In this episode of TinySeed Tales, Rob Walling checks in with Colleen Schnettler, co-founder of Hello Query, as she shares the latest developments in her startup journey.

Colleen shares the insights gained from recent customer interviews that led to a significant pivot in their product strategy. Hello Query is now focused on embedding custom reporting features within other SaaS applications and Colleen reflects on balancing product quality with minimal v1 features. Her excitement is building to get their solution into users' hands.

• (1:32) – Digging into customer interviews
• (3:54) – Filtering out the noise to achieve confidence
• (5:31) – Other competitors in the space
• (8:53) – How Colleen prepares for and sources customer conversations
• (12:11) – Is the technical implementation coming along?

• Invest in TinySeed
• Episode 748 | The Ins and Outs of Startup Investing
• Colleen Schnettler (@leenyburger) | X
• Colleen Schnettler (@leenyburger.bsky.social) | Bluesky
• Hello Query

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!

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In episode 754, join Rob Walling for a solo adventure as he tackles listener questions on a variety of topics. He discusses strategies for converting free users to paid customers, the implications of AI advancements on the SaaS landscape, and how to navigate platform risks when larger players enter your market. Rob also shares insights on breaking through growth plateaus.

• (3:12) – When in doubt, don’t try freemium
• (6:44) – Different levers you can pull to make freemium work
• (8:53) – How will SaaS be affected by the exponential growth of AI?
• (14:09) – Big players launching features is a form of platform risk
• (17:24) – Should I spin out a portion of my product into a new product?
• (20:05) – Thinking through plateaus in your business growth

• MicroConf Connect Applications are open through Feb 5th
• Ask a Question on Startups For the Rest of Us
• TinySeed
• Episode 663 | 5 Insights SaaS Founders Should Know About A.I. (Ignore at Your Peril)
• Episode 735 | The 8 Levels of SaaS Platform Risk (A Rob Solo Adventure)
• MicroConf YouTube Channel

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!

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In this episode of TinySeed Tales, Rob Walling reconnects with Colleen Schnettler, co-founder of Hammerstone, as she shares the latest developments in their startup journey.

Colleen opens up about the emotional challenges of co-founder conflicts with Aaron, highlighting the importance of communication and alignment in their partnership. They also discuss the significant pivot from their initial product offering to the newly rebranded Hello Query, a SaaS solution focused on internal reporting for teams.

• (0:59) – Breaking up with a co-founder
• (7:39) – How could this conversation have been different?
• (9:49) – Navigating a major pivot
• (14:37) – Changing the name
• (16:56) – Getting closer to finding product-market-fit
• (19:39) – Competing in a competitive market

• SaaS Institute
• TinySeed
• Colleen Schnettler (@leenyburger) | X
• Colleen Schnettler (@leenyburger.bsky.social) | Bluesky
• Aaron Francis (@aarondfrancis) | X
• Aaron Francis (@aaronfrancis.com) | Bluesky
• MicroConf Recap, Episode 59 – The Hammerstone Podcast
• Hello Query

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!

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In episode 752, Rob Walling interviews Lars Lofgren to discuss the current state of SEO. Lars shares insights on how SEO has drastically changed, especially with the rise of AI and the volatility brought on by Google’s evolving algorithm. They cover the challenges of ranking for terms, the impact of AI content, and the rise of "parasite SEO."

• (2:16) – SEO traffic that generates $7.2M annual revenue
• (4:54) – Changes in Google’s algorithm
• (9:46) – How to approach SEO as a bootstrapper
• (15:45) – SEO has changed considerably
• (19:48) – AI and SEO
• (25:54) – The advent of AI Overviews
• (31:19) – Parasite SEO and the importance of brands

• Get Your Tickets for MicroConf US by Jan 31st
• Larslofgren.com
• Lars Lofgren (@LarsLofgren) | X
• Lars Lofgren at MicroConf
• TinySeed.com
• MicroConf YouTube Channel

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!

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In this episode of TinySeed Tales, Rob Walling catches up with Colleen Schnettler, co-founder of Hammerstone, about the progress her team has made since their initial check-in.

Colleen describes the tough decision to focus on one product stack, and their recent pivot toward building a reporting MVP. They also discuss Colleen’s shift into a more managerial role.

• (2:10) – Motivations behind building additional functionality
• (7:07) – Repositioning the reporting dashboard
• (10:08) – Focusing in on the successful part of the product
• (14:30) – How shifting focus affects the team dynamic
• (16:19) – ”Hiring is horrible”
• (22:20) – What has management been like?
• (26:11) – Growing as a manager

• Invest with TinySeed
• Colleen Schnettler (@leenyburger) | X
• Colleen Schnettler (@leenyburger.bsky.social) | Bluesky
• Refine by Hammerstone
• Hello Query
• Buy Back Your Time by Dan Martell
• Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss, Tahl Raz

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!

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In episode 750, Rob Walling is joined by Laura Roeder, founder of Paperbell, to answer intermediate listener questions. They discuss making your first hire with limited funds, testing pricing models with existing customer bases, and more. Laura also provides some great advice on content marketing, drawing from her past experience at MeetEdgar.

• (3:14) – Building a team before you can afford your first, full time hire
• (11:11) – Testing pricing with existing customer bases
• (19:00) – What type of content should you focus on?
• (25:20) – Growing a pipeline of leads with limited resources
• (31:00) – Who are your 100 best customers?

• SaaS Institute
• TinySeed
• TinySeed Tales is Back: S4E1
• Lauraroeder.com
• Laura Roeder (@lauraroeder.bsky.social) | Bluesky
• Paperbell
• Episode 473 | Managing Annual Subscriptions, Low-price vs. High, Being a Non-Developer Founder, and More Listener Questions with Laura Roeder
• Exactly How I Cold Emailed My Way to A Life-Changing Exit (And You Can Too) by Laura Roeder
• The SaaS Playbook
• Buy Back Your Time by Dan Martell
• If I Started SaaS in 2024, Here’s My B2B Content Strategy for $1M ARR
• The Ultimate Sales Machine by Chet Holmes

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!

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Welcome to Season 4 of TinySeed Tales, where we follow the founders of one SaaS startup throughout a few years as they share their struggles, victories, and failures.

In the first episode of Season 4, Rob introduces us to Colleen Schnettler, the cofounder of Hammerstone. Colleen is a self-taught Rails developer, and this season will follow how Hammerstone eventually becomes Hello Query – an AI-powered chatbot that runs custom reporting on your data. Colleen is one of 27 startup founders from TinySeed’s Fall 2022 accelerator batch.

• (2:16) – TinySeed Tales Season 4 with Colleen Schnettler
• (3:57) – Custom reporting in Laravel and Rails
• (7:05) – Becoming an “atypical founder”
• (14:11) – Entrepreneurship as a military spouse
• (16:17) – Motivations for joining TinySeed
• (19:15) – A recent low point, and high point in the business
• (25:00) – Big plans and risky moves ahead

• TinySeed Applications open on February 10th
• Colleen Schnettler (@leenyburger) | X
• Colleen Schnettler (@leenyburger.bsky.social) | Bluesky
• Refine by Hammerstone
• Hello Query
• Software Social Podcast
• TinySeed Tales | Season 1 | Castos
• TinySeed Tales | Season 2 | Gather
• TinySeed Tales | Season 3 | Cloudforecast

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!

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In episode 748, Rob Walling sits down with Einar Vollset, co-founder of TinySeed, to discuss the ins and outs of startup investing. They explore the differences between VC and angel investing, the importance of deal flow, and the challenges of valuation. Rob and Einar also highlight how TinySeed’s approach differs from traditional VC, including their focus on capital efficiency and why it’s been working for ambitious B2B SaaS companies.

• (2:37) – The stigma of bootstrapper funding is waning
• (6:44) – What success looks like in venture funding
• (10:45) – Breaking down the math and deal flow
• (17:54) – How valuations work
• (26:21) – Keeping optionality
• (29:58) – Evaluating markups
• (35:18) – Raising TinySeed’s next fund

• MicroConf Connect Applications open until January 15th
• TinySeed
• Invest with TinySeed
• Einar Vollset (@einarvollset) | X
• Episode 744 | Bluesky, TinySeed is Raising, YC Backs Competitors, and More Hot Take Tuesday Topics
• Discretion Capital
• How To Invest In Startups by Sam Altman

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