Paul Farnell's guest appearances

Paul Farnell

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Paul Farnell, Co-Founder and CEO of Litmus, talks about their early growth and how they were able to reach profitability without ever raising “traditional” rounds of funding. ***This show is a part of the Podglomerate network, a company that produces, distributes, and monetizes podcasts. We encourage you to visit the website and sign up for our newsletter for more information about our shows, launches, and events. For more information on how The Podglomerate treats data, please see our Privacy Policy.  Since you're listening to Rocketship, we'd like to suggest you also try other Podglomerate shows surrounding entrepreneurship, business, and careers like Creative Elements and Freelance to Founder. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Paul Farnell, Co-Founder and CEO of Litmus, talks about their early growth and how they were able to reach profitability without ever raising “traditional” rounds of funding. ***This show is a part of the Podglomerate network, a company that produces, distributes, and monetizes podcasts. We encourage you to visit the <a href="https://thepodglomerate.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">website</a> and sign up for our <a href="https://thepodglomerate.us19.list-manage.com/subscribe/post?u=a3da57251c024955428e72bcc&amp;id=abeea0a423" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">newsletter</a> for more information about our shows, launches, and events. For more information on how The Podglomerate treats data, please see our <a href="https://thepodglomerate.com/privacy-policy/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Privacy Policy</a>.  Since you're listening to Rocketship, we'd like to suggest you also try other Podglomerate shows surrounding entrepreneurship, business, and careers like <a href="https://link.chtbl.com/PTI0BbUe?sid=Rocketshipshownotes" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Creative Elements</a> and <a href="https://link.chtbl.com/I7KXikCi?sid=Rocketshipshownotes" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Freelance to Founder</a>. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://megaphone.fm/adchoices" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">megaphone.fm/adchoices</a>

Interview: Paul Farnell of Litmus on Creative Funding Strategies For Early Growth

On the show today is one of the best bootstrappers in the business:  Paul Farnell of  Litmus.com joins me and shares some great stories.Highlights “It felt magical to send an email to a random address, and then showing screenshots of the HTML email design. It was a magical thing when we got it working.” “We found a technical challenge in automating Lotus Notes 7 on an old version of Windows, and then delivering that result to a beautiful Rails app” “There are a lot of business opportunities in that stuff that people just grind through on a daily basis. Think Stripe, Litmus, etc…” – Justin Jackson “If you look at our curve of revenue, it starts very slowly for the first 2.5 years, and then gradually picks up pace in the last year or two.” “2.5 years in we were well under $1 million in revenue a year, probably $200,000-$300,000 in revenue per year. At 2.5 years we had about 500 users. Now we have 100,000 users (7 years in).” “When we switched from Euros to American dollars, that week we saw a huge increase in sales.” “How come America still seems to be the place where web apps thrive?” “The environment in America is different than Europe. There are bigger entrepreneurial hubs.” “In the early days, one of the things that set us apart was the designed of the software. I’m not sure how replicable this would be now.” “We’re a company that has side-projects: we build other apps that (if successful) we roll into our main product.” Show notes Paul on Twitter Paul’s blog posts on Litmus Peanut Software archived page Paul’s presentation at FOWD SponsorsOur premium sponsor is Sprint.ly. Sprint.ly is agile project management software with one goal: to help you ship more stuff. You can try them out for free at  www.sprint.ly. You can also thank them on Twitter:  @sprintly Shout outs Shout-out #1: Kyle Fox’s blog post on product management. I’d like to give a shout-out to Kyle Fox who’s written a great blog post called “ Multi-tasking is the heart of product management” Go to kylefox.ca to see that! Shout-out #2: Product People newsletter  Shout-out #3: Save 10% on domains at Hover.com  Shout-out #4: Get $25 off at Ting   🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.📺 Learn how to start your own podcast!

On the show today is one of the best bootstrappers in the business:  <a href="http://twitter.com/salted" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Paul Farnell</a> of  <a href="http://www.litmus.com/?utm_source=productpeople&amp;utm_medium=podcast&amp;utm_campaign=ep22" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Litmus.com</a> joins me and shares some great stories. Highlights<ul> <li>“It felt magical to send an email to a random address, and then showing screenshots of the HTML email design. It was a magical thing when we got it working.”</li> <li>“We found a technical challenge in automating Lotus Notes 7 on an old version of Windows, and then delivering that result to a beautiful Rails app”</li> <li>“There are a lot of business opportunities in that stuff that people just grind through on a daily basis. Think <a href="http://stripe.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Stripe</a>, <a href="http://litmus.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Litmus</a>, etc…” – Justin Jackson</li> <li>“If you look at our curve of revenue, it starts very slowly for the first 2.5 years, and then gradually picks up pace in the last year or two.”</li> <li>“2.5 years in we were well under $1 million in revenue a year, probably $200,000-$300,000 in revenue per year. At 2.5 years we had about 500 users. Now we have 100,000 users (7 years in).”</li> <li>“When we switched from Euros to American dollars, that week we saw a huge increase in sales.”</li> <li>“How come America still seems to be the place where web apps thrive?”</li> <li>“The environment in America is different than Europe. There are bigger entrepreneurial hubs.”</li> <li>“In the early days, one of the things that set us apart was the designed of the software. I’m not sure how replicable this would be now.”</li> <li>“We’re a company that has side-projects: we build other apps that (if successful) we roll into our main product.”</li> </ul>Show notes<ul> <li><a href="https://twitter.com/unsalted" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Paul on Twitter</a></li> <li><a href="http://litmus.com/blog/?s=farnell#" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Paul’s blog posts on Litmus</a></li> <li><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20020328214120/http://www.peanutsoftware.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Peanut Software archived page</a></li> <li><a href="http://cdn.litmus.com/paul-farnell-fowd.pdf" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Paul’s presentation at FOWD</a></li> </ul>Sponsors<ul><li>Our premium sponsor is <a href="http://Sprint.ly" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Sprint.ly</a>. <a href="http://Sprint.ly" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Sprint.ly</a> is agile project management software with one goal: to help you ship more stuff. You can try them out for free at  <a href="http://www.sprint.ly/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.sprint.ly</a>. You can also thank them on Twitter:  <a href="http://twitter.com/sprintly" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@sprintly</a> </li></ul>Shout outs<ul> <li>Shout-out #1: <a href="http://kylefox.ca/multi-tasking-is-the-heart-of-product-management/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Kyle Fox’s blog post on product management</a>. I’d like to give a shout-out to Kyle Fox who’s written a great blog post called “ <a href="http://kylefox.ca/multi-tasking-is-the-heart-of-product-management/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Multi-tasking is the heart of product management</a>” Go to <a href="http://kylefox.ca" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">kylefox.ca</a> to see that!</li> <li>Shout-out #2: <a href="https://justinjackson.ca/newsletter" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Product People newsletter</a> </li> <li>Shout-out #3: <a href="https://hover.com/justinj" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Save 10% on domains at Hover.com</a> </li> <li>Shout-out #4: <a href="http://productpeople.ting.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Get $25 off at Ting</a> </li> </ul> 🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by <a href="https://transistor.fm/?via=rubyblend" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Transistor.fm</a>. 📺 Learn <a href="https://transistor.fm/how-to-start-a-podcast/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">how to start your own podcast</a>!

EP23: Paul Farnell, how does growth happen with a SaaS startup?

On the show today is one of the best bootstrappers in the business: Paul Farnell of Litmus.com joins me and shares some great stories.Highlights “My parents didn’t want me to have a games console; they wanted something that I could create things on. My first computer was an Amiga.” “I was inspired by my dad. I started publishing a magazine myself, and distributing it in my middle-school. We even sold annual subscriptions! (mostly to teachers, because they had more money)” “When I was 12-13 years old, I started building different software products. The first was “Instant Theme Creator”. It sold for $19 (although it was always advertised for $29). It was listed on Download.com” “I’ve always liked the validation of someone finding enough value in something that I built they were willing to pay for it. I didn’t want to just make a magazine that people would read, I wanted to make” “There are so many hacks that we technical people do every day. We don’t always think that if we could create systems for other people; make these hacks into products” – Justin Jackson [Did you enjoy business school?] “No. I didn’t enjoy the courses (or find it applicable). But it was time well spent: because I had the freedom to build Litmus.” “I was so impressed with the design, usability of 37signals.” “I built the first version of Litmus in a weekend. It was initially called SiteVista.com. It was running a couple of old desktop machines in my dorm, on the college’s internet.” “It was incredibly exciting to see people using the product. You would literally see customers using the product, because they were testing web pages on the screens underneath my desk.” “It did cause some trouble: my girlfriend would get woken up by the machines under my desk.” “We programmed the original app in VB script.” “We launched with under 100 people.” Show notes Paul on Twitter Paul’s blog posts on Litmus Peanut Software archived page Paul’s presentation at FOWD SponsorsOur premium sponsor is Sprint.ly. Sprint.ly is agile project management software with one goal: to help you ship more stuff. You can try them out for free at  www.sprint.ly. You can also thank them on Twitter:  @sprintly Shout outs Shout-out #1: Kyle Fox’s blog post on product management. I’d like to give a shout-out to Kyle Fox who’s written a great blog post called “ Multi-tasking is the heart of product management” Go to kylefox.ca to see that! Shout-out #2: Product People newsletter  Shout-out #3: Save 10% on domains at Hover.com  Shout-out #4: Get $25 off at Ting   🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.📺 Learn how to start your own podcast!

On the show today is one of the best bootstrappers in the business: <a href="http://twitter.com/salted" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Paul Farnell</a> of <a href="http://www.litmus.com/?utm_source=productpeople&amp;utm_medium=podcast&amp;utm_campaign=ep22" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Litmus.com</a> joins me and shares some great stories. Highlights<ul> <li>“My parents didn’t want me to have a games console; they wanted something that I could create things on. My first computer was an Amiga.”</li> <li>“I was inspired by my dad. I started publishing a magazine myself, and distributing it in my middle-school. We even sold annual subscriptions! (mostly to teachers, because they had more money)”</li> <li>“When I was 12-13 years old, I started building different software products. The first was “Instant Theme Creator”. It sold for $19 (although it was always advertised for $29). It was listed on <a href="http://Download.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Download.com</a>”</li> <li>“I’ve always liked the validation of someone finding enough value in something that I built they were willing to pay for it. I didn’t want to just make a magazine that people would read, I wanted to make”</li> <li>“There are so many hacks that we technical people do every day. We don’t always think that if we could create systems for other people; make these hacks into products” – Justin Jackson</li> <li>[Did you enjoy business school?] “No. I didn’t enjoy the courses (or find it applicable). But it was time well spent: because I had the freedom to build Litmus.”</li> <li>“I was so impressed with the design, usability of 37signals.”</li> <li>“I built the first version of Litmus in a weekend. It was initially called <a href="http://SiteVista.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">SiteVista.com</a>. It was running a couple of old desktop machines in my dorm, on the college’s internet.”</li> <li>“It was incredibly exciting to see people using the product. You would literally see customers using the product, because they were testing web pages on the screens underneath my desk.”</li> <li>“It did cause some trouble: my girlfriend would get woken up by the machines under my desk.”</li> <li>“We programmed the original app in VB script.”</li> <li>“We launched with under 100 people.”</li> </ul>Show notes<ul> <li><a href="https://twitter.com/unsalted" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Paul on Twitter</a></li> <li><a href="http://litmus.com/blog/?s=farnell#" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Paul’s blog posts on Litmus</a></li> <li><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20020328214120/http://www.peanutsoftware.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Peanut Software archived page</a></li> <li><a href="http://cdn.litmus.com/paul-farnell-fowd.pdf" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Paul’s presentation at FOWD</a></li> </ul>Sponsors<ul><li>Our premium sponsor is <a href="http://Sprint.ly" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Sprint.ly</a>. <a href="http://Sprint.ly" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Sprint.ly</a> is agile project management software with one goal: to help you ship more stuff. You can try them out for free at  <a href="http://www.sprint.ly" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.sprint.ly</a>. You can also thank them on Twitter:  <a href="http://twitter.com/sprintly" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@sprintly</a> </li></ul>Shout outs<ul> <li>Shout-out #1: <a href="http://kylefox.ca/multi-tasking-is-the-heart-of-product-management/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Kyle Fox’s blog post on product management</a>. I’d like to give a shout-out to Kyle Fox who’s written a great blog post called “ <a href="http://kylefox.ca/multi-tasking-is-the-heart-of-product-management/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Multi-tasking is the heart of product management</a>” Go to <a href="http://kylefox.ca" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">kylefox.ca</a> to see that!</li> <li>Shout-out #2: <a href="https://justinjackson.ca/newsletter" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Product People newsletter</a> </li> <li>Shout-out #3: <a href="https://hover.com/justinj" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Save 10% on domains at Hover.com</a> </li> <li>Shout-out #4: <a href="http://productpeople.ting.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Get $25 off at Ting</a> </li> </ul> 🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by <a href="https://transistor.fm/?via=rubyblend" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Transistor.fm</a>. 📺 Learn <a href="https://transistor.fm/how-to-start-a-podcast/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">how to start your own podcast</a>!

EP22: Paul Farnell of Litmus on building a startup in a college dorm (part 1)