#58 The Marc Thomas Route
Fri Oct 03 2025
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/
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Create your next digital offer: https://harnessandhone.com/
Join How Solos Scale: https://www.howsolosscale.com/
Download the free roadmap: https://fullstacksoloroadmap.com/
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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/