What do bootstrappers really need?

What’s stopping you from building, launching, selling? Or from squeezing more out of the products you’ve got?

Not facts. Not figures. Not how-to’s.

Oh, sure, you could always use more how-to’s and more stats. But that’s not what you’re really starving for. That’s not what’s stopping you.

That’s not why you vaguely suspect that something is missing. It’s certainly not why you feel alone and, perhaps, a little bit adrift.

What is it, then, that you really need?

Real life stories

You need the opportunity to watch your peers as they make it happen.

You need to be reminded that even the biggest bootstrapping icons like 37Signals once started with zero products.

How did they do it? What can learn from people far ahead of you? What did they do when they were in your position? What can you learn from people who are in your position now, or just a month or two ahead?

You need to watch people like you make mistakes — then persist, and overcome them, and win. Then you’ll know you can, too.

I swear, I’m coming to a point here ;)

Last week, three of my 30x500 students launched products

Three separate products!

Three students at very different stages in the empire-building process:

  • Chris Hartjes, from 30x500 Summer 2012, launched his first 30x500-style product, a book
  • Brandon Savage, from 30x500 Summer 2012, launched his second product, a workshop
  • Brennan Dunn, from 30x500 Summer 2011, launched his fourth product, a big ebook/video/workbook package

Their combined revenue? $36,000

Just for these new products.

They must be selling something sexy

That’d be the logical conclusion, right? For 3 (non-famous) people to bring in that kind of money in that kind of timeframe, there must be some kinda sexy, discover-untold-riches action goin’ on… right?

Well, you be the judge:

  • Brennan’s self-training package is about attracting clients with your consultancy’s web site.
  • Brandon’s workshop is about object-oriented PHP programming.
  • Chris’ book is about PHP unit testing.

Does sex sell? Or is there something more valuable at work here?

And, hey. Just how does a person drum up $7,000 in sales for a PHP unit testing book in a matter of days?

Join us and find out on April 7, 2013

On April 7, we’ll be holding a round table discussion all about product launches. Think of it as a mini-conference.

Alex and I will serve as your hosts, and Brennan, Brandon, and Chris will be our speakers. We’ll talk about:

  • how did they manage to build products on the side?
  • how did they launch?
  • no, really, how did they launch? details! lots of details!
  • how did the revenue break down?
  • what have they done better this time than their previous times?
  • what would they do differently, if they had the chance to do this over again?
  • how did they prepare customers to buy?
  • how did they deal with customer questions/concerns?

Don’t like our questions? No problem! You’ll have plenty of opportunities to ask your own.

We picked these speakers just for you

Of course, Alex and I have some stories to tell, too — but what’s great about our three speakers is that they’re like shades of you.

When you’re starting out, it can be harder to learn from people like us, who’ve been doing this for years.

Brennan, Brandon, and Chris, on the other hand, are in three different stages of starting out:

Brennan has been bootstrapping for nearly year now. (Check out his first income report!) He started with a subscription web app (Planscope) which is still growing. But SaaS grows slowly, and Brennan wanted to ramp up faster… so he began adding ebooks and workshops to his repertoire starting this past fall.

Brandon launched his first ebook, Mastering Object Oriented PHP, just a few months ago. To build on that success, last week he launched the Object Oriented Masterclass to give his customers more hands-on experience.

Chris just launched his second book — but the first one that followed 30x500 principles. (He came to class with his first book nearly done!) His new book, The Grumpy Programmer’s PHPUnit Cookbook has nearly equaled a year of sales of his last book, just in the first week alone.

That’s why we were so delighted that Brennan, Brandon and Chris agreed to talk openly about their launches, and to answer your questions.

We designed this conference just for you

Because we’d love to have you! Check out these attractive details:

Where will it be? Online! You don’t have to leave the comfort of your couch — because we’re holding it online.

Um, will I be on video? Nope. Feel free to stay in your jammies.

How long will it be? 3 hours — easily fit into the afternoon.

When is it? April 7, 2013, from 12 pm (noon) to 3 pm Eastern Daylight Time. Or: morning on the west coast, and early evening in Europe.

What do I get? For the price of your ticket, you’ll get:

  • Access to the round table (live!)
  • The opportunity to ask Amy, Alex, Brennan, Brandon and Chris your questions (live!)
  • A recording of the round table for your later perusal
  • A transcript of the recording, formatted for easy reference

Will there be lunch? No, silly. How could we send you lunch through the intertubes?

How many people can attend? We’re capping the attendance at 100 people. That way we can have ample time for questions.

How much does it cost? Tickets are $179 if you book by March 22, 2013, and $199 if you book March 23 or later.

Tickets go on sale Friday, March 15, 2013

And they’ll be sold on a first-come, first-serve basis! And the 1,400 people on my mailing list get first dibs.

If you’re not already on my (Amy’s) mailing list, you’ll want to drop your email in the box below:

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You’ll get an email with details about when tickets will go on sale, and an invitation when they do!