DeepSummary
In this episode, Rob Walling interviews Grant McConaughey, the founder of Postpone, a social media scheduling tool. Grant shares the story of how he started Postpone as a side project in January 2020 to scratch his own itch of wanting to grow a following on Twitter and Reddit while working at Zapier. He talks about the slow growth in the beginning, getting the first paying customer after a few months, and using some unconventional growth tactics like cold DMs on Reddit.
Grant also discusses the reasons for joining TinySeed, an accelerator program for bootstrapped SaaS companies. He explains how the full-time focus and pricing changes enabled Postpone to grow substantially, reaching mid-six figures in annual recurring revenue (ARR) in less than three years. The episode covers the initial hesitation about raising prices, the successful price increase, and the addition of support for Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok.
Additionally, Grant shares the experience of overcoming the platform risk with Reddit when they announced plans to charge for API usage. He also reflects on what he could be doing better, emphasizing the importance of marketing and customer acquisition channels.
Key Episodes Takeaways
- Starting a side project without extensive validation can sometimes lead to success if the timing is right and the founder is passionate about the project.
- Joining an accelerator program like TinySeed can provide valuable mentorship, community, and resources for bootstrapped SaaS companies to accelerate growth.
- Implementing a well-planned price increase, accompanied by additional value or features, can significantly boost revenue and growth.
- Overcoming platform risks and dependencies is crucial for the long-term sustainability of a business, and having contingency plans or diversification strategies is essential.
- As a founder, it's important to balance product development with marketing and customer acquisition efforts to drive sustainable growth.
- Continuously evaluating pricing, value metrics, and customer acquisition channels is necessary to stay competitive and capitalize on growth opportunities.
- Focusing on a single product and dedicating full-time effort can significantly accelerate growth compared to working on it as a side project.
- Transparency and clear communication with customers can help mitigate potential backlash when implementing pricing changes or significant updates.
Top Episodes Quotes
- “Yeah. So about 20%. So we had like a $19 a month plan that went up to 25. We had a $39 a month plan that went up to 49 and so on. So about 2020, 5% or so increase. And, yeah, I tried to coincide with the launch of that, of Twitter support so it didn't just feel like increasing prices. It's also, hey, I'm getting like twice the value as I was before.“ by Grant McConaughey
- “And frankly, I wish I would've done it six months earlier or soon after joining tiny seed based on how well it went.“ by Grant McConaughey
- “I started working on postpone as a software engineer at Zapier, really wonderful company that I enjoyed working with them, but I just wanted to build these other skill sets as well. But I found that in building postpone and building up this product and this small company, I still spend a lot of my time building, working on product stuff. I still feel like an engineer at heart. And you simply have to focus on marketing as well.“ by Grant McConaughey
Entities
Company
Person
Book
Podcast
Product
Episode Information
Startups For the Rest of Us
Rob Walling
12/26/23