Zero to Sold: How to Start, Run, and Sell a Bootstrapped Business

Not a bad book… if you are trying to sell software. Of course you are able to take some notes and learn something from this book, but I would not recommend it if you are trying to sell any other kind of product or service.

I loved about it that it doesn’t start (nor it continues) as a sell pitch through out the book. He’s concise:- This is what we did- This worked for us- This didn’t- Everything else I ignore.

I like the author, his demeanor and his sense of ethics for winning customers the right way. There are tons of resources and podcasts about selling digital products. This primer is chock full of lessons and fundamentals. It'll save you time.The trouble with too many online marketers is they are self-oriented. They put up a facade but it's obvious they're just chasing money. This author puts the customer first. The aim is to help the customer by understanding him. The product and the sale is secondary, even optional. It's not about getting rich, but serving well.Plus, if you like the book, the author has his own equally useful podcast. Highly recommended.

Mandatory read for all CS graduates looking to start a saas business. Incredible book with history and examples. All around great

I have read multiple books on the topic of bootstrapping a saas business, this is by far the least helpful one and a total waste of time. The author doesn't dive deeply into any topic, consistently rambles (poor to no editing), and in general seems not to have put much thought into this book. Really felt like reading an afternoon project. I would suggest to look elsewhere for advice on bootstrapping.

I follow Arvid Kahl on twitter, so I was excited when I saw that he had released this book.This is probably the best bootstrapping book I have read since the Lean Startup. It is chock full of amazing advice and insights.So many startup books are from venture capitalists that just want to pat themselves on the back. This is a book from a company founder. It puts you right in his shoes and gives you insights that are worth 100x the price of the book.The biggest problem I had getting through this book, was having to keep stopping to absorb and reflect on some of the advice.Highly recommended.

Arvid’s book is one of the most useful books for SaaS entrepreneurs. Period. He takes you step by step into different aspects of a successful SaaS business, from customer service to product features iteration and much more. And most important of all, Arvid know what he is talking about from firsthand experience, since most of this book is taken from his own experience building the Feedback Panda startup from the ground up, together with his life partner Danielle until they sold it for a life-changing amount of cash. A must read!

This is not a book about a serial entrepreneur that sells businesses for a living.This is the story of a couple that built a business and decided to sell. Their struggles and successes. This is a story that we can all relate to. Human and real.Awesome book! I really enjoyed it, and I'm grateful.

There are a few key takeaways in this book that might make you think you’ve read it all before.Don’t be fooled.There are many natural forces in business, e.g. finding the right niche, the right problem and building the right product. This book covers them all and plenty of other concepts.Where this author (Arvid) excels is in tapping his own experience in building a business. He literally sold his own bootstrapped SaaS business a year before this book was published. That is completely evident whilst reading this book - even in the first few pages.In each section, Arvid talks about some mistakes he made and lessons learned whilst building his own SaaS business. He shares specific examples from that experience without going into any irrelevant or extraneous details.What’s more, the author remains humble and scholarly even when talking about something worth bragging about (like making a life-changing exit within 2 years of starting the company).The other thing I would say about this book is that, because it covers starting and selling a business, there is A LOT packed in here. You will not get its full potential from just the first reading.You’ll want to make notes of sections that could be relevant later. You’ll probably also jump ahead to sections that are more relevant to the stage your business is at. But I would say it’s worth reading it from start to finish because Arvid does a great job of explaining even the basic stuff (like focusing on the right ideas).I highly recommend giving this a read. You can ignore that 1 star review as the person certainly hasn’t read it.Buy the book! You won’t regret it.

So, you have a burning idea to build something. You've even started sketching out user stories and writing code, you’ve grabbed the domain name, you're already tweeting about it.Wait! Read this book first.Zero to Sold is about a simple premise. Find the problems, before doing anything else. As software entrepreneurs we tend to rush in, gung ho, ideas frothing over like your favourite latte, convinced we've solved a problem because we codified it into a minimum viable product (MVP).The good news is that you need that enthusiasm and determination to make a solution work. The bad news is that a solution needs to fit a ‘critical problem’ otherwise you face a life time of really bad churn, and users unwilling to pay.What Zero to Sold brings to the table is a solid methodology for finding the problems in a niche market that will make developing a solution pay. These critical problems are what users pay for.If you want a book that will guide you to creating a solution to a problem that is a critical one for the market or niche it is in, this is it.Read it, and apply the ideas to whatever market you're currently obsessed with.The beauty of the ideas in Zero to Sold is that you don't need to ditch that domain name from earlier if you're willing to listen to a community of potential users (i.e. the market) tell you their problems and are willing pivot to help solve them.After all, that’s what being a software entrepreneur is all about!

I have been reading Zero to Sold little-by-little everyday for the past month, and I can say with utmost certainty that if you are interested in starting your own business, SaaS or even just becoming more confident in forging your own path that this will be the most worthwhile cost towards you achieving it. Arvid writes candid accounts of his own successes (and failures) as teaching anecdotes for things you can expect when venturing out on your own, as well as how you can try to expect (and plan for) the unexpected.My initial perceptions of the book were positive as it had delivered on the promise of discussing points that I was aware of but was only remotely familiar with. However, what I did not expect was the sheer abundance of questions I didn't know I had to which Arvid already had answers. He does a fantastic job of balancing concept-depth with simple-application. Each topic feels explored to the appropriate depth without beating a dead horse, and he offers suggestions that contextualize each approach to a business-ready model. While I have no initial intentions of developing my own SaaS, the topics and ideas explored here extend beyond one market and are valuable skills regardless of where you venture on.I am almost done my initial read-through, and can guarantee that I will be going through it again shortly after, this time with a pen and notepad. This is an invaluable asset to any self-starter's toolkit, and you would be doing yourself an injustice of starting your own venture without getting the experience of someone who's "been there, done that".

Great title but it kept going off tangent, and I lost my will to continue reading. There are many books out there that teaches entrepreneurs how to build products from scratch and make money. I tried to contact the author regarding the feedback but I never got a response either. This book could have been really good, I just find that he doesn't get straight to the point and there not many practical examples either. Anyone interested in a book that really gives you what you need to build the right product, try lean customer development by Cindy Alvarez.

As a fan of Arvid's blog, I was very much looking forward to reading this book when it came out. My first impression after finishing is - this needs to be required reading in every business incubator/accelerator.Unlike so many other books in the same domain, Zero to Sold isn't just a compendium of the author's own success anecdotes. Sure, Arvid sprinkles in references to, and stories about, FeedbackPanda - decisions made along the way, successes, failures, etc. - but they serve as garnish to the real focus of the book. A 500 page humblebrag, this is not. Every question you could/should ask before starting a business - as well as some that you're just as likely to gloss over (I'm looking at you "Mental Health: It's Not Optional") - is explored. Arvid's writing style is clear and consise - allowing him to dive into detail without sacrificing readability. The book may be long, but it's far from a slog to get through.Even though I started my microSaaS prior to reading Zero to Sold, I still found myself highlighting, underlining and scribbling notes in the margins throughout. This book isn't going to be read once, then put on a shelf - I know this will be my go-to reference from here on out.