Nov 14, 2023 · 23m · startups-for-the-rest-of-us

Episode 687 | An 8th Thing You Should Never Do, Things That Don't...

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In this solo episode of Startups for the Rest of Us, host Rob Walling outlines why funded founders must never launch side projects, analyzes Meta's ad-free subscription rollout in Europe, and explains the value of doing things that don't scale during early SaaS validation.

How this conversation actually went

Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Rob holds 100% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Rob as informed peer 0.0 Guest teaching 0.0 Guest disagreement 0.0 Rob pushing back 0.0

speaking balance: gold is Rob, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)

Sharpest disagreement ▶ 1:40 Absence of guest combativeness

This is a solo episode with no guest present, so there is no guest combativeness.

Hardest push from Rob ▶ 1:40 Absence of host pushback

Because Rob records this episode as a solo host due to guest cancellations, there is no pushback dynamic.

Biggest teaching moment ▶ 1:40 Absence of schooling dynamic

There is no guest present to educate or correct the host in this monologue episode.

Rob holds their own ▶ 1:40 Absence of host counter-schooling

In a solo monologue format, no back-and-forth debate or pushback occurs.

the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each

Chapter	Topic	Rob as informed peer	Guest teaching	Guest disagreement	Rob pushing back	Why
	The Eighth Thing Startup Founders Should Never Do	0	0	0	0	This is a solo monologue segment where Rob Walling discusses why founders should not take investment while running side projects. Per the prompt instructions, monologue segments must have scores set to zero as there is no guest interaction.
	Reaction to Meta Ad-Free Subscriptions in Europe	0	0	0	0	Rob delivers a solo commentary on Meta's EU ad-free subscription model. With no guest present, all interaction scores are zero.
	Lemon.io Sponsor Message for Engineering Talent	0	0	0	0	This segment contains a sponsor ad read followed by a solo reflection on doing things that don't scale. Because there is no active guest dialogue, all scores remain zero.

Statements from this episode (4)

Disclosure

Walling: TinySeed never invests in founders running multiple side products

“When we're interviewing founders for TinySeed, if we get a lot of pushback about asking them to, say, go full time on their startup, or someone who we notice is all over the place doing the indie hacker dream where they have five or six different products, I w…”

Rob Walling Nov 14, 2023 ▶ 2:58

Insight

Walling: Growing multiple SaaS businesses at once is an anti-pattern

“Like, you can't grow three SaaS companies at once. No one does this, right? It's an anti-pattern. You can grow one and then have a couple that are flailing around, and so if people see you tweeting about one, two, three, four, five different projects at once, …”

Rob Walling Nov 14, 2023 ▶ 5:19

Insight

Walling: 90% of tech startups should bootstrap, only 1% should raise venture

“I think about one percent of tech startups should consider raising venture, I think about nine percent should consider raising what I call indie funding, which is Tiny Seed, Indie.VC, Upeka, and the other Alt-VC funds that you might hear about, and then 90% sh…”

Rob Walling Nov 14, 2023 ▶ 5:48

Insight

Walling: Early founders should manually onboard their first 20 customers

“Nowadays, anyone who's starting out, I would say manually onboard your first 20 customers. Don't write any code, figure out what the hiccups are, figure out how long it takes them to get onboarded and to get value, and that will inform the duration of your tri…”

Rob Walling Nov 14, 2023 ▶ 14:15

Episode 687 | An 8th Thing You Should Never Do, Things That Don't...

How this conversation actually went

Statements from this episode (4)

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