Mike Strives

Founder of Upvoty

Issue #222 November 27, 2022

About

Mike Strives builds and shares insights about building his startup Upvoty on Twitter.

Besides that, he's highly investing in creating content with weekly vlogs on YouTube and daily shorts, TikToks, and Instagram Reels. Besides building his business, he's also the founder and host of the SaaS Pirates podcast show in which he interviews founders from successful SaaS businesses.

Photos

9 images

Gear

16 items

Monitor LG 27UL550 Monitor Buy

Computer Apple Macbook PRO M1 14"

Mouse Apple Magic Mouse Buy

Mouse Apple Magic Trackpad Buy

Keyboard Apple Magic Keyboard Buy

Phone Phone and Apple Watch Charger

Tablet for controlling music and lights

Accessories 2 Standing Desks

Chair Herman Miller Aeron Buy

Microphone Shure SM7B — for doing demos and recording podcasts Buy

Camera Sony A7 III — for recording Reels, TikToks, and Shorts Buy

Camera Sony Camera Lens FE 2.8/16-35 GM Buy

Lamp Philips Hue Lightning

Speakers Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 Buy

Lamp Aputure Light Storm 120d II Soft Box — for lightning

Headphones beyerdynamic DT 770 PRO Buy

Software

11 apps

Ilo.so — for Twitter Analytics

Sendgrid — for transactional emails

Slack — for internal communication

EmailOctopus — for newsletters

Ghost — for my blog

Final Cut Pro — for editing videos

Stripe — for payments

Crisp — for support chat

Notion — for managing my work and life

Loom — for recording customer tutorials

Tally.so — for lead forms

Interview

4 questions

› What is your favorite item in your workspace?

The obvious answer would be my Macbook, I mean, couldn't do any work without it. But the geek in me would say my Shure SM7B microphone. Love that thing!

› How do you spark creativity?

In the office, you'll find a whiteboard, sticky notes on the wall, and notebooks all over the place. I just love to get some off-screen time and brainstorm ideas. One thing I always do as well is to go and read for 30 mins around 2pm.

› How do you manage work-life balance?

Having an office really does the trick for me. I can come to office to work, and leave around 5pm to really go home and be with my family.

› What do you enjoy most about podcasting? Least?

Getting to meet new people in the same space is so awesome. Didn't think that it would do this many downloads at all (around 1,000 per episode) and that I was able to actually monetize it (around $250 per episode because of sponsors). What I enjoy the least? Hmm. Nothing really. Being it a side project, I can make time for it whenever I like.