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Designing the Ideal Bootstrapped Business with Jason Cohen

Rob Walling · talk · Watch on YouTube

Startups & entrepreneurshipProduct, marketing & sales

What it is

Jason Cohen's MicroConf talk on designing a bootstrapped business by starting from your own strengths, goals and constraints. He works backward to the business model, pricing, market and product that fit, with practical points like annual prepay and pricing tiers.

Why Hacker News recommends it

It is the go-to talk HN commenters recommend to anyone asking about bootstrapping, SaaS pricing, or choosing bootstrapping over VC.

  • 13 people recommended it
  • 11 different months
  • 8 strong recommendations
  • first 2020, last 2024

What HN commenters said

  1. “you MUST watch Jason Cohen”

    Jason Cohen on optimising SaaS cash flow with annual prepay.

    shoo, 2021-02 · Strong recommendation · in “Ask HN: Have you taken on debt to fund your startup?”

  2. “I highly highly recommend watching the video”

    Scratch-and-claw bootstrapping and 150 customers instead of 1000 true fans.

    chdaniel, 2021-04 · Strong recommendation · in “Ask HN: Where do you find potential customers to validate your idea / MVP?”

  3. “This talk is the holy grail on this topic”

    Ideal bootstrapped business traits: niche b2b, recurring cycles, $99 minimum pricing.

    yoshyosh, 2021-04 · Strong recommendation · in “My experience releasing failed SaaS products”

  4. “classic and awesome talk”

    Recommends $49/$99/$249 pricing tiers and avoiding cheap plans.

    stevoski, 2021-05 · Strong recommendation · in “Show HN: Csvbox.io – CSV import button for a web app, SaaS or API”

  5. “great, actionable, talk he did at the equally informative”

    Actionable bootstrapping advice the commenter followed to real success.

    philmcc, 2022-07 · Strong recommendation · in “The New American Micro-SaaS Dream”

  6. “Jason Cohen has an amazing talk on bootstrapping”

    Solid bootstrapping advice drawn from the speaker's own experience.

    robocat, 2022-09 · Strong recommendation · in “Ask HN: Is it okay to just bootstrap it, even when VCs are knocking?”

  7. “personal experience growing four businesses to over $1M/yr in revenue”

    Better version of the ideas, from someone who grew four businesses past $1M.

    mtlynch, 2023-06 · Strong recommendation · in “Biggest mistakes to avoid to build a better 1-person business”

  8. “video on designing a bootstrapped business”

    Free resource on designing a bootstrapped business.

    satvikpendem, 2023-09 · Strong recommendation · in “Every Software Project Is a Startup That Will Probably Fail”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: bootstrapping, saas pricing, annual prepay, microconf, startups

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