It’s been quite a while since our last discussion of a software business here on the show.
So that means today’s conversation with Garrett Moon from CoSchedule is long overdue! After all, the low incremental cost and recurring revenue potential of the SaaS model is such a trendy holy grail of business right now.
In this episode you’ll hear how Garrett’s entrepreneurial journey has the perfect story arc to lead to creating software products. He started out freelancing on the side, eventually going full-time and building a small marketing and web development agency.
Then, wanting to build a tool to help his clients with content marketing, began validating the original minimum viable product for CoSchedule, a WordPress editorial calendar and social sharing plugin.
Alternative: Resell someone else’s software instead!
Learn:
- How Garrett and his partner launched their business for $150.
- The methodical way they went about scoring their first side hustle clients.
- How they stuck to their guns on pricing, even when just getting started.
- How they validated the idea for CoSchedule before writing a single line of code.
- How they turned their hot prospects into beta testers and from beta testers into brand advocates.
- Garrett’s #1 tip for Side Hustle Nation. (It’s a new one)
Links:
- TodayMade.com
- CoSchedule.com
- 37signals.com
- Hootsuite.com
We had a little bit of connectivity issues on our call, and one part I’m disappointed got cut off was our discussion of the “1 hour a day” question. Garrett explained how he and his partner didn’t have time during their days due to work and family commitments, so they made time at night, routinely working a second shift from 10:30pm until 1 or 2am.
He said they would open up a skype call and just leave it connected for hours to keep each other company and hold each other accountable. Obviously it was tough and he was tired, but it was all worth it to do work he cared about and build their company from the ground up.
What do you think? Could you burn the midnight oil if that’s what it took to get your side hustle to the next level?