Episode 765 | TinySeed Tales s4e9: Making the hardest decision

Episode 765 | TinySeed Tales s4e9: Making the hardest decision

Author: Rob Walling March 13, 2025 Duration: 28:20
Is it time to shut down for good?  In this season finale of TinySeed Tales, Rob Walling sits down with Colleen Schnettler, founder of Hello Query, to reflect on her journey over the past few years. Colleen candidly shares the challenges she faced while trying to grow her SaaS business, including the difficult decision to shut it down after struggling to find traction. Moving past a painful part in her founder journey, Colleen is excited about her new venture where she’s already seeing early success. Join us for this honest look into the final days of Hello Query and to hear Colleen's resilience in the startup world. Topics we cover:  (1:07) – Difficulty in finding and onboarding customers (5:32) – Why didn’t it work?  (9:29) – How did the co-founder split affect the business? (13:11) – Founder regrets (18:49) – Reflecting on the decision (22:38) – Anything that you would have done differently? (25:21) – Moving forward to founder coaching and marketing Links from the Show:  Join the TinySeed Mailing List Apply for TinySeed SaaS Marketing Gym Colleen Schnettler (@leenyburger) | X Colleen Schnettler (@leenyburger.bsky.social) | Bluesky Hello Query The Score Takes Care of Itself by Bill Walsh If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you! Subscribe & Review: iTunes | Spotify

Rob Walling hosts Startups For the Rest of Us, a long-running conversation focused squarely on the realities of building a company without massive venture funding. This isn't about Silicon Valley fairy tales; it's a practical, ground-level view of entrepreneurship. Each episode delves into the specific journeys of founders who are starting, acquiring, or growing their SaaS businesses, emphasizing the path of bootstrapping. You'll hear the unvarnished details-the strategic decisions, the unexpected obstacles, and the hard-won victories that define the daily life of a founder. The discussions are built on real stories, offering tangible lessons from both struggle and success. For anyone who has ever felt that the typical startup narrative doesn't reflect their own resource-constrained reality, this podcast provides a necessary and relatable perspective. It’s a deep resource for actionable advice and genuine camaraderie, connecting you with the experiences of those navigating the same challenging terrain. Tune in for honest conversations that cut through the hype and focus on building sustainable businesses.
Author: Language: en-us Episodes: 100

Startups For the Rest of Us
Podcast Episodes
Episode 826 | How to Find, Hire, and Work with Owner-Level Thinkers [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 31:47
How do you find someone who thinks like an owner, not just a task-doer? In this episode, Rob digs into a batch of listener questions about task level, project level, and owner level thinkers. He covers how to identify th…
Episode 821 | How to Do Founder-Led Marketing (with Jay Clouse) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 33:52
Is founder-led marketing right for your SaaS, or just a distraction? In this episode, Rob Walling sits down with Jay Clouse, founder of Creator Science, to explore founder-led marketing. They dig into how Jay overcame hi…