RS034: Brecht Palombo on Living Intentionally, Success as a Non-Technical Solo Founder, and When Software is all Wrong

Today Dave and Craig are excited to bring on fellow podcaster and solo founder Brecht Palombo.  Brecht is the co-host of the Bootstrapped with Kids podcast with Scott Yewell, and founder of Distressed Pro, a tool for investors to use that allows them to more easily find distressed real estate and notes.  

Brecht is a true success story in the world of bootstrapped, solo founder startups.  He’s grown Distressed Pro from zero to a solid, sustainable six figure startup in just a matter of a couple of years.  As a non-technical founder Brecht has been able to successfully navigate the waters of technology, scaling a software tool, and continuing to remained focus on his strenghts:  sales and marketing.  

But Brecht warns us all that getting into software too early may be a mistake.  He suggests that new founders focus on exploring every aspect of their market before shifting into developing a software product.  In our opinion this is very smart because it allows you to better understand a market, what it REALLY NEEDS, and how to best develop that before sinking costs into development.

If you follow Bootstrapped With Kids you know that Brecht was toying with the idea of selling Distressed Pro before, and now is looking at holding onto it as a long term asset a bit longer.  This is an interesting paradigm as we all look at the best way to focus our time and resources, and his insights into how he thinks about this are very sound.  The fact of the matter is that buying a business to replace existing income from a successful one is very difficult and just introduces risk without a lot of upside.

We wrap up with a discussion about conferences.  What talk would Brecht give at the conference of his choice?  The answer is great, and speaks directly to the heart of what he has learned in the last few years as a solo founder, living life on the road, and living with purpose.  

To reach out to Brecht directly, hit him up on Twitter @Brechtify.

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