Jane Portman

Co-founder and CEO of Userlist, host of the UI Breakfast podcast

@uibreakfast6.1K followersSaaS Founders Marketing & SEO Tools Creators & Writers

About Jane Portman

Jane Portman is the co-founder and CEO of Userlist, an email marketing and automation platform for SaaS companies. She was a creative director at a large agency before going independent in 2012 as a UI/UX consultant for software products. She built the UI Breakfast brand around that work, with a podcast, a newsletter and self-published design books.

Around 2015, burned out by heavy consulting, she cut back on client work to focus on products. Her third book, The UI Audit, a self-serve guide for founders who want to review and improve their web app's interface, came out in March 2016. She also launched Tiny Reminder, a small SaaS that she built with developer Benedikt Deicke.

That partnership became Userlist. Jane and Benedikt signed a co-founder agreement in October 2017, ran a long phase of customer interviews and pre-sales, and began onboarding paying customers in a closed beta in October 2018. Userlist launched out of beta in August 2019 as Product Hunt's #1 product of the day, joined the TinySeed accelerator in 2020, and raised a pre-seed round from more than 20 angel investors in 2021. It has since grown from behavior-based lifecycle emails into a broader email marketing platform for SaaS.

Jane hosts UI Breakfast, a long-running podcast on UI/UX design, product strategy and SaaS marketing, and Better Done Than Perfect, Userlist's podcast on SaaS marketing. She is a mother of three and a regular speaker in the bootstrapper community.

Products by Jane Portman

Userlist

userlist.com

Email automation and marketing platform for SaaS companies, covering behavior-based lifecycle emails, broadcasts and in-app messages.

The UI Audit

uibreakfast.gumroad.com

Self-published guide to auditing and improving the interface of a web application.

UI Breakfast

uibreakfast.com

Design and product strategy brand with a podcast, newsletter and books for SaaS founders.

Builds indie alternatives to:Mailchimp

Jane Portman's journey, 2012–20217 milestones · self-reported

First product
Went full time
Funding
Launch / milestone
Started 2012

2012Went full time: Left her agency job to consult
2016First product: Published The UI Audit, her third book
2017Milestone: Signed the Userlist co-founder agreement with Benedikt Deicke…
2018Launch: Userlist billed its first customers
2019Launch: Userlist launched out of beta and was #1 product of the day…
2020Funding: Userlist joined the TinySeed accelerator
2021Funding: Userlist raised a pre-seed round from more than 20 angel…

Timeline

2012 — Left her creative director role at an agency to work as an independent UI/UX consultant.
2016 — Published The UI Audit, her third book, which made over $14K within its first months.
2017 — Signed the Userlist co-founder agreement with Benedikt Deicke in October.
2018 — Userlist turned on billing for its first closed-beta customers in October.
2019 — Userlist launched out of beta and was #1 product of the day on Product Hunt.
2020 — Userlist joined the TinySeed accelerator.
2021 — Userlist raised a pre-seed round from more than 20 angel investors.

How Jane builds

Pre-sell before you build.
Keep emails short and behavior-driven.
Build an audience around your expertise first.
Prefer products over custom consulting to escape burnout.

Learn from Jane Portman

[podcast]Free

UI Breakfast

Conversations about UI/UX design, SaaS products and marketing.

by Jane Portman

[podcast]Free

Better Done Than Perfect

Userlist's podcast on SaaS marketing and growth.

by Jane Portman

[book]$43 (Basic)

The UI Audit

Concise manual for auditing and optimizing a web application's UI, written for founders.

by Jane Portman

Jane Portman FAQ

Who is Jane Portman?

Jane Portman is the co-founder and CEO of Userlist, a former UI/UX consultant, and the host of the UI Breakfast podcast.

What is Userlist?

Userlist is an email automation and marketing platform for SaaS companies that sends behavior-based lifecycle messages and broadcasts. It was founded in 2017.

Is Userlist bootstrapped?

Userlist is largely customer-funded, but it joined the TinySeed accelerator in 2020 and raised a pre-seed round from angel investors in 2021.

What books has Jane Portman written?

She self-published several design books under the UI Breakfast brand, including The UI Audit (2016), a guide to reviewing and improving a web app's interface.