Indie Bites

<p>Today I’m joined by Val Sopi, the founder of Blogstatic, a lightweight blogging platform built to take on the likes of Ghost. Currently Val is sitting around $1k a month, but with a low-priced annual plans approach, he’s relying on new sign ups and plan upgrades instead of recurring subscriptions. So he’s at a crossroads of needing to pour fuel on the fire to grow his low-cost blogging platform, or attempt to build a B2B SaaS, which he believes is a much more sustainable option for an indie founder. Val has been hardened by business successes and failures, so I love his pragmatic approach to the decisions he’s making.</p><p><strong>Timestamps</strong></p><ul><li>00:00 Intro</li><li>01:39 Val's background - web design shop to failed SaaS</li><li>04:10 Learning to code and starting Claritask</li><li>04:53 Selling Claritask</li><li>05:52 Launching Blogstatic</li><li>06:42 Taking a loan to bet on himself</li><li>07:40 The crossroads of stagnating growth</li><li>08:39 Being a low cost alternative in a competitive market</li><li>12:30 Why Val won't take VC</li><li>14:06 Why Val is trying B2B instead of B2C</li><li>15:45 Recommendations</li></ul><p><strong>Recommendations</strong></p><ul><li>Book: <a href="https://amzn.to/3NqhvZ0"><strong>The Inner Game of Tennis</strong></a></li><li>Podcast: <a href="https://www.startupsfortherestofus.com/"><strong>Startups for the Rest of Us</strong></a></li><li>Indie Hacker: Joe Ashville</li></ul><p><br><strong>My links</strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://twitter.com/jmckinven"><strong>Twitter</strong></a></li><li><a href="https://twitter.com/indiebitespod"><strong>Indie Bites Twitter</strong></a></li><li><a href="https://youtube.com/@indiebites"><strong>Indie Bites YouTube</strong></a></li><li><a href="https://indiebites.com/membership"><strong>Join the membership</strong></a></li><li><a href="https://jamesmckinven.com/"><strong>Personal Website</strong></a></li><li><a href="https://2hourpodcast.com/"><strong>2 Hour Podcast Course</strong></a></li><li><a href="https://podpanda.co/"><strong>PodPanda</strong></a> (hire me to edit your podcast)</li><li><a href="https://indielife.fm/"><strong>This Indie Life Podcast</strong></a></li></ul><p><strong>Sponsor - </strong><a href="https://emailoctopus.com/"><strong>EmailOctopus</strong></a><strong> 🐙</strong></p><p><em>EmailOctopus is an independently owned email marketing platform, built to support other small growing businesses. With a focus on affordability and ease of use, EmailOctopus contains all of the features you need to reach and grow your audience. You can </em><a href="https://emailoctopus.com/"><strong><em>start today</em></strong></a><em>, with their industry leading free plan where you can contact up to 2,500 subscribers without paying a penny.</em></p>