iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

MicroConf @microconf.com · 28/09/2026

Four questions he asks before handing anything off: → Is the scope clearly defined? → Should this be a core competency at your size? → What does it cost either way? → How will you monitor the work? Watch the full talk ▶️ youtu.be/GBTw6WRlKvI

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MicroConf @microconf.com · 28/09/2026

The outsourcing that failed was development. A contractor with other clients gave him one or two days a week, and an outage once left a provisioning system down for 20 hours because he could not reach the guy. If you outsource engineering, hold your own code and servers.

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MicroConf @microconf.com · 28/09/2026

Kevin tested the support agency on smaller brands he had acquired rather than his flagship, so if quality slipped the tickets could move back in-house. Most outsourcing decisions are reversible, which is an argument for testing one earlier than feels comfortable.

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MicroConf @microconf.com · 28/09/2026

Three things he handed off at Site Arrow: → 24/7 support and server admin, to an agency he found on Google → Sales tax compliance, to Paddle as merchant of record → Physical infrastructure, to four cloud providers, so a hosting company owns no servers

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MicroConf @microconf.com · 28/09/2026

Kevin Graham pays about $1,000 a month for 24/7 support and server admin across his web hosting portfolio. First response went from 18 hours to under 15 minutes, and nobody wakes him up for outages anymore. What he outsourced, what it cost, and what broke: 🧵

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MicroConf @microconf.com · 21/09/2026

In the talk, John breaks down three real sales machines, featuring Carrd, Screen Studio, and the AI product he's building now on 7 hours a week. Before you decide how to sell your own business, take a look at this talk. ▶️ youtu.be/Dre3vmGJDAc

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MicroConf @microconf.com · 21/09/2026

As for the sales math: Under $300 average revenue per user: you can't afford a salesperson, so content marketing has to run daily Over $300 → outbound and a sales team start to pay for themselves Pocket Risk was at ~$190, so it was easy to decide from there.

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MicroConf @microconf.com · 21/09/2026

Before that worked, John lost two businesses: a citizen journalism site funded by ads, and job board aimed at a shrinking market Both died inside a year. John's new rule is to spend 18 months and 7 hours a week minimum on the business, or don't start it at all.

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MicroConf @microconf.com · 21/09/2026

The habit is simple. Speak to a customer every single day! Not a research call. Not a survey. An actual conversation. Good things come from speaking to customers, not from research.

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MicroConf @microconf.com · 21/09/2026

John Ndege spent a year selling Pocket Risk, where ran 46 sales demos and finished that year with 4 customers... and $230 in MRR. Two years later: 384 demos, 137 customers, ~$10K MRR. Same product, same pitch — one changed sales habit that made all the difference. 🧵

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MicroConf @microconf.com · 20/09/2026

Thank you to MaRR for sponsoring MicroConf Europe. Hand-drawn illustration and merch design for B2B brands, and we can't wait to show you what they've made for us for the conference! 🙌 www.marr.studio #MicroConf

marr.studio

MaRR | Illustration Studio

Custom illustration and merch design for B2B companies. Hand-drawn designs that help brands stand out at conferences and events.

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MicroConf @microconf.com · 14/09/2026

Neither company added a channel or raised a budget. Both found out what their best customers valued, then made it easier to find. Before your next spend decision, watch the full 35 minute presentation: ▶️ youtu.be/-DK9f7ZFd6A

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MicroConf @microconf.com · 14/09/2026

Autobooks called itself "all-in-one finance management." Customers came for one thing: getting paid straight into their bank account. They made that the only thing the messaging led with, which led to: → 300% more usage of that feature → 65% more small business signups

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MicroConf @microconf.com · 14/09/2026

MeetEdgar's customer research turned up two groups: → businesses trying social for the first time → businesses already winning on social who needed automation The second group churned far less, but their marketing had been built for the first.

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MicroConf @microconf.com · 14/09/2026

Why: → 16x more direct competitors than ten years ago → CAC up nearly 200% in saturated categories like martech More top-of-funnel spend costs more and returns less. If your positioning is off, none of it converts.

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MicroConf @microconf.com · 14/09/2026

MeetEdgar had content, SEO, ads, events. All of it running well. However, new revenue was flat. They changed three pages of their website and free signups rose 89%. Claire Suellentrop on why more traffic is the wrong fix 🧵

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MicroConf @microconf.com · 07/09/2026

Founders end up here with cold emails for years, then a conversation with two or three firms that all quote the same number. They never spoke to a tuck-in buyer. Watch the full recording: youtu.be/DlTii4y2NHM

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MicroConf @microconf.com · 07/09/2026

Then value buyers, running three strategies: Turnarounds — buy it broken, fix it, resell Cigar butts — cut hard, milk the cash flow, hold Steals — skip the fixing, just buy it cheap None of them will run your company the way you ran it.

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MicroConf @microconf.com · 07/09/2026

Tuck-ins fit you into a company they already own. Vollset has seen them outbid strategic acquirers on price alone. They're fast, they close, and about 60% of the deals his firm does are tuck-ins. Platform buyers can't overpay as they still have to resell you.

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MicroConf @microconf.com · 07/09/2026

Every PE website says the same thing: Build trust. Advance your journey. Realize potential. Behind that, three completely different strategies with enormous variance in what they'll pay: → Tuck-in buyers, high → Platform buyers, medium → Value buyers, low to very low

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MicroConf @microconf.com · 07/09/2026

Between 60 and 70% of B2B SaaS acquisitions involve private equity. Most founders can't tell those firms apart, and Einar Vollset of Discretion Capital / @tinyseed.com says that's exactly the problem. His breakdown at MicroConf Europe. 🧵

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MicroConf @microconf.com · 04/09/2026

One afternoon of MicroConf Europe is set aside for getting outside: soak in the Sky Lagoon, taste Brennivin from distillers across Iceland, or hike to a natural hot spring. Conference talks are great... but conversations in a thermal lagoon are better. microconf.com/europe

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MicroConf @microconf.com · 03/09/2026

"What's the MicroConf community like? What are other founders talking about?" Take a look for yourself - and join here: microconf.com/connect

microconf.com

MicroConf: Trusted, Pitch-Free SaaS Community — MicroConf

MicroConf Europe takes place Sept. 21-23 in Reykjav\u00EDk. Join us \u2192

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MicroConf @microconf.com · 02/09/2026

When you get all the agents to check each other's work

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MicroConf @microconf.com · 01/09/2026

Malta. Lisbon. Dubrovnik. Istanbul. And now Reykjavik. Every MicroConf Europe has its own character, but the hallway track remains the constant — ambitious yet friendly founders trading notes on what works. Join us right on the water in Reykjavik: microconf.com/europe

microconf.com

MicroConf Europe · Reykjavik, Iceland · Sept. 21-23 — MicroConf

The premier conference for bootstrapped and indie SaaS founders.

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MicroConf @microconf.com · 31/08/2026

All three fixes are cheap, boring, and all things a security consultant does in his own three-person business. Pick whichever sounds like the least work and start there. Watch the full presentation ▶️ youtu.be/DaBHWCugIzo

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MicroConf @microconf.com · 31/08/2026

Threat 3: credential stuffing. That Minecraft dump gets run against your login form. Fix by rate limiting your auth endpoints — user and API both. Most teams do one and forget the other. Otherwise, you're doing it mid-attack (yikes).

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MicroConf @microconf.com · 31/08/2026

Threat 2: spearphishing. An email from "you" to your admin — wire this account, can't talk now. The fix isn't 2FA. The fix: → A standing agreement that money never moves by email → Known invoices auto-approve → For everything else, you log in and approve

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MicroConf @microconf.com · 31/08/2026

Threat 1: password reuse. Your bookkeeper could use the same password on a Minecraft forum that they use for the bank. The fix is a password manager. That's it. Riggle's notes the 1990s advice was wrong, and that writing them down on paper still beats reusing them.

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MicroConf @microconf.com · 31/08/2026

Kevin Riggle did security at Akamai, Stripe, and Lyft before starting his own consultancy. He argues at MicroConf that most cybersecurity advice is written for computers we stopped using twenty years ago. Here's what to do instead. 🧵

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MicroConf @microconf.com · 28/08/2026

Four talks at MicroConf Europe tackle the same question from different angles: → How do bootstrapped SaaS companies win in the AI era? AI-driven growth, marketing with Claude, ranking in LLMs, and the new state of search. Reykjavik, Sept 21-23. microconf.com/europe

microconf.com

MicroConf Europe · Reykjavik, Iceland · Sept. 21-23 — MicroConf

The premier conference for bootstrapped and indie SaaS founders.

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MicroConf @microconf.com · 25/08/2026

Join us in Reykjavik, Sept 21-23. microconf.com/europe

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MicroConf @microconf.com · 25/08/2026

Monday 👉 welcome reception. Tuesday 👉 sessions, then excursions featuring the best of Iceland — choose between the Sky Lagoon, a Brennivin tasting, or a hike to a natural hot spring. Wednesday 👉 sessions, workshops, closing reception.

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MicroConf @microconf.com · 25/08/2026

The MicroConf Europe agenda is designed to balance conference room sessions with major networking (and friend-making) opportunities. 🧵

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MicroConf @microconf.com · 24/08/2026

Three mistakes, one root cause: everything stayed in the founder's head. If you're about to make a leadership hire, check this recording out. ▶️ youtu.be/ZRkLy4IKqfU

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MicroConf @microconf.com · 24/08/2026

Mistake 3: hiring outsiders over your own team. Silverfin installed an outside leader, fired them, installed another, fired them — then promoted the customer success employee who'd been there all along. He now runs their biggest market.

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MicroConf @microconf.com · 24/08/2026

Mistake 2: he thought culture was what you practice, not what you write. Then came a UK office and remote hires. → Behavior doesn't travel if it's never written down → In conversation, people agree → On paper, the disagreement shows up

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MicroConf @microconf.com · 24/08/2026

Mistake 1: he ran the company as what he calls a benevolent dictator. He said jump, people jumped. What works at five people doesn't scale as you become the bottleneck. Worse, people who aren't told why start inventing their own reasons.

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MicroConf @microconf.com · 24/08/2026

Tim Vandecasteele grew Silverfin to €35M ARR over ten years, then sold it. At MicroConf EU 2024 in Dubrovnik, he listed three mistakes he made along the way that all came from the same root cause. 🧵

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MicroConf @microconf.com · 20/08/2026

Don't miss @robwalling.com at MicroConf Europe. Co-founder of MicroConf and @tinyseed.com, author of The SaaS Playbook, host of Startups for the Rest of Us. Reykjavik, Sept 21-23. microconf.com/europe

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MicroConf @microconf.com · 19/08/2026

What books do SaaS founders read to get ahead? We collected our faves: microconf.com/books

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MicroConf @microconf.com · 18/08/2026

Our first MicroConf Europe sponsor spotlight: @tinyseed.com. The first accelerator built for bootstrapped SaaS founders; year-long, remote, and the right amount of funding. By the same team who brings you MicroConf. Applications open Sept 7: tinyseed.com

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MicroConf @microconf.com · 17/08/2026

SparkToro: $1.3M raised, ~26% to investors, no board of directors, salaries capped until everyone got paid back. Three people. Profitable. If you're weighing a round right now, watch this before you take the meeting. ▶️ youtu.be/7klibkFTWOI

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MicroConf @microconf.com · 17/08/2026

Founders raising fear that companies that don't take venture get crushed by companies that do. Moz was beaten by Semrush and Ahrefs. Semrush didn't raise until it passed $60M in revenue, and Ahrefs never raised at all.

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MicroConf @microconf.com · 17/08/2026

The fund-level numbers are worse. Only 5% of venture funds return more than 3x (the bar you'd need to beat the S&P 500). Statistically, the LPs should just buy an index fund.

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MicroConf @microconf.com · 17/08/2026

Every founder has heard that venture is wrong for 99% of companies, but you could be the 1%. Rand went looking for the data. Of 1,120 venture-funded companies: → 77% written off as a loss → 20% acquired below 3x → 0.9% became unicorns

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MicroConf @microconf.com · 17/08/2026

@randfish.bsky.social raised $29M for Moz and grew it past $50M ARR. By venture math, it was a disappointment. He spent 17 years learning why, then built his next company to break every rule that got him there. Link to full recording in 🧵:

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MicroConf @microconf.com · 14/08/2026

September in Iceland: crisp air, fewer tourists, and the start of northern lights season. Also: 200+ bootstrapped SaaS founders in one room. 👀 MicroConf Europe, Reykjavik, Sept 21-23. microconf.com/europe

microconf.com

MicroConf Europe · Reykjavik, Iceland · Sept. 21-23 — MicroConf

The premier conference for bootstrapped and indie SaaS founders.

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