Bootstrapped Web

We're cross-posting this week's episode of The Panel here in the Bootstrapped Web feed.  While Justin's traveling, Jordan and Brian do a updates episode.Workout routines.  Mindsets.  North Stars.  AI Agents.  New York Knicks.Jordan, Brian, and Justin have been publishing weekly over on The Panel Podcast.  Get sub'd!  https://panelpodcast.com/

We welcome Team Carthook to the podcast today! Jordan has brought two of his senior team members to discuss the evolution and future evolution of Carthook’s service. Ben Fisher is the co-founder of Carthook and head of product. Rok Knez is Carthook’s lead developer. He usually manages the company office over in Slovenia. Both Ben and Rok were a part of the company since the very beginning. The guys share how they met and how the business has gone from 3 guys hanging out to the large-scale team that is today’s Carthook. We discuss the technical issues that have reared their ugly head the last few months and Ben explains how they coped with this inevitable part of the business. Today the hood is being lifted on Carthook and we will learn about how Jordan and his team interact with each other and their clients. Buckle up for a very technical episode! [tweetthis]For bootstrapping new software startups, choose a more mature framework, rather than the trendiest stuff. - Brian[/tweetthis] Here are today’s conversation points: Introducing Ben and Rok. How Ben and Rok met Jordan and got involved in Carthook. How Rok hired the engineering team. Who helps with product design? The new style guide the team has recently adopted. How Carthook’s tech stack has evolved. The importance of not cutting corners. The benefits of using Angular. Carthook’s road-mapping process. When do frameworks and processes matter? The 3 questions the team ask themselves when making decisions. How Hiten Shah has influenced Carthook’s process. How Jordan and the original team have coped with working with a larger team. What Jordan and his team have learned about their product. The importance of choosing the right colleagues. [tweetthis]Spend whatever we need to spend, and eventually they [Ben & Rok] took that advice and now I regret it a bit. - Jordan[/tweetthis] Resources Mentioned Today: Carthook As always, thanks for tuning in. Head here to leave a  review on iTunes.

MicroConf is right around the corner and Jordan is gearing up for his talk for the event. He bounces some topic ideas off Brian and reveals how his topic choices are reflecting what is happening in Carthook. The version 2 upgrade is finally working properly and Jordan and his team are seeing some major cultural shifts in the business. Brian has found himself with some downtime, so now he is thinking about new avenues for Audience Ops. Brian outlines his idea for a new service offered through Audience Ops. An done-for-you podcasting service. He gets Jordan’s feedback and really explores why he thinks podcasts are the next logical step for the business. He also drops a big announcement… Brian wants to learn to code. We have some interesting conversation about alternative content on this episode and some really useful reflections on the founder’s role within his company. [tweetthis]If somebody asked the most valuable thing you’ve learned the past months it would be related to our process. - Jordan[/tweetthis] Here are today’s conversation points: Get ready for MicroConf. Brian’s new service launch. Considerations for future podcast topics. Jordan’s March recap. Why Brian wants to launch a new service. The all-done-for-you podcast service breakdown. Brian’s small beta group for the new service and the results. The benefits of podcasting content. The second version of Carthook update. Jordan’s webinar experiment. The benefits of webinars. How to create pitch-hitter scenarios. How Carthook uses paid ads. The ad strategy Jordan used for the webinar. Brian’s results from his Productize webinar. Why Brian wants to learn to code. How to be a full stack product person. Jordan’s adjustment to a larger work team and changing the dynamic. [tweetthis]If you are a designer of web applications, you should have a full stack skillset. - Brian[/tweetthis] Resources Mentioned Today: Audience Ops Podcasting Service Bullet Train CodeMentor.io Carthook Castos MicroConf Ops Calendar Productize As always, thanks for tuning in. Head here to leave a  review on iTunes.

2017 has been a phenomenal year for Jordan and Brian. On today’s episode, they give the audience an update on the businesses and offer a glimpse into their plans for 2018. Brian is going to shift focus to Productize and relaunch a bigger and better product later. This means he will be closing enrollment in the course and beginning the maintenance phase of this upgrade. He shares how he reached this decision and why he is excited by the new possibilities it can bring. Jordan is adjusting to a growing business and finding ways to restructure his processes to make Carthook more efficient. He uses his previous experience over the last year to prepare Brian for his up-coming wild ride. The guys also share some new tools and resources that have found to make this new stage in their businesses a little easier. [tweetthis]This has been the biggest spike in revenue for Productize and way beyond expectations. - Brian [/tweetthis] Here are today’s conversation points: Brian’s shift to working on Productize during the month of December. Jordan’s look back over his year, from an investor’s point of view. Coping with a larger team and the issues that arise. Brian’s awesome Black Friday! Brian’s plans for relaunching Productize. Jordan’s new team members and the importance of good content writing. How Jordan is restructuring his processes. The trade-offs a team has to make for the sake of speed. How to build a great product without slowing down the project. [tweetthis]It's still a mindset and a process, if everything is a trade-off, where are you putting the emphasis? - Jordan [/tweetthis] Resources Mentioned Today: Appcues Audience Ops Beacon Carthook Drift Seeking Wisdom Podcast GoVideo Productize Course Ops Calendar Soapbox As always, thanks for tuning in. Head here to leave a review on iTunes.

We have both reached a turning point in our marketing campaigns. Jordan has launched a new marketing funnel for Carthook’s Shopify tool. Brian has been running a new marketing campaign for Ops Calendar. We share how the campaigns are working for us and offer each other advice on how to improve our strategies. We also discuss how we keep our team culture positive when we ourselves are super busy and can’t give our undivided attention to individual projects. Our teams are growing and changing and we explore how we are coping with these mostly positive developments. It’s a good time for both Ops Calendar and Carthook! [tweetthis]These calls are dripping in, inbound, organically...these just feel like good signs to me. - Brian [/tweetthis] Here are today’s conversation points: Carthook’s new paid marketing campaign. Ops Calendar is finding a new audience and why Brian is excited by this. How Brian uses and makes sense of Audience Ops’ analytics and metrics. How Jordan set up his marketing campaign. Jordan’s 3 blog post marketing strategy. Other insights into email and ad marketing. How we differ in our methods of team building and encouraging positive company culture. [tweetthis]I tell people on my team think like an owner, think what do I need to fix this - Jordan[/tweetthis] Resources Mentioned Today: Audience Ops Carthook Ops Calendar As always, thanks for tuning in. Head here to leave a  review in iTunes.