Above Board Podcast

Above Board

Fathom Analytics
A podcast exploring running an indie + bootstrapped software (SaaS) company. Follow Jack and Paul (the co-founders) in their journey of building and growing Fathom Analytics. Published every two weeks, listen in on lively debates about profit, customers, software, and how they’re working to keep their business in line with their values. This is a podcast from Fathom Analytics (usefathom.com).
The problem with big projects
Today Jack and Paul discuss what's not been working with getting the next version of Fathom Analytics launched. They come up with a plan, in real-time, to overcome this hurdle and get back to a regular cadence of releases (i.e. not a big project). They also come up with a set of rules to govern internal projects.
May 22, 2024
37 min
The art of progress
Software is complex. This episode goes into the pros and cons of how Jack (developer) and Paul (designer) work in terms of how they each make progress in huge projects, start and execute tasks, and deal with analysis paralysis that comes with complicated things.
May 6, 2024
42 min
The road to version 4
It’s been a while since Jack and Paul have recorded an episode of this show, so there’s a lot to catch up on! A new marketing site was launched, we’re still a small team navigating focus, we’re working on a brand new version of our software, and we’ve prototyped a new ingest to be the fastest analytics ingest in the world.
Apr 22, 2024
22 min
Version 3.5 and the shape of things to come with Fathom Analytics
Last week, we released several new features in our software and a fresh coat of paint in the UI. Jack and Paul discuss these features and how they relate to what’s coming up next, and they chat through the pricing increase that happened simultaneously. Lastly, they talk about why analytics software is more expensive than most hosting.
Dec 18, 2023
18 min
Dealing with negative feedback
What do you do when you can’t always please all your customers? Jack and Paul discuss how they deal with negative feedback, the different types of negative feedback, when it’s valuable (and when it’s not), and even how they deal with negative feedback internally in the company.
Nov 14, 2023
24 min
SaaS founder time machine (questions)
Jack and Paul get into what’s going on inside Fathom Analytics right now, and then answer some questions about what it was like starting the company, what they’d do differently (or the same), and if there’s anything they’d change if they had to start Fathom again.Special thanks to Ben and Adam from the "Hackers Incorporated" podcast for the most of the questions answered on this episode.
Oct 30, 2023
29 min
Vacations for bootstrapped founders
Can bootstrapped founders take time off for vacation? Is that even legal? And under what circumstances is that possible? Jack and Paul dive into vacations for indie founders, as well as a short update on what’s going on with Fathom Analytics on this episode of Above Board.
Oct 16, 2023
29 min
Paul’s perfect day (for productivity)
Jack and Paul dive into Paul’s routine and how he approaches tasks and work that needs doing. They chat about motivation, complex work, focus and so much more. 
Sep 25, 2023
31 min
Consultants for Startups
Is it harder for startup founders to hire consultants when they’re used to being the ones who do all the work? Why hire a consultant in the first place? Why not hire full-time instead? Aren't good consultants ridiculously expensive? Jack and Paul dive into these questions and more on this episode about SaaS companies hiring consultants.
Aug 28, 2023
26 min
Justin Jackson and Paul Jarvis chat about starting and maintaining a SaaS
Old friends Justin and Paul catch up for the first time in years and catch each other up on the state of Transistor and Fathom. They cover lots of lessons for new and veteran entrepreneurs, spanning their decades of experience in the world of indie software: cofounders, markets, surfing, experience, product moats, free time, the importance of putting things out there, and so much more.
Jul 31, 2023
1 hr 14 min
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