DeepSummary
Arvid Kahl experienced a remarkable 50% increase in new users for his product Podscan overnight, thanks to a shoutout from influential tech figure Peter Levels on Twitter. This influx brought valuable feedback and feature requests that allowed Arvid to validate his assumptions about the product. However, he simultaneously faced infrastructure challenges with his full-text search feature, leading to performance issues and database lockups.
Arvid struggled to find a solution, attempting various approaches like adding full-text indexes and using different search engines, but faced limitations due to the sheer volume of data. The support from the Mightly search team and their responsiveness in addressing the issues proved invaluable. Arvid also discovered cost-effective dedicated server options from Hetzner, which helped him significantly reduce his infrastructure expenses.
Despite the challenges, Arvid remained focused on learning and adapting, embracing both the successes and failures as opportunities for growth. He recognized the importance of community support, open-source tools, and persistence in overcoming obstacles. The contrasting experiences reinforced his commitment to refining Podscan and meeting the needs of his users.
Key Episodes Takeaways
- Embrace both successes and failures as opportunities for growth and learning.
- Value community support, open-source tools, and persistence in overcoming obstacles.
- Maintain a growth mindset and adapt to challenges.
- Continuously seek feedback and validation from users to refine and improve the product.
- Explore cost-effective infrastructure solutions to optimize resources.
- Recognize the ups and downs as an inherent part of the entrepreneurial journey.
- Stay focused on meeting the needs of users and working for them.
- Be open to finding solutions by better utilizing existing tools and resources.
Top Episodes Quotes
- “It was incredible to see so many people, including several of my tech founders and heroes, start using Podscan just from this one tweet.“ by Arvid Kahl
- “Their support and their responsiveness were phenomenal and they transformed my scarcity mindset in that moment into a problem solving opportunity.“ by Arvid Kahl
- “The real lesson from this week was that sometimes the solution lies in making better use of the tools that I already have.“ by Arvid Kahl
- “This mindset not only helps me in overcoming these challenges, but also in building a product that truly meets the needs of its users. Because I'm motivated by them, to work with them and for them.“ by Arvid Kahl
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Episode Information
The Bootstrapped Founder
Arvid Kahl
6/21/24
This week was a duality of extremes for me. On one hand, I experienced an unprecedented growth spurt in my user numbers, while on the other hand, I stumbled into frustrating scarcity and infrastructure problems. That’s entrepreneurship for you: big wins while struggling to not lose control of the whole thing.
The juxtaposition of these two experiences in a single week was both challenging and enlightening. Today, I want to share the story of navigating the good and the bad simultaneously.
This episode is sponsored by Acquire.com
The blog post: https://tbf.fm/episodes/330-50-new-users-overnight-and-a-burning-server
The podcast episode: https://thebootstrappedfounder.com/50-percent-new-users-overnight-and-a-burning-server
Check out Podscan to get alerts when you're mentioned on podcasts: https://podscan.fm
Send me a voicemail on Podline: https://podline.fm/arvid
You'll find my weekly article on my blog: https://thebootstrappedfounder.com
Podcast: https://thebootstrappedfounder.com/podcast
Newsletter: https://thebootstrappedfounder.com/newsletter
My book Zero to Sold: https://zerotosold.com/
My book The Embedded Entrepreneur: https://embeddedentrepreneur.com/
My course Find Your Following: https://findyourfollowing.com
Here are a few tools I use. Using my affiliate links will support my work at no additional cost to you.
- Notion (which I use to organize, write, coordinate, and archive my podcast + newsletter): https://affiliate.notion.so/465mv1536drx
- Riverside.fm (that's what I recorded this episode with): https://riverside.fm/?via=arvid
- TweetHunter (for speedy scheduling and writing Tweets): http://tweethunter.io/?via=arvid
- HypeFury (for massive Twitter analytics and scheduling): https://hypefury.com/?via=arvid60
- AudioPen (for taking voice notes and getting amazing summaries): https://audiopen.ai/?aff=PXErZ
- Descript (for word-based video editing, subtitles, and clips): https://www.descript.com/?lmref=3cf39Q
- ConvertKit (for email lists, newsletters, even finding sponsors): https://convertkit.com?lmref=bN9CZw