Episode 691 | Freemium, High-touch vs. Low-touch, Selling as an Introvert, and More Listener Questions

Startups For the Rest of Us

Rob Walling

Entrepreneurship, Management, Business, Marketing

4.9 • 819 Ratings

🗓️ 12 December 2023

⏱️ 23 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In episode 691, join Rob Walling for another solo adventure where he answers listener questions. He evaluates freemium as it relates to paying by the “honor system”, competing against big incumbents, and whether to sell using high-touch vs. low-touch strategies. Rob also recommends books for introverts looking for sales advice. Episode Sponsor: Find your perfect developer or a team at Lemon.io/startups The competition for incredible engineers and developers has never been more fierce. Lemon.io helps you cut through the noise and find great talent through its network of engineers in Europe and Latin America. They take care of the vetting, interviewing, and testing of candidates to make sure that you are working with someone who can hit the ground running. When it comes to hiring, the time it takes to write your job description, list the position, review resumes, schedule interviews, and make an offer can take weeks, if not months. With Lemon.io, you can cut down on a lot of that time by tapping into their wide network of developers who can get started in as early as a week. And for subscribers of Startups For the Rest of Us, you can get 15% off your first 4 week contract with a developer by visiting lemon.io/startups Topics we cover: 2:01 – Charging for your product using the “honor system” 6:16 – Competing against big, entrenched incumbents 12:36 – Low-touch vs. high-touch sales strategies 17:01 – Selling as an introverted founder 20:45 – Skipping the “Stair Step” approach to quickly validate a SaaS Links from the Show: Startups For the Rest of Us | X Subscribe to the MicroConf YouTube channel Ruben Gamez (@earthlingworks) | X The SaaS Playbook TinySeed Keap Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain The Introvert's Edge: How the Quiet and Shy Can Outsell Anyone by Matthew Pollard The Stair Step Method of Bootstrapping Episode 628 | The 5 P.M. Idea Validation Framework Ask a Question on SFTROU If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please

Transcript

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0:00.0	If I'm competing against big entrenched incumbents, I usually don't care because I know I can outmaneuver them.
0:06.5	But there are some exceptions to that. If there's a network effect, like a two-sided marketplace, or where everyone being there means everyone stays there, like think about eBay and Craigslist.
0:16.7	These sites that so many people have tried to copy, including Amazon, tried to copy eBay, they had their own auctions.
0:22.8	I mean, there's been all these things that have tried to unseat eBay and Craigslist.
0:28.6	And they couldn't, because even though the sites didn't change, it didn't improve, they have tremendous network effects.
0:33.5	And so if the legacy trade organizations and associations you're talking about have network effects, as a bootstrapper, I personally would be very wary of trying to unseat those.
0:52.3	Welcome back to startups for the rest of us.
0:55.0	I'm Rob Walling.
0:58.5	And if you want to see one of the worst hair days I've had in years,
1:03.5	go to Twitter.com slash StartupsPod and check out the clip from today's episode.
1:08.8	In today's episode, I am going to be answering a handful of listener questions, ranging from having a free version with an honor system to pay for it,
1:14.9	how to gain traction against entrenched competition, doing sales as an introverted founder,
1:20.8	and how to proceed if you don't have time for the stair step method of entrepreneurship.
1:26.2	Before we dive in to today's questions,
1:28.7	if you haven't checked out my YouTube channel,
1:30.7	it's at microcomf.com slash YouTube.
1:32.7	I'm putting out 52 YouTube videos a year
1:35.6	with topics ranging from new SaaS ideas
1:38.5	that you should build,
1:39.6	looking at acquisition funnels,
1:41.7	high touch, low touch,
1:42.8	talking about sales,
	...

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