Interviews with people who build awesome products, businesses and experiences. Hosted by Metacast co-founders Ilya Bezdelev and Arnab Deka.
Honeybadger co-founders Ben Curtis and Joshua Wood discuss the origins and growth of their app monitoring product, challenges of bootstrapping, calm work environment, evolution of co-founder relationships, and buying out a departing co-founder.Do you love audio podcasts?Metacast is our podcast app with transcripts for iOS and Android - get it at metacast.app.Join our Reddit community at r/metacastapp.Segments[01:27] Introduction of Honeybadger[03:50] The genesis of the company[10:40] The first customers[12:26] How much money do you need to feel like it's real?[14:37] Switching to the business full-time[16:42] Moving from unlimited to usage-based pricing[21:14] Stress about revenue[23:40] When do you start paying ourselves?[26:29] The evolution of founder relationships[31:14] Dealing with a co-founder departure[34:49] Is a calm company possible?[36:30] Who does what in the company[41:25] Advice for entrepreneurs[42:12] Where to find Ben and JoshuaWhere to find the badgersHoneybadgerFounderQuest podcastBen: Bluesky, LinkedInJoshua: Bluesky, LinkedInLinks Honeybadger memeGet in touch!Send us an email at hello@buildersgonnabuild.comSubscribe to newsletter at buildersgonnabuild.comMetacast: Behind the scenes - "build in public" style podcast and newsletter at metacastpodcast.com
John Crickett is the creator of Coding Challenges, a newsletter for engineers that has over 54k subscribers. John's LinkedIn profile grew from 3k to 150k+ followers in a year. In this episode, we dive into the process and mindset that allowed John's following to grow so quickly.Do you love audio podcasts?Try Metacast podcast app at metacast.app.Join our Reddit community at r/metacastapp.Segments[00:58] Introduction[03:18] Spending a million Euros and a year on an MVP[05:54] Coding Challenges[08:15] MVP for an info product vs. software[13:51] Growth on LinkedIn[17:32] Post structure[19:48] Comments on posts[21:48] Twitter/X[25:15] Coding Challenges newsletter[27:12] Building a personal brand[34:09] Nicheing on LinkedIn[41:50] Selling B2B vs. B2C[47:18] Tangent on car salesmen[50:13] Book recommendationsWhere to find JohnJohn's LinkedInCoding ChallengesCoding Challenges newsletterCoding Chats podcast30 Day LinkedIn Personal Branding Challenge for Software Engineers (starts on May 20, 2024!)Links Advent of CodeCarrd website builderAirChatPodcastsMy First Million (Jason Cohen episode)BooksStop Asking Questions by Andrew WarnerHatching Twitter by Nick BiltonGet in touch!Send us an email at hello@buildersgonnabuild.comSubscribe to newsletter at buildersgonnabuild.comMetacast: Behind the scenes - "build in public" style podcast and newsletter at metacastpodcast.com
Jason Fried is a co-founder and CEO of 37signals, the company behind Basecamp and HEY. Together with his business partner David Hannemeier Hanson, Jason co-authored seminal entrepreneurship books Rework, Remote, and It Doesn't Have to Be Crazy at Work.This episode was originally published on the Metacast podcast, episode 28 in July 2023.Do you love audio podcasts?Try Metacast podcast app at metacast.app.Join our Reddit community at r/metacastapp.Segments[03:17] Introduction of Jason and 37signals [05:38] Founder role vs. CEO role [08:37] Working with the same co-founder for 20 years [11:10] Disagreements between founders [13:31] Disagree and commit principle [15:14] The business side of things (numbers, accounting, etc.) [18:17] On costs and profitability [21:01] Intentionally keeping the company small [24:01] Managing risk [26:11] Jeff Bezos' investment [32:34] Working on several products at the same time [33:31] Six-week cycles vs. long-term projects [38:50] Evolution of 37signals [44:45] Keeping products until the end of the Internet [47:28] Calm companies [48:38] Listening to customer feedback [54:25] Jason's email is public. Is this a good idea? [58:07] Employee performance reviews and fixed salaries [59:45] Can the "calm company" mindset work in big companies? [01:05:51] How does one find a calm company to work for? [01:08:46] Publishing books [01:11:38] On being contrarian and no politics at work PodcastsRework#496: Marc Randolph on Building Netflix, Battling Blockbuster, Negotiating with Amazon/Bezos, and Scraping the Barnacles Off the Hull on The Tim Ferriss ShowBooksReworkGetting RealIt Doesn't Have to Be Crazy at WorkShape UpMaverick by Ricardo SemlerBlog postsFounder & CEO is kinda a BS title by Jason FriedBasecamp's new etiquette regarding societal politics at work by DHHBut what if you're wrong? by DHHGet in touch!Send us an email at hello@buildersgonnabuild.comSubscribe to newsletter at buildersgonnabuild.comMetacast: Behind the scenes - "build in public" style podcast and newsletter at metacastpodcast.com
Corey Quinn is the Chief Cloud Economist at The Duckbill Group and a big celebrity at the AWS circles well known for his sense of humor and unrelenting focus on making some good fun of the cloud providers.In our interview, we are learning Corey's background, how The Duckbill Group got started, and how he runs the media side of his business. As usual, we talked about bootstrapping and running consulting services while building a product.This episode was originally published on the Metacast podcast, episode 32.Do you love audio podcasts?Try Metacast podcast app at metacast.app.Join our Reddit community at r/metacastapp.Where to find CoreyScreaming in the Cloud (podcast)Last week in AWS (newsletter)AWS Morning Brief (podcast)X: @QuinnyPigDuckbill GroupBooksPractical Monitoring: Effective Strategies for the Real World by Mike JulianNever Eat Alone by Tahl Raz Keith FerrazziOther referencesRoute 53, Amazon's Premier DatabaseWriting New Editions and Ticking All the Boxes with Andreas WittigMetacast Ep. 8 - SquadCast Founders on Remote Collaboration in PodcastsYes, I Test in Production (And So Do You) by Charity MajorsGet in touch!Send us an email at hello@buildersgonnabuild.comSubscribe to newsletter at buildersgonnabuild.comMetacast: Behind the scenes - "build in public" style podcast and newsletter at metacastpodcast.com
Dave Thomas, co-author of The Pragmatic Programmer and Agile Manifesto, on the true spirit of being agile (vs. "doing agile"), mistakes engineering teams make, and common practices of successful teams.Do you love audio podcasts?Try Metacast podcast app at metacast.app.Join our Reddit community at r/metacastapp.Segments[10:29] The genesis of The Pragmatic Programmer[11:41] People don't know what they want, importance of feedback loops[22:17] Doing Agile vs. being agile[26:36] Practices of successful engineering teams[36:35] Being pragmatic at an early stage startup[44:10] Things that are still true 24 years after the book was published[55:25] How does a book define its author's identity?Show notesThe Pragmatic ProgrammerThe Pragmatic BookshelfThe Agile ManifestoGet in touch!Send us an email at hello@buildersgonnabuild.comSubscribe to newsletter at buildersgonnabuild.comMetacast: Behind the scenes - "build in public" style podcast and newsletter at metacastpodcast.com
For 10 years, Henry built mobile apps at Google and Amazon. Now he is a partner at a software development agency studio.init(). Henry shares his thoughts on using cross-platform frameworks vs. native languages, argues that Apple's 30% cut of the in-app purchases is acceptable, and tells us how Google layoffs became a blessing in disguise. Do you love audio podcasts? Try Metacast podcast app at https://metacast.app. Join our Reddit community at r/metacastapp. Segments [01:31] Introduction [04:03] Viral LinkedIn posts about layoffs [08:13] Google layoffs [17:36] Cross-platform app development with Flutter vs. native languages [30:12] Getting apps into app stores [31:43] Apple's 30% in-app purchase fees [42:09] Building apps within Google and Amazon [50:30] Starting studio.init() and finding first customers [56:58] Book recommendations Show notes Where to find Henry LinkedIn studio.init() Books Permission to Screw Up by Kristen Hadeed Crucial Conversations Getting More by Stuart Diamond The New One Minute Manager by Ken Blanchard, Spencer Johnson Do you love audio podcasts? Try Metacast podcast app at https://metacast.app. Join our Reddit community at r/metacastapp. Get in touch! Send us an email at hello@buildersgonnabuild.com Subscribe to newsletter at https://www.buildersgonnabuild.com Metacast: Behind the scenes - "build in public" style podcast and newsletter at https://metacastpodcast.com
Dennis E. Taylor built software for 35 years before trying himself as a sci-fi author. His first novel Outland earned him some “Starbucks money” on Amazon, but his second book We Are Legion made him a best-selling author. Dennis retired as an engineer and became a full-time writer. In this episode, we talked about the parallels between writing software and writing books, Dennis's process of coming up with ideas and turning them into reality, working with agents, and writing audio-first books. Segments [02:30] Introduction [04:42] Transition from software engineering to writing [07:37] Primer on Dennis's books [12:02] Parallels between writing software and writing books [16:10] Where do ideas come from? [19:41] The process of writing [22:38] Writing for an audio-first format [27:28] Narrating a book [30:43] Engaging with fans [32:06] Doing research for sci-fi [36:17] Making money with books [38:58] Dennis's favorite authors [41:04] On following the best practices in writing [44:22] How writing has changed over time [46:06] Advice for aspiring authors [47:10] Where is the Bobiverse series going? Show notes Where to find Dennis Audible profile Amazon profile Twitter/X Books Bobbiverse #1: We Are Legion (We Are Bob) Bobbiverse #2: For We Are Many Bobbiverse #3: All These Worlds Bobbiverse #4: Heaven's River Outland Roadkill Do you love audio podcasts? Try Metacast podcast app at https://metacast.app. Join our Reddit community at r/metacastapp. Get in touch! Send us an email at hello@buildersgonnabuild.com Subscribe to newsletter at https://www.buildersgonnabuild.com Metacast: Behind the scenes - "build in public" style podcast and newsletter at https://metacastpodcast.com
Justin shares how he created Winamp and sold it to AOL at age 20 and tells us about his current project, digital audio workstation (DAW) Reaper. Segments [03:16] The genesis of Winamp [11:07] Winamp whips the llama's ass [14:06] Nullsoft [16:27] Winamp as a platform [23:16] The business side of Winamp [24:11] What was it like to work at AOL? [27:06] Why Justin doesn't use streaming services [30:03] Justin's website [32:06] Why Justin created Reaper [35:48] Shipping v1 of Reaper [37:02] Reaper is built by just a few people [38:53] Cross-platform codebase [40:48] Reaper as a platform [43:42] Future of Reaper [44:40] AI in Reaper [47:09] Questions lightning round [53:36] Book recommendations Show notes Where to find Justin Mastodon — justin@cockos.net Justin's website Ask Justin Frankel Books Masters of Doom by David Kushner Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu Catch-22 by Joseph Heller Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin A. Abbott Podcasts Interview with Justin on the Internet History Podcast Software Winamp Reaper Do you love audio podcasts? Try Metacast podcast app at https://metacast.app. Join our Reddit community at r/metacastapp. Get in touch! Send us an email at hello@buildersgonnabuild.com Subscribe to newsletter at https://www.buildersgonnabuild.com Metacast: Behind the scenes - "build in public" style podcast and newsletter at https://metacastpodcast.com
Christian tells a story of how Apollo got started, grew and eventually had to shut down following Reddit's API pricing decision. Segments [00:46] Introduction of Christian [01:58] How Christian got into app development [03:36] Internship at Apple [06:38] The origin of the name for Apollo [07:49] Launching v1 of Apollo [13:12] Pricing the app [17:46] Apollo t-shirts and custom app icons [21:38] Adding notifications and being rejected by Apple [26:15] Initial reception of Apollo and building a community [31:32] Apollo's growth [39:39] Challenges with Reddit API [41:51] The demise of Apollo [47:11] Apollo in metrics [54:14] PixelPals [56:05] Advice for app developers [57:26] Podcast and book recommendations Show notes Christian on Twitter/X: @ChristianSelig Pixel Pals Widget Pet Game on Apple App Store Apollo app subreddit r/apolloapp Do you love audio podcasts? Sign up for Metacast podcast app at https://metacast.app. Get in touch! Send us an email at hello@buildersgonnabuild.com Subscribe to newsletter at https://www.buildersgonnabuild.com Metacast: Behind the scenes - "build in public" style podcast and newsletter at https://metacastpodcast.com
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