Startups For the Rest of Us

What’s it take for a bootstrapped SaaS to beat a competitor with $10M in venture funding? In this episode, Rob Walling talks with Laura Roeder, founder of Paperbell, about how her lean, fully-bootstrapped team outlasted and outperformed a VC-funded rival. They discuss what the venture-backed company got wrong, how Paperbell focused on the right customers, and why efficiency still beats funding. Topics we cover:  (3:52) – Competing against a $10M-funded startup (8:45) – Why “self-serve SaaS on hard mode” was worth it (14:36) – How over-investing in engineering killed their competitor (19:04) – The real problem with under-investing in marketing (21:19) – Why some SaaS markets can’t scale upmarket (24:13) – Why some markets are perfect for bootstrappers (28:42) – How big funding rounds create false signals (30:24) – The behind-the-scenes of a potential acquisition deal (33:26) – How Paperbell became the market leader Links from the Show:  MicroConf Mastermind Matching The SaaS Playbook by Rob Walling Paperbell Laura Roeder (@lkr) | 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! Subscribe & Review: iTunes | Spotify

How will AI, SEO, and market shifts change SaaS next year? In this solo episode, Rob Walling revisits his predictions for 2025, what he got right, what he totally missed and shares nine new predictions for 2026. He reflects on trends shaping bootstrapped SaaS, from the rise of AI-first startups to the challenges facing horizontal SaaS founders.  Interested in Sponsoring this Podcast? If your product or service helps SaaS founders, bootstrappers, or indie entrepreneurs, you can reach thousands of listeners each week through Startups for the Rest of Us. Email us at [email protected] Topics we cover:  (1:09) – Lessons from common SaaS plateaus and the Core Four framework (4:39) – Rating his 2025 predictions: what came true (and what didn’t) (12:46) – Prediction #1: Horizontal SaaS will face major headwinds (15:56) – Prediction #2: Overreliance on SEO will hurt SaaS founders (16:26) – Prediction #3: Top brands will dominate as AI narrows discovery (21:04) – Prediction #4: The AI VC bubble won’t burst in 2026 (21:47) – Prediction #5: Open source AI models will double in usage (22:28) – Prediction #6: A major no code platform will struggle or shut down (23:33) – Prediction #7: M&A for small SaaS startups will accelerate (24:31) – Prediction #8: Bitcoin will hit a new all-time high (25:31) – Prediction #9: Stripe will not go public (again) (26:26) – Reflections on MicroConf and TinySeed milestones Links from the Show:  MicroConf US – Portland, April 2026 Rob Walling YouTube Channel Apply to TinySeed TinySeed Portfolio The SaaS Playbook by Rob Walling 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! Subscribe & Review: iTunes | Spotify

After funding 210+ B2B SaaS companies, what patterns have emerged? In this episode, Rob Walling shares the 2025 State of TinySeed, from its first fund in 2018 to a global portfolio of over 210 B2B SaaS companies. He reflects on TinySeed’s growth, what the data reveals about today’s founders, funding trends, and the rise of AI-first startups. Topics we cover:  (1:46) – How TinySeed began and the doubts it faced  (3:51) – Growing to 210+ portfolio companies and $60M raised (11:15) – The rise of AI-first startups and “vibe-coded” apps (13:09) – Record application numbers and founder trends in 2025 (19:58) – Why vertical SaaS is outperforming horizontal SaaS (21:59) – The importance of founder community and shared experience (25:06) – How TinySeed and MicroConf create long-term founder connections Links from the Show:  Apply to TinySeed Invest in TinySeed TinySeed MentorsAccelerator Program Details — TinySeed TinySeed Portfolio The SaaS Playbook by Rob Walling MicroConf - Community for Bootstrapped SaaS Founders 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! Subscribe & Review: iTunes | Spotify

How do you step back from daily decisions without losing control of your SaaS? In this episode, Rob Walling answers listener questions about when to delegate key founder skills, whether great founders can succeed with any idea, and the limits of no-code or “vibe-coded” apps.  To help answer one question, he calls up Ruben Gamez to get his insights on what “good” freemium retention really looks like and why the shape of your retention curve matters more than the number itself. Want to get your question answered? Drop it here. Episode Sponsor: Struggling to make Google Ads work for your SaaS? You’re faced with an impossible choice: spend thousands on an agency or waste months learning from outdated YouTube videos. That’s why Max Sinclair, a five-year MicroConf attendee, built SaaS Ads Studio  a software platform that combines AI with proven ad agency expertise to help SaaS founders launch, write, and optimize Google Ads campaigns. Think of it as an agency team in a box that gets you to a profitable Google Ads engine in about six months. Start for free at saasadsstudio.com and be one of the first 50 listeners to use code ROBWALLING for 50% off your first year.  Topics we cover:  (2:51) – What’s a “good” freemium retention rate? (4:59) – How freemium retention differs for mobile vs. SaaS apps (9:51) – When to start delegating the Core Four SaaS skills (12:53) – How to hand off sales, marketing, product, and dev the right way (23:28) – Can great founders succeed with any product idea? (29:34) – Should founders avoid building on no-code or third-party platforms? Links from the Show:  MicroConf Connect  TinySeed SaaS Institute The SaaS Playbook SaaS Launchpad SignWell Ruben Gamez | LinkedIn 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! Subscribe & Review: iTunes | Spotify

How much design polish is really enough? In this episode, Rob Walling is joined by fan favorite Derrick Reimer for a new round of listener questions. They dig into the best AI coding stacks right now, how to ship fast without losing polish, whether AI is changing the kind of risk founders face, and when to start taking security seriously. Episode Sponsor: Are you a non-technical founder with solid revenue and real traction, but your technology is holding you back? You should check out today's sponsor, Designli. They specialize in helping founders like you who are stuck with messy code, unclear roadmaps, or a dev team that just doesn’t get it. And for listeners of the pod, Designli is offering their Impact Week completely free. That’s a one-week, no-obligation audit where their team dives into your code, your design system, and your product roadmap to show you exactly what’s working, what’s broken, and what needs to happen next. If it’s a fit, you can move on to SolutionLab, a three-week sprint where Designli takes over your codebase and architects a real roadmap for growth, led by a full-time, cross-functional team. If your tech is the bottleneck to your next stage of growth, check them out at https://designli.co/fortherestofus.  Topics we cover:  (2:03) – What’s the best A.I. coding stack for developers right now? (11:14) – How can solo founders ship fast without sacrificing polish? (21:55) – Is A.I. shifting startup risk from market fit to feasibility? (31:44) – When should SaaS founders start worrying about security? (44:30) – SavvyCal’s latest product expansion Links from the Show:  Call for Speakers – Apply to speak at MicroConf US in Portland Claude Code Windsurf Cursor GitHub Copilot VS Code Visual Studio SavvyCal Appointments Derrick Reimer | LinkedIn Derrick Reimer (@derrickreimer) | 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! Subscribe & Review: iTunes | Spotify