Zeno Rocha was a VP of Developer Experience at WorkOS at the time of our conversation, and he also had a handful of successful side projects, like the Dracula theme and React Email. React.email was created to assist developers in creating modern email templates. Zeno dug more and it became evident that this was only the top of the iceberg, since sending emails was the major pain point, so he began to look into other options.

So Zeno quit his full-time job and created Resend, with the intention of assembling an outstanding team of builders. Resend is a messaging platform that began with emails. The goal is to deliver messages using simple APIs/SDKs without having to worry about emails ending up in the spam folder. Consider it a next-generation Sendgrid.

Key Takeaways

[00:46] - The journey of a bootstrapping side hustler.

[04:13] - How to be open and honest with your full-time employer about your side project(s).

[06:33] - TAX optimisation to improving revenue management.

[09:53] - Difficulties in sustaining a SaaS without a technical cofounder.

[11:36] - A side hustle founder's daily hardships and sacrifices.

[13:23] - Bouncing all facets of a startup as a sole founder.

[14:03] - Self-awareness and being honest with yourself.

[15:46] - People should be devoting more time to marketing than to building.

[17:11] - Be patient while waiting for your results.

[18:40] - How to go about your bootstrapped journey without previous experience.

[19:44] - Be kind to yourself when you look at other people.

[21:59] - Discovering unfair advantages for your persona.

Quotes

“When I close my laptop for my FT job at 5PM, at 5:30 I'm opening it again.“ - Zeno

“What matters is being real to who I am.“ - Zeno

“Your product is not going to be as good as you think it's gonna be. That's why it is so important to focus on marketing.“ - Zeno

“It gets years. Five. Ten. Fifteen years. It doesn't take 1 months. 3 months. 7 months. And knowing that is very important early on.“ - Zeno

Links

Follow the journey:

Twitter: twitter.com/zenorocha

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/zenorocha/

Resend: resend.com

Book with insights: Navigating The Bootstrapped Mafia

Connect with Bulat:

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/thebulatk

Twitter: twitter.com/thebulatk