First Sponsor - First 1K Revenue

Hey fellow indiehackers,
I'm so excited to share that the Software Engineering Unlocked podcast got its first sponsor.

And the best part is not only that this means I can concentrate even more on producing and growing the podcast, but that the sponsor - CodeSubmit - is also an indie business.

Their mission is to make the best take-home assignments for tech recruitments. This is a perfect fit for my podcast which focuses on software engineering methodologies, company culture, and often highlights the hiring and interview experiences of people getting into various (often fancy) companies.

Well, this is the first revenue that the podcast makes, and I'm super thrilled to finally replace the 0 revenue counter here on indiehackers.

So, I'm sure many want to know how I got this sponsorship.

I actually waited a long time, and I was always on the fence if it's the right time to invite sponsors. After the podcast got a significant number of monthly downloads, I started to plug my own business.

And, it worked.

I'm running a consultancy and training business, and due to the "ads" that I run in my own podcast, I sold quite a few workshops and got one large consultancy gig over the last three months.

Well, since October, I decided to also start my own software product to complement my consultancy and training work.
This means that I put a hold on giving workshops until February 2020.
So I decided it's time to invite others to advertise on the podcast.

The steps I did to get my first sponsor were the following:

Announce it on Twitter
Let my email list know
Announce it on the podcast.
So far, I had three companies reach out because of this. With one, I decided it isn't a good match. The other is still deciding how they want to progress. And the last one, well, is the one that was the best fit and worked out.

In the future, I want to reach out to a couple of companies directly that I think will make a good fit, but I'm quite unwilling to get into "sales" and to improve my skills in this regard. So, I procrastinate as much as possible.

Well, as I said at the beginning, it means a lot to me that I announce an indie business on my podcast.
I hope I can continue that way: So, if you are also interested in reaching quality-focused developers, or people looking for the next career move, please have a look at my sponsor page or DM me on Twitter.

In any case, just wanted to celebrate with you and share my story.

Happy indiehacking!
Michaela