The 3 Golden Rules of Bootstrapping a SaaS - Marie Martens, Tally.so

👉 Watch other full interviews with 7-figure SaaS founders & experts here:    • The StartupSauce Podcast (Full-Interviews)  

Marie co-founded Tally, the simplest way to create forms, in 2020. Tally is proudly bootstrapped, independent, and dedicated to building a product people love to use.

Expect to learn:
The 3 Golden Rules of Boostrapping a SaaS (and How Marie won...by breaking them all)
The clever marketing technique Tally used to get initial traction that NO ONE is talking about.
How to get customer feedback...even if customers don't want to get on a call with you
How Tally managed to stand out in a crowded market (form builders)
How to make a freemium model work - profitably

Marie's Stuff:
tally.so
blog.tally.so
https://x.com/MarieMartens
  / mariemartens  

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NEXT STEPS
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1 - Like this video & subscribe to the channel (this helps me to get more top-tier guests on the show)
   / @ryan-wardell  

2 - 🆓Download my FREE list of 320+ websites and directories where you can submit your SaaS and get backlinks and traffic:
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(I’ll also send you some more helpful goodies and resources via email after this as well)

3 - Check out the best bits from my other interviews with 7-figure SaaS founders & experts here:
   • The StartupSauce Podcast (Full-Interviews)  

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VIDEOS TO WATCH NEXT:
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👉Why The Startup Accelerator Model DOESN'T work - and what you should do instead:
   • Why The Startup Accelerator Model DOESN'T ...  

👉Spiciest Takes from 7-Figure SaaS Founders & Experts (Controversial!)
   • Spicy Takes of 2024  

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HELP TO GROW YOUR SAAS BUSINESS
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🆓 Download my FREE list of 320+ websites and directories where you can submit your SaaS and get backlinks and traffic:
https://www.startupsauce.com/list

Making $5K-$500K MRR (or more)?
➡️ Join the StartupSauce SaaS Founder Mastermind Community
Learn from founders 1-2 steps ahead of you
https://www.startupsauce.com/

Making less than $5K MRR?
➡️ Join the SaaSMarketing Subreddit
Learn marketing tactics that will help you get initial traction
  / saasmarketing  

If you need 1:1 help I also do coaching and sometimes fractional CMO work, contact details below.

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ABOUT ME
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Hey 👋 I’m Ryan, entrepreneur, marketer and founder of the StartupSauce SaaS Founder Community. I interview 7-figure SaaS founders & experts based outside Silicon Valley and discover the secret sauce behind their success. Whew, that’s a lot of alliteration…

If you’re a SaaS entrepreneur looking for practical, real-world advice on how to grow your business, from people who’ve actually done it… you’re in the right place!

PS: Some of the links in this description are affiliate links that I get a kickback from occasionally 😜

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GET IN TOUCH
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Want to be a guest? Partner with me? Work with me?

Email: [email protected]

Website: https://www.startupsauce.com/
LinkedIn:   / ryanwardell  
Instagram:   / ryan_wardell  
Twitter/X: https://x.com/ryanwardell87

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TIMESTAMPS
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00:00 Start
00:47 What is Tally and who is it for
01:36 Marie's secret on making Tally a success
04:19 Why they decided on a freemium model?
05:58 So 2% of users convert - here's what you should do
09:26 Getting initial traction (The product hunt method)
14:11 Tactics for building a community
16:27 How to get feedback from customers
17:30 Acquiring customers AFTER the initial growth (Hint: it's NOT Ads)
23:38 Is Product Hunt still worth it for SaaS?
22:56 How would you launch differently if you restarted today?
27:00 Tools used for social listening
29:15 How to approach social listening in a way that won't get you banned
32:13 How the f*ck did Tally succeed (The Reddit story)
33:12 Product development, the dos and donts
36:20 The benefits of NOT being VC backed
38:37 Founder-led growth or not?
39:16 Bootstrapping from the beginning
42:46 Building a SaaS with family
47:40 Remote vs Local hiring
51:38 Green flags to look for when hiring for SaaS
53:26 The best advice for founders (asking for advice)
57:08 Getting in touch with Marie

#saas #buildinpublic #launchingonproducthunt