential.
Oct 15, 202243:38
77: Founder productivity and well-being, with guest Xavier Coiffard
Xavier Coiffard of FocusPlus joins Marc to chat about productivity and mental well-being as a bootstrapped founder.
Oct 06, 202201:07:40
76: Balancing dev and marketing as a solo founder, with Noah Bragg
Noah Bragg of Potion and Marc chat about the challenges of being a solo founder while balancing marketing and building the product.
Oct 01, 202256:47
75: The must-haves
Matt has been consulting with a company to help find and screen a developer for them. Marc has been honing in on the type of candidate he'd like to make as part of his first hire. The guys discuss how to identify desirable candidates and how to screen people with no much experience.
Sep 15, 202238:40
74: Emma Fletcher on choosing to not go it alone
Emma Fletcher (@emmafletcher) of learntosolderkits.com fame stops by to tell the story of the genesis of learn to solder kits, how she grew her ecommerce operations and her newest venture Evergreen Support. She talks through hiring her first employee, building systems, dealing with supply chain bottlenecks and learning about businesses from the inside.
Sep 13, 202253:49
73: What does success look like for me?
Marc has shipped a Webflow to Airtable sync to PowerImporter and it's getting use in the wild. Matt is searching for an accountability partner to stay on the momentum wagon. The guys discuss testing business ideas, having goals, and what success looks like to each of them.
Sep 01, 202243:43
72: Not the product risk I was warned about
Marc is back from camping and is making progress on his side project. Matt is having problems regulating his freelancing, but has some new insights for how to keep it from happening. The guys discuss platform risk and next experiments for Marc's project.
Aug 25, 202248:20
71: The eras of our lives
Marc is shipping a new PowerImporter feature before going on a camping trip. Matt is just about ready to start his product hunt preparation to market his slackbot. The guys discuss how they see the work they do today and how it fits in the era's of their lives.
Aug 12, 202236:36
70: OK boomer
Matt is finished the slackbot and is deciding whether to charge or not. Marc is feeling better, and getting his momentum back. The guys discuss when to charge for a product and Microconf masterminds.
Aug 04, 202230:36
69: Not all rest is vacation
Marc has been derailed from his challenge due to being sick. Matt's momentum is still high and he's making progress on his slackbot. The guys discuss ideal onboarding enablement.
Jul 28, 202223:01
68: The 60 day challenge
Matt stumbled a little bit in his slackbot development and is aiming to be done development this week. Marc has started a 60 day build in public challenge for a side business he's been fantasizing about. The guys discuss building in public and the no-audience approach to building.
Jul 21, 202231:35
67: Hear the difference
Matt has been meeting his goal of 1 hour per day of Matt Time™ and hopes to finish development of his slackbot this week. Marc is itching to take on a side project, but feels torn that PowerImporter should be his sole focus.
Jul 15, 202235:24
66: Drink the dip
Matt is back from NFT NYC and full of stories about it. Marc professes his love for chrome extensions and hacking with most websites he visits. The guys discuss an idea for a project planning tool idea Matt has.
Jun 30, 202246:22
65: Just two snowballs rolling down a hill
Matt and Marc are getting momentum back! Matt got some actionable advise for workstation setup that have already yielded results and Marc is taking on small bugs to get his groove back.
Jun 16, 202232:47
64: What am I doing wrong?
Matt and Marc have a coaching session: Matt is feeling a lot of frustration around getting something off the ground. Where is his time going? What mistakes is he making? Why is he not making the progress he wants?
Jun 09, 202248:36
63: Compelling offers
Matt is doing more research around assisting people. Marc is reconsidering building in public. The guys discuss the potential recession and meaningful tests Matt can run for a potential offering.
May 27, 202257:53
62: Intelligent or crazy
Marc is knee deep in PowerImporter support and boxes of his stuff during his move. Matt has a milestone of sending smart contracts to production and has been writing blog posts to support his NFT client. The guys discuss an idea from Matt: professional service partnerships with up and coming platforms.
May 19, 202201:00:21
61: Probing further
Marc is living the dream in the Montreal springtime, working on the newest importer and moving house. Matt is doing more customer interviews about hiring assistants. The guys discuss ways Matt can continue to vet his idea and test the market.
May 12, 202255:40