The must-read business books for founders: * The Mom Test by Rob Fitzpatrick 📚 * Obviously Awesome by April Dunford There's 50 more that are great, but these are the two that you need to read even if you HATE reading. No excuses to not have read these two.

"Find an audience" <- Wrong. Can you imagine trying to 'find an audience' in real life? Walk around the streets until you find one? You build an audience by doing useful or interesting things. Start by finding a MARKET, and do useful things until an audience finds you.

It's always interesting to me when I get compliments for being a "good marketer". I'm an introverted developer by nature, so it's a huge compliment! Just goes to show that it's a skill that can be learned.

I honestly think founders are too quick to build an MVP. I see a lot of readers want to jump right to building, instead of talking to leads, learning how to speak their language, and learning how to market and sell to that audience.

Businesses that have to explain to users why they are valuable CAN be successful... but YOU shouldn't make one. (Quick Thread...)

The simplest checklist that I can think of for evaluating a product idea: 1) When your ideal customer hears about it, do they say, "Shut up and take my money!" 2) Do you have a way to get a lot of ideal customers to hear about it? If both are a "yes," you have a good idea!

My hottest take is that I believe 99% of bootstrapped founders should be doing pre-sales. Here's some advice I gave to a peer on Indie Hackers that explains why I feel so strongly about it: (Thread)

I'm pretty sure that this post is still the single most valuable resource I've given away on the internet. indiehackers.com/post/my-notion…

If you enjoy my thoughts on business, you may want to follow SoftwareIdeas.io 🇺🇦 - I'll be moving a lot of my analysis there!

Software Ideas Preview Newsletter | Issue #72! ⭐ - mailchi.mp/softwareideas.…

Submissions for the first ever "Glam That Plugin" series are open now! Better yet, the smart and saavy Lesley 🍕 will be co-hosting as well! If you want a free marketing audit of your free/mium WP plugin, fill out the form and watch your inbox! mattcromwell.com/glam-that-plug…

indiehackers.com/post/5-strateg…

I talk a lot about “product risks” - risks that a product can’t be built, even if there is market demand for it. A lot of founders don’t get the concept at first, but I think I just found a good example 😅

The Software Ideas audience is 96.6% male. I imagine that it's a reflection of the larger startup audience in general. What can we do as a community to encourage more female bootstrappers?

Your first time writing CSS as a startup founder: "Hmm, maybe I should consider BEM or SMACSS for my naming conventions? I want to make sure my CSS is clean and robust..." Your 100th time writing CSS as a startup founder:

Software Ideas Preview Newsletter | Issue #73! ⭐ - mailchi.mp/35862c9921fa/i…