Other Playbook

Tourism Tiger is a SWaS (Software With a Service) business founded by Mat Newton that combines software tools with done-for-you services targeting small businesses in the tourism industry. The company represents the "Do-It-For-Me" business model gaining traction, where entrepreneurs sell their time and expertise alongside software to serve underserved small business markets.

John McIntyre runs The Autoresponder Guy, a productized service business focused on email marketing and autoresponders. The company has reached scale by year three and John has achieved enough success to own his time and choose where to live, including time in Chiang Mai.

ShopifyNinjas is a productized marketing services agency founded by Tristan King that specializes in Shopify-related services. Operating in their third year at the time of this podcast appearance, the company focuses on scaling productized services for e-commerce businesses. The founder shares insights on building and scaling productized marketing services.

ValetUp was founded in April 2013 by Ian and Jesse Lawler as a marketplace service. Nearly two years after launch, the founders reflected on the project's failure and lessons learned. Jesse Lawler subsequently moved on to found PodcastPop, a project aimed at helping podcasters build organic audience connections.

Paul Kortman runs Connex Social, a digital marketing agency. The Kortmans sold their house and 90% of their belongings to become location-independent, traveling with their six-person family to over 30 locations across 25 flights. They experienced a significant revenue loss during their travels but managed to rebound.

HighCappin.com is a business operated by Matt Kowolak, an entrepreneur who has lived in China for ten years. The company appears to be involved in leveraging opportunities at the Canton Fair and China's entrepreneurial ecosystem, though specific details about the business model, products, or traction are not provided in this source.

FatCatApps is a WordPress-focused SaaS product built by David Hehenberger to help marketers drive conversions from their WordPress sites. David transitioned from podcast production work to building his own sustainable software business. The company operates within the WordPress ecosystem, serving marketers seeking conversion optimization tools.

Portable Bar is a physical product company that achieved 527% growth in its first 18 months under Taylor Pearson's leadership, reaching consistent mid-5-figure monthly revenue. The company evolved from a small operation barely keeping the lights on to a significant wealth-generating business using old-school growth tactics and direct application of business principles.

Abroaders.com is a travel hacking service founded by Erik Paquet, who is recognized as a go-to expert in the Dynamite Circle community for mileage optimization, point redemption, and business class travel strategies. He has leveraged his expertise in travel hacking to launch a productized service business, though specific traction metrics are not disclosed in this source.

Bedphones is a consumer electronics product created by Eric Dubs that found success in a competitive market despite facing competition from major brands. The company achieved significant media coverage through platforms like Dr. Oz and Good Morning America, and was built with automation to enable remote operation as a lean product business.

Flashbar is a portable bar hardware product founded by Ian. Over nine months of operation, the team experimented with trade shows and dropshipping as distribution channels, learning about the pros and cons of each approach.

Linchpin is a service business founded by Damian Thompson, who appeared on the Tropical MBA podcast to discuss his first 1,000 days as a business owner. The company is associated with the location-independent business movement and offers services to this community.

Cam Collins built a SaaS product to help marinas manage boat inventory. The company achieved enough traction to be acquired in a strategic merger. The case study explores lessons learned during the exit process.

Real Life English, founded by Trevor Pirtle, is mentioned in a Tropical MBA podcast episode about building strong communities. Limited information is available from the source material.

Nomadic Notes is an affiliate marketing business run by James Clark, a digital nomad operating as a solopreneur with no employees. The business generates revenue to support continuous travel through affiliate marketing channels.

Dynamite Circle Conference is an in-person conference organized by Dan and Ian scheduled for Bangkok in October. The founders consulted with Rob Walling, founder of MicroConf, to learn best practices for profiting from in-person events, covering speaker recruitment, sponsorship strategy, scheduling, and marketing tactics.

BlackLine is a SaaS company founded by Therese Tucker that achieved a successful IPO. The source is a podcast excerpt where Tucker discusses myths about startup success, but contains limited specific traction metrics or operational details.

CMX is a network and community management platform founded by David Spinks that serves enterprise SaaS companies like Slack, Twitch, Salesforce, Atlassian, and Duolingo. The company was acquired by Bevy in 2019, where David now serves as VP of Community, and the combined platform helps brands build, grow, and manage community event programs both virtual and in-person.

Tidelift is a managed open source platform backed by maintainers that has raised over $40M from top-tier investors including Foundry Group and General Catalyst. The company is led by Head of Sales and Customer Success Bridget Gleason, who brings extensive SaaS sales experience from leadership roles at Logz.io, Sumo Logic, YesWare, and Engine Yard.

Domo is a business intelligence platform that enables teams to leverage BI at scale. The company raised funding from major VCs including Benchmark, Founders Fund, Andreessen Horowitz, Greylock, and IVP before going public. John Mellor, now Chief Strategy Officer, joined Domo after running a $3 billion annual revenue business line at Adobe.