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🇦🇷 $25KARR Rodrigo Rocco, JobBoardSearch & Argentinian Independence

Weekly #078 | Building a micro-empire from simple job boards

Author

George Samuels
November 27th, 2023

Introducing Rodrigo

Rodrigo Rocco is a dynamic micropreneur and indie hacker, known for founding JobBoardSearch.com, a curated list of the world's best job boards. His journey began when StackOverflow Jobs announced its closure, prompting Rocco to create stackoverflowjobsalternatives.com overnight. This quick response and subsequent Twitter activity led to significant interest and growth for his venture​.

Rodrigo’s story is also one to learn from when it comes to combining developer skills, “small bets,” and strategic partnerships. He also demonstrates that you don’t need be earning millions in order to live a content life.

📊 Biz Breakdown

Here’s a list of all of Rodrigo’s ventures:

Job Board Search, Rocco's primary venture, has shown impressive growth, generating $3.4K+ in revenue within three months. This achievement was facilitated by the introduction of paid options like Sponsored Slots and Job Board Listing Upgrades, attracting 20 paid customers. VillasMediterranean made roughly $160K for him. Property Description AI is his latest venture, which is essentially a GPT-4 Vision wrapper, but for real estate.

Rocco's technical approach is minimalistic and efficient, utilizing simple technologies like a single PHP file, vanilla CSS, HTML, JavaScript (jQuery), and a bot for data management from Airtable to JSON for caching and performance​​​​.

🫂 Team Secrets

Details about Rodrigo Rocco's supporting team are not extensively documented. However, if you dig into his tweets, you’ll find a few gems:

Given the lean and efficient nature of his operations, it seems like he operates with a small team (micropreneur style), leveraging technology and automation to manage his business effectively. Rodrigo often mentions the SmallBets community — highly recommended!

📈 Rising Trend

A rising trend relevant to Rodrigo Rocco's business is the increasing reliance on niche job boards (e.g. remote jobs) and platforms for specialized job markets. These platforms offer tailored opportunities for specific industries, making them more effective for both job seekers and employers. This trend is reflected in the success of platforms like Job Board Search, which curate specialized job boards. You can see below what Rodrigo was documenting in 2022:

🔑 3 Key Lessons

"To build in public, to ship as soon as possible instead to wait until is 'perfect'!"

Rodrigo Rocco

  1. Rapid Response to Market Needs: Rocco's immediate action in creating a platform in response to StackOverflow Jobs' closure shows the value of quickly addressing market gaps​​.

  2. Lean Operation and Technology Use: His use of minimalistic technology solutions exemplifies how micropreneurs can efficiently manage resources while delivering value​​.

  3. Building in Public: Rocco's philosophy of shipping products quickly and improving them in the public domain is a valuable lesson in adaptability and customer feedback utilization​​. Mentioning people who inspires him is also a great tactic. See below:

🇦🇷 History

Rodrigo Rocco's Argentinian heritage can be linked to a significant aspect of Argentina's history: the spirit of independence and innovation seen during the country's struggle for independence in the early 19th century. This period was marked by a strong desire for self-governance and the development of unique Argentinian identities and cultures, separate from colonial influences.

Relating this to Rodrigo's story, his decision to quit Computer Science to travel and the subsequent 17 years of running his own businesses reflect a similar spirit of independence and forging one's path. Just as Argentina navigated through challenges to establish itself as an independent nation, Rodrigo has navigated the entrepreneurial landscape, moving away from traditional career paths to establish his unique ventures. His journey mirrors the essence of independence, innovation, and the pursuit of a self-determined life, which are key aspects of Argentina's historical struggle for independence.

Moreover, Argentina's history of resilience and adaptability in the face of economic and political challenges can also parallel Rodrigo's entrepreneurial journey. His ability to respond quickly to market needs (like with JobBoardSearch.com), and his learning from various entrepreneurs, signifies a similar resilience and adaptability in the business world.

🧰 Tools

Rodrigo Rocco utilizes programming languages such as PHP, vanilla CSS, HTML, JavaScript (jQuery). analytics tools like PostHog and Google Analytics to manage his business efficiently​​​​.

Other tools include:

🫵 What This Means For You

For aspiring micropreneurs, Rocco's journey highlights the importance of agility, lean operations, and responsiveness to market needs. Embracing these principles can significantly impact the success of a micro-business.

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