All Episodes
Displaying episodes 1 - 30 of 127 in total
How much to spend acquiring a customer
In this episode, we talk about CAC, customer acquisition costs, and how a startup can decide how much is too much to spend on acquisition.
The great re-org
In this episode, we talk about how we’re thinking about reallocating marketing and sales resources here at Less Annoying CRM.
Is SaaS getting harder?
Sometimes it feels like the tech industry is more of a zero-sum game than it used to be. We discuss that, and a lot more in this episode.
Single points of failure
Are single-points of failure sometimes ok? In this episode, we talk about how much redundancy a small company should have.
Should you hire a marketing agency?
In this episode, we talk about whether or not it makes sense for an early stage bootstrapped company to hire a marketing agency for help.
Healthy urgency
In this episode, we talk about healthy vs. unhealthy urgency, and whether it's realistic to hire a team of entirely high-urgency people
Prioritizing effectiveness over efficiency
In this episode, we've got a grab-bag of topics including when to worry about scaling, an argument against delegation, and a few shoutouts.
Charge Less
In this episode, we talk about how conventional wisdom around pricing is sometimes wrong.
Recession?
In this episode, we discuss how the recent economic uncertainty might impact bootstrapped businesses.
How to be a mentor when you aren't knowledgeable about a topic
In this episode, we discuss how to connect employees with mentors when there's not already someone at the company with expertise.
Mission, Vision, and Values
This week, we talk about how to define the purpose and constraints of a business.
Tools don't solve problems
This episode, we've got a grab bag of different topics including a product-led growth discussion, what to do with a stagnent content site, and the role tools should pl...
Putting together a growth plan
This week, Rick helps Tyler think through a new growth plan for Less Annoying CRM
The importance of patience and impatience when hiring
This week, we talk about how both patience and impatience are important when hiring, how to learn new things, and more.
Funding your startup with a day job
This week, we talk about balancing a full-time job with running a startup, and a bunch of other stuff.
Giving early hires skin in the game
This week, we talk about how Rick can structure a compensation plan with his first hire to make them feel like a true partner. Most startups give equity, but that isn’...
Rebirth / Welcoming 2022
The rumors were true. Startup to Last is back, and we're starting out with a recap of 2021 and a look forward to 2022.
The final episode
We've got some bittersweet news. Rick has accepted a new job which isn't really a fit for the topics we discuss on this podcast. Because of that, we've decided that th...
Sustainability starts with planning
This week, many of our topics have a common theme: How do you put a plan together to run a sustainable company? I mean, this podcast is called "Startup to last" so I g...
What to cut and what to keep
This week, we talk about simplifying a business. How do you know what complexity is important to the business, and what can get cut?
Home runs vs. consistency
This week, we discuss the difference between things that require big one-time achievements vs things that require lots of gradual, consistent improvement. Let's go.
Throwing things at the wall to see what sticks
This week, we discuss whether or not Rick can cut out some of the complexity from his business now that he knows what's working and what's not.
The thing about utopias is that they're not real
This week, we discuss how building a business is like building your own personal utopia. Or maybe that's a fantasy.
Sharing profit with employees
This week we get a bit philosophical. If a business has extra profits, how can they be fairly shared with employees and other stakeholders?
When platform risk goes wrong
One of Rick's API vendors shut down his account without warning, which throws a wrench in his productized service. This week, we discuss how he should respond.
When churn and word of mouth cancel each other out
This week, we talking about what happens when churn and word of mouth cancel each other out, what we're doing to focus on the right types of work, and more.
What we've learned about podcasting after 100 episodes
We're going to be a bit self-indulgent this week. This is our 100th episode, and so in this episode, we reflect on the experience and share what we've learned.
Content marketing: Putting all our eggs in one basket
This week, we talk about an idea we have at Less Annoying CRM to do content marketing all focused around one really good piece of content rather than our normal strate...
What does a $100k/year support person look like?
This week, we discuss what the role of a highly skilled, highly compensated support person would be. Let's go.
Can a course business succeed even if no one finishes them?
This week, we dive into one of the big drawbacks of online courses: That not very many people actually complete them.