In this episode, Marc Thomas, founder of Positive Human, mentor at TinySeed, and former Sr. Growth Marketer at Podia, traces an unlikely path from freelance journalism to co-founding doopoll, surviving a COVID-era near-meltdown, and ultimately reinventing himself as a lifecycle/email operator for SaaS. Marc shares the chaotic “we priced it in the hallway” moment, the lesson of raising money before true validation, and the four-day surge that took doopoll from 1.6M to 16M votes—and nearly torched the company with usage-based bills.
He and Nick dig into the solopreneur head-game: optionality vs. salary, why Marc would take less money for more freedom, and how “punk” DIY energy: charisma, coaching, and seeing work through end-to-end wins in growth. Marc shares candid reflections on confidence dips, building pipeline without becoming your own worst client, and a pragmatic cash-flow system that lets him sleep at night while he eyes a return to software on his own terms.
(00:00) Intro
(00:29) Starting as a freelance journalist
(01:58) Creative gigs lead to a voting tool idea
(03:48) Building doopoll in four days
(04:19) Landing a 25k deal on the spot
(07:01) Fundraising before validation
(08:51) From 1.6M to 16M votes and server crashes
(10:32) Choosing stability and leaving doopoll
(17:22) The banker vs. taxi driver analogy
(20:52) Taking less money for more freedom
(26:18) Emotional whiplash of solopreneurship
(27:00) Lifecycle email and intersecting skills
(30:26) Punk marketing and DIY growth
(33:29) Learning charisma and coaching clients
(43:24) Cash-flow forecasting and personal runway
(45:39) Pipeline focus and new software projects
Follow Marc on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/iammarcthomas
Check out Positive Human: https://www.positivehuman.co/
Check out Tinyseed: https://tinyseed.com/
—
Create your next digital offer: https://harnessandhone.com/
Join How Solos Scale: https://www.howsolosscale.com/
Download the free roadmap: https://fullstacksoloroadmap.com/