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I ran a bootstrapped product studio for the past 12 months. We released 10 products. One worked well.
Here's the rundown of what I built.
Here's the rundown of what I built.
To frame my mental state, this came at the heels of a 6yr startup cycle — 3 building @Cluster/ @LaunchKit and 3 as a post-acquisition @Google PM working on @Firebase & @GoogleWorkspace.
I was excited to go 0→1 again. I wanted to do it over & over. The studio model felt perfect.
I was excited to go 0→1 again. I wanted to do it over & over. The studio model felt perfect.
So, I left Google and immediately started building. My approach:
1. Build tiny things that can go from idea→launch very quickly
2. Avoid any big/complex problems
3. Simple, simple, simple
My goal was to start flexing the builder muscle again, which had atrophied a bit @ BigCo.
1. Build tiny things that can go from idea→launch very quickly
2. Avoid any big/complex problems
3. Simple, simple, simple
My goal was to start flexing the builder muscle again, which had atrophied a bit @ BigCo.
I spent the first month prototyping but didn’t launch anything. So I forced my own hand. I picked a (very stupid) project and committed on twitter to launch it within 24 hours.
This added constraints and public pressure to launch *something*. https://twitter.com/mulligan/status/1168879637033668609
This added constraints and public pressure to launch *something*. https://twitter.com/mulligan/status/1168879637033668609
24 hours later, I launched Humblebrag (#1), a really simple product for investors to build their own portfolio sites. Silly, but it cleared the cobwebs and started oiling the engine a bit again.
It felt so good, even though the product was stupid. https://www.producthunt.com/posts/humblebrag-2
It felt so good, even though the product was stupid. https://www.producthunt.com/posts/humblebrag-2
I then tinkered for another month, playing around with some CRM/payment ideas and building out the FE/BE framework I’d use for prototyping going forward.

I also took time off, going to @KAABOOSANDIEGO and taking my mom to @YosemiteNPS.
September is California at its best.

I also took time off, going to @KAABOOSANDIEGO and taking my mom to @YosemiteNPS.
September is California at its best.
Early Oct arrived with no more launches, so I forced my hand again.
7 years prior, I’d built a travel guide product called @Tiplist. It no longer worked, and I gave myself 24 hours to totally rewrite it.
This also tested my prototyping framework. https://twitter.com/mulligan/status/1181646085984374784
7 years prior, I’d built a travel guide product called @Tiplist. It no longer worked, and I gave myself 24 hours to totally rewrite it.
This also tested my prototyping framework. https://twitter.com/mulligan/status/1181646085984374784
The next day I relaunched a significantly simpler, better, improved design for Tiplist (#2).
Like the original, mild traction, but travel is hard and no scale. I still love it, and it gets infrequent usage. https://twitter.com/mulligan/status/1182350922942255104
Like the original, mild traction, but travel is hard and no scale. I still love it, and it gets infrequent usage. https://twitter.com/mulligan/status/1182350922942255104
A few weeks later, I invited people to try a new prototype.
I’d dug into the personal CRM space and found that while people claimed to want an off-the-shelf personal CRM, the “personal” aspect made it near-impossible to build a product for everyone. https://twitter.com/mulligan/status/1185994331544403968
I’d dug into the personal CRM space and found that while people claimed to want an off-the-shelf personal CRM, the “personal” aspect made it near-impossible to build a product for everyone. https://twitter.com/mulligan/status/1185994331544403968
So, I built one for a single user: me.
Hundreds of people tried Kit (#3), and as expected, it wasn’t for the majority of them. I used it constantly though. https://www.producthunt.com/posts/kit-94ae4657-9460-4331-86a9-7356f23d01ec
Hundreds of people tried Kit (#3), and as expected, it wasn’t for the majority of them. I used it constantly though. https://www.producthunt.com/posts/kit-94ae4657-9460-4331-86a9-7356f23d01ec
The next project was one I thought would be a smash.
There was an extremely popular blog post going around about @Superhuman's product market fit techniques , but actually doing the surveys was a pain in the ass. https://firstround.com/review/how-superhuman-built-an-engine-to-find-product-market-fit/
There was an extremely popular blog post going around about @Superhuman's product market fit techniques , but actually doing the surveys was a pain in the ass. https://firstround.com/review/how-superhuman-built-an-engine-to-find-product-market-fit/
So, I built a product that did it all for you.
I remember the day I posted Pulse (#4) to Twitter, I was almost sure this thing would go wild. I braced for impact.
Instead: crickets.
I never even opened up signups. Swing and a miss. https://twitter.com/mulligan/status/1204471136806768640
I remember the day I posted Pulse (#4) to Twitter, I was almost sure this thing would go wild. I braced for impact.
Instead: crickets.
I never even opened up signups. Swing and a miss. https://twitter.com/mulligan/status/1204471136806768640
This whole time, I’d been building other products in the background, again mostly to solve my own problems.
One thing I loved doing at the time was mood tracking. Once a day, I’d record how I was feeling, and then look at patterns that evolved. https://twitter.com/mulligan/status/1223826457656320000
One thing I loved doing at the time was mood tracking. Once a day, I’d record how I was feeling, and then look at patterns that evolved. https://twitter.com/mulligan/status/1223826457656320000
So, in January, I launched Reflect (#5), a product that did just that.
This was never intended to be a big one. Really more of a pet project. It’s still semi-live, and people use it daily, though I think it's buggy now. https://twitter.com/mulligan/status/1220019248757534720
This was never intended to be a big one. Really more of a pet project. It’s still semi-live, and people use it daily, though I think it's buggy now. https://twitter.com/mulligan/status/1220019248757534720
With all these products, I’d built a mini-feedback engine that emailed users a couple days after they signed up for my thing asking for a basic rating.
Think new-user-NPS score. "What do you think" type questions.
Think new-user-NPS score. "What do you think" type questions.
I ended up externalizing that tool as well, called Gutcheck (#6)
It did well, but I didn’t really want to run a developer tool/SDK product. It got a small set of beta testers, who I never charged, but overall stopped pursuing it. https://www.producthunt.com/posts/gutcheck
It did well, but I didn’t really want to run a developer tool/SDK product. It got a small set of beta testers, who I never charged, but overall stopped pursuing it. https://www.producthunt.com/posts/gutcheck
It was around this time that I quietly launched Podpage (#7).
I started with non-scalable growth tactics (mostly 1:1 discussions through twitter DMs). I also had a friend using it. In March, without me knowing, he posted it publicly.
Forced launch. https://twitter.com/kevinrose/status/1237522482405314560
I started with non-scalable growth tactics (mostly 1:1 discussions through twitter DMs). I also had a friend using it. In March, without me knowing, he posted it publicly.
Forced launch. https://twitter.com/kevinrose/status/1237522482405314560
Then, the pandemic starting getting bad. I decided to:
(a) Take on some consulting work to make sure my family could ride it out. I started helping @segment 3 days/week.
(b) Use the other 2 days to try to help with Covid relief. I did that in three ways with three products.
(a) Take on some consulting work to make sure my family could ride it out. I started helping @segment 3 days/week.
(b) Use the other 2 days to try to help with Covid relief. I did that in three ways with three products.
First, and most significant, was joining @frankba and @rsarver to scale @FrontlineFoods.
They’d started developing the concept, and I built the web product (#8) to scale the team/information.
The effort raised over $10m and is now part of @WCKitchen. https://www.frontlinefoods.org
They’d started developing the concept, and I built the web product (#8) to scale the team/information.
The effort raised over $10m and is now part of @WCKitchen. https://www.frontlinefoods.org
Second, I took a payments-related project I’d been developing and repurposed it for restaurants.
Rapid (#9) helped a lot of restaurants take donations at the beginning of the pandemic. Over time, I moved them over to better platforms. Mine was a stopgap. https://twitter.com/mulligan/status/1239774408173969413
Rapid (#9) helped a lot of restaurants take donations at the beginning of the pandemic. Over time, I moved them over to better platforms. Mine was a stopgap. https://twitter.com/mulligan/status/1239774408173969413
Third, as restaurants started re-opening, touchless transactions were critical. So I built a small tool to help digitize menus and enable access via QR code.
Rapid Menus (#10) helped a lot of restaurants, but Square/Toast built more integrated solutions. https://twitter.com/mulligan/status/1288862713477660674
Rapid Menus (#10) helped a lot of restaurants, but Square/Toast built more integrated solutions. https://twitter.com/mulligan/status/1288862713477660674
And that was the last fully launched product.
As the year went on, the positive returns (both emotional and financial) on the time spent on Podpage outweighed other efforts. I also took on more PM coaching clients (more tomorrow on that) and some larger consulting projects.
As the year went on, the positive returns (both emotional and financial) on the time spent on Podpage outweighed other efforts. I also took on more PM coaching clients (more tomorrow on that) and some larger consulting projects.
So, the ending tally was:
1. Humblebrag - Investor websites
2. Tiplist - Travel guides
3. Kit - Personal CRM
4. Pulse - Product-market fit
5. Reflect - Daily mood journal
6. Gutcheck - New user feedback
...
1. Humblebrag - Investor websites
2. Tiplist - Travel guides
3. Kit - Personal CRM
4. Pulse - Product-market fit
5. Reflect - Daily mood journal
6. Gutcheck - New user feedback
...
7. Podpage - Podcast websites
8. Frontline Foods (web portal) - Covid relief
9. Rapid - Restaurant fundraising
10. RapidMenu - Digital, QR Menus
There were also about 5 more non-launched prototypes that I never made public (3 payments related, restaurant software, mailing list).
8. Frontline Foods (web portal) - Covid relief
9. Rapid - Restaurant fundraising
10. RapidMenu - Digital, QR Menus
There were also about 5 more non-launched prototypes that I never made public (3 payments related, restaurant software, mailing list).
Everything above was primarily designed/built by me. I have a small contracting team on call for eng, marketing, and support.
But I honestly did most of it. It was… a lot.
I'll do another mini-thread later (I'm at the limit) about my learnings. Sorry this thread is huge.
But I honestly did most of it. It was… a lot.
I'll do another mini-thread later (I'm at the limit) about my learnings. Sorry this thread is huge.
Learnings thread: https://twitter.com/mulligan/status/1344024652163678208
