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Mike Taber of AuditShark shares his tale of building a software business while on the road as a consultant. We talk about life as a consultant and a founder, the random nature of hits, and some common behaviors of successful bootstrappers.
Bootstrapped Product Talking Points
- Why getting help is important to a solo founder
- The exigencies of the game market vs the market for business apps
- The depression of watching business start to crumble
- Recognizing market opportunities in what other companies leave behind
Mike-related links:
singlefounder.com
auditshark.com
moonriversoftware.com
moonriverconsulting.com
startupsfortherestofus
micropreneuracademy.com
microconf 2014
Show-related links:
Pedestal Software
Rovio – maker of Angry Birds
Einstein
Rob Walling – founder of HitTail and Drip
Symantec
GoogleAdWords
Oprah
Lifestyle Business
Marie Forleo
Cogeian Systems – my consulting firm
SmallSpec – my startup – Painless Functional Specs (join the launch list!)
Mike is an interesting dude. He was successful at building a software business while still being a consultant, and he’s done it alone. Because of my strong aversion to partnering up, seeing a success story like the one Mike has is very important to me. Through it all, he has been able to distill what he has learned in such a way that it makes sense when he explains it.
We touch on Mike’s history as a consultant and founder, discuss some examples of success that doesn’t look like you expect it to, and even share a brutally honest moment with Mike as he recounts watching his business crater when the economy got rough. This last moment is particularly interesting; it’s rare for a founder to be so honest about the ugly side of running a business.
Comments & feedback are welcome via Twitter or e-mail.