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Jonathan Siegel is a buddy of mine who lives in Tokyo. I can’t decide whether I’m more floored by the fact that he runs five businesses at once or has eight kids. He recently wrote a book The San Francisco Fallacy, mostly to share his experience with running software businesses...
More than a few people dream of coming to Japan, starting an online business that gives you financial freedom and leaves you with enough free time to study the language travel and just enjoy Japan. I know that sounds like the opening to some terrible multi-level marketing pitch, but today we site down and talk with someone who has done exactly that — twice. Patrick McKenzie came to Japan more than 15 years ago and after enduring the soul-crushing boredom that is the life of a Japanese programer, he took maters into his own hands, left his job and began developing software products that he sold and supported all over the world the world from his home in the Japanese countryside. It turns our that life was not as idillic or as simple as it seems, but there are some important lessons learned and a great story to be told. I think you’ll enjoy this one. Show Notes for Startups What it's like working as a developer at a Japanese company The 30-year career plan Japanese companies have for their employees Why Japanese developers don’t start side businesses Why it's smart to focus on the foreign market when selling software from Japan What's the wrong way to generate a startup idea Why running a micro-startup can be more rewarding than getting investment What made Patrick give it all up and get a day job Why you need to develop the ability to do arbitrary hard things How to make failure a part of life in Japan, and why that would be a good thing Links from the Founder Patrick runs the Kalzumeus blog Check out some of Patrick's (aka patio11) prolific writing at Hacker News Stripe's Atlas Program Check out the Kalzumeus podcast, and tell Patrick to make more of them [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Transcript from Japan Disrupting Japan, episode 74. Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero, and thanks for joining me. One of the things I enjoyed most about making Disrupting Japan, is not only do I get a chance to sit down and talk with some of the most innovative people in Japan, but I hear from people all over the world who are thinking about bringing their company to Japan, or who are deeply involved in the startup scene in their own country, or who just have a love of Japan and enjoy hearing about startups and how things are changing here. I also get a pretty steady stream of inquiries from listeners with a very specific Japan-focused dream. There are a lot of developers all over the world who want to move to Japan, maybe move to a Japanese company, study the language, and then start some kind of internet business that would give them the financial independence and the freedom to just live your life in Japan. Well, if that sounds appealing, I’ve got a treat for you today. Today, we’re going to sit down and talk with my friend, Patrick McKenzie, and we’re basically going to give you a blueprint for doing exactly that. I’ll warn you in advance, it might not be as easy as you think it is, or as rewarding as you imagine it might be, and in fact, in the end, Patrick left that life behind. Before he did that, however, he created not just one, but two successful online businesses, that he ran from the comfort of the Japanese countryside. Now, you’ve probably never heard of either of Patrick’s companies, but he’s a more important part of the Tokyo startup ecosystem than he likes to let on. He’s an advisor, a connector, and someone whose name just keeps popping up in Tokyo’s startup scene, and he has a really amazing story to tell. So let’s hear from our sponsors and get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1411" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] [Interview] Tim: I’m sitting here with Patrick McKenzie of Stripe and of Kalzumeus software, and the illustrious Kalzumeus podcast, as a matter of fact.
Many programmers listening to this podcast are working at a big company, and they would prefer to be running their own software business. Patrick McKenzie has been writing about this topic for several years on his blog Kalzumeus.com. Almost a decade ago, he was working as an enterprise developer at a large company in Japan. The post Software Small Businesses with Patrick McKenzie appeared first on Software Engineering Daily.
I sold Bingo Card Creator, the business I’m probably best known for, through FEI last year. Thomas Smale, the principal of that brokerage, is now a buddy of mine, and he agreed to chat with me a bit about what goes into buying and selling online businesses. I think it...
Several years ago I wrote a blog post on salary negotiation for engineers. This probably created more value than anything else I’ve ever written — I have a folder in Gmail with thank-you messages from people, and my running total is something north of $2.3 million in added salary per...
Keith and I are joined by special guest Jay Winder, CEO of MakeLeaps, in this 11th episode of the podcast. We talk a bit about doing business in Japan, raising money vs. bootstrapping as a SaaS company, how AngelList is going to eat the world, and the usual eclectic mix of topics....
Keith and I are back with the 10th episode of the podcast. This time we’re talking about our wives and kids, how much they mean to us (lots!), and how we try to fit being good husbands/fathers around our mutual desire to keep growing the businesses.
The Tropical MBA Podcast - Entrepreneurship, Travel, and Lifestyle
http://www.tropicalmba.com/patrick/ Patrick McKenzie from Kalzumeus.com has been one of my favorite bloggers for over half of a decade. Patrick has a storied history of writing long-form pieces about the experiences of starting bootstrap software businesses, and is an expert at optimizing for non-cash currencies. In this week's episode we dig deep into Patrick's business philosophy, including how he has been able to build a powerhouse blog that is followed by some of the most influential people in the industry. We also talk about his expertise around conversion optimization and email marketing, how not to suck at giving conference speeches, and Patrick's experience as a long-term expat in Japan.
Samuel Hulick, one of the guys I trust most with regards to SaaS user onboarding, joined us for this episode of the podcast. I met Sam first when he was writing a book on the topic. The best evidence I can give you for the proposition “Sam knows more than the...
I recently met Steli Efti, founder of Close.io, in Palo Alto, and did a podcast episode with him. Transcript and links below as per the usual.
Keith and I recorded a new episode of the podcast last year, but we didn’t get around to releasing it.
Hi there! To help Chasing Product grow, please take a moment to visit iTunes and give the show a 5-star rating. Thanks! This time out, I talk with Patrick McKenzie about his journey through software entrepreneurship, and why “charge more for your product” is often the best thing you can do. Kalzumeus.com – Patricks blog Bingocardcreator.com – Read More The post Episode 12: Charge More for Your Product w/Patrick McKenzie appeared first on Chasing Product.
Hi there! To help Chasing Product grow, please take a moment to visit iTunes and give the show a 5-star rating. Thanks! This time out, I talk with Patrick McKenzie about his journey through software entrepreneurship, and why “charge more for your product” is often the best thing you can do. Kalzumeus.com – Patricks blog Bingocardcreator.com – Read More The post Episode 12: Charge More for Your Product w/Patrick McKenzie appeared first on Chasing Product.
Happily, there are many ways to productize your relationships with customers or your expertise as a consultant.
Download this episode, in which Ian and Andrey are joined by special guest, Patrick McKenzie (patio11), to discuss the “early” days of the Business of Software forums, Patrick’s journey and daily routine, Helpdesk systems and support, Appointment Reminder, systemizing and automating daily tasks, SaaS, B2C vs. B2B, pricing of software, consulting, learning from Blackhats, Hacker News, marketing, Uberdeck, making money from open source, dual-licensing, running a conference, hacker meetups, Patrick’s biggest mistake in business, Patrick’s next product, and Facebook games. Special guest Patrick McKenzie (patio11) of Kalzumeus. Business of Software Forums – Joel on Software. Bingo Card Creator – Patrick’s first product. Appointment Reminder – Patrick’s second product. Helpspot – Ian’s first product. Snappy – Ian’s latest product. Antair Spam Filter – One of Andrey’s first products. Uberdeck – Andrey’s latest product Andy Brice, and his Perfect Table Plan product. Jon B and his ViEmu, vi emulator for Visual Studio. Gavin Bowman Michael Pryor Kalzumeus Podcast Teach for America Hacker News Ruben Gamez, founder of Bidsketch 30×500, by Amy Hoy Micropreneur Academy Marco Arment Laravel Laravel: From Apprentice to Artisan, by Taylor Otwell Paint.net Binpress Rails Long Term Support Gail Goodman talk from Business of Software 2012 Patrick’s Email List Peldi, Balsamiq Mockups Visual Website Optimizer
Keith Perhac and I are back with the 5th epsiode of the Kalzumeus podcast.
Matt Wensing from Stormpulse (disclaimer: I’m an investor, long story below) generously took some time off of managing the nation’s severe weather risks to appear on our podcast. (Keith Perhac couldn’t be with us when we taped this, as he was celebrating the birth of his second daughter.) It’s been...
Keith Perhac and I recorded our 3rd podcast episode with special guest Brennan Dunn. Listen to it (or read the transcript) for:
Keith and I recorded the second podcast, this time with special guest Amy Hoy. (If you missed the first podcast, see here.) We’re still searching for a format which really works for us, so this is a work in progress. Please share your thoughts with us on what you like/don’t...
Hiya guys. My good friend Keith and I decided to do something a little different and tried recording a podcast. We’re still rather new at this, so it took for form of a freewheeling conversation. Major topics included: