Finding the Net

In the season one finale, we talk about what's next for Thunk— and where we hope to be when we come back. Andrew and Danielle talk about the difference between experimenting and failing (hint: it's what you do next). Danielle talks about when you have to ‘kill your darlings' when it comes to marketing and content, and why it's important to view them as longer term investments. Andrew talks about his experience with other startups, and the tipping point between failure and success.

On this episode, we introduce you to Nigel and Julian— two very important Thunk characters. Nigel and Julian represent two parts of the creative process, and we get into how they'll help you create more. Andrew talks about the importance of building for yourself. Andrew and Danielle talk about the powerful idea of digital gardens, and two key resources to learn more.

On this episode, we get into some of the major changes at Thunk— turns out ‘journaling' is a great practice but not the most exciting positioning. Andrew discusses the conversations that led up to the change and how it comes down to reading into energy levels. Andrew and Danielle talk about overnight success, and why building in public is so hard. Danielle talks about the ‘responsibility' to play with our creativity.

This week we're talking about what's holding us back from getting more users into the app. Andrew speaks to the technical side of Thunk and what's required as we scale. We get into signs you know you're building something people love. Danielle talks about abandoning creative work vs finishing it. Get priority early access to Thunk: podcast@thunkjournal.com Follow us on Twitter @Nalband and @danielleismessy

In this episode, we're talking feedback. We give you an update on the user count (spoiler, Andrew forgot to prep for recording!) We talk about how to use feedback constructively— and when to know you're getting lost in it. Andrew covers what features Thunk will release next

This week we're diving into what happens when things don't go exactly according to plan (so, always!). Andrew & Danielle talk about the curse of perfectionism and how it impacts creative work. Andrew discusses how he decides what is a launch dealbreaker and what gets cut to get things out the door. We also dig into the importance of realizing you don't have to do everything yourself. Get priority early access to Thunk: podcast@thunkjournal.com Follow us on Twitter @nalband and @danielleismessy

This week, we're talking about launching the beta version of Thunk— and how perfectionism can get in the way of launching just about anything. But it's really about getting it out there— and Andrew talks about what his version of a minimum viable product is, and the important of showing value as soon as possible. There's a similar concept called minimum viable creativity that Danielle discusses, and talks about the idea in terms of writing. We get into why you shouldn't start from the beginning when building a product, but zero in on the core interaction and build around it. We talk about what features were prioritized for this very first version of Thunk, and how Andrew made those decisions. We get into all the details on the beta: how many are on the waitlist, where we connected with them, and how we plan to invite them. Promoting something you created usually feels kind of gross. Andrew and Danielle talk about why that is, and how to do self-promotion authentically. Get priority early access to Thunk: podcast@thunkjournal.com Follow us on Twitter @nalband and @danielleismessy

The main problem we're talking about this week is how we even begin to communicate the benefits of Thunk to the people we made it for. We're solving it by getting a positioning hypothesis in place to test out, using a framework from April Dunford's book, Obviously Awesome. We explain the major benefits of the writing method that inspired Thunk, from the book the Artist's Way by Julia Cameron— and why she'd be firmly against the idea of digital morning pages. Andrew tells the story of how he came up with the idea for Thunk's core feature to solve that problem, and how he leveraged his product design skills to bring it to life in just a few months. Through the community at Ness Labs, Andrew was able to get a ton of early customer interviews that helped shape the product, and will be our first beta invites this week. Using the interviews, Danielle walks through the starting point for positioning, and how to leverage the beta program to get actionable feedback. Try out the beta: podcast@thunkjournal.com Follow us on Twitter @nalband and @danielleismessy