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Chris gets a new little toy. Christian gives a job search update. Then we talk about what Christian is really interested in right now: AI Agents and MCP.0:00 Intro3:11 Dust blowers5:12 Allergy testing10:55 Drawing SVGs with LLMs Kaggle competition18:42 Christian's job path forward26:30 Consulting updates28:28 Another SaaS30:14 Autonomy, mastery, purpose33:45 FileInbox39:06 AI Agents with MCP: Model Context Protocol54:40 What I really want1:01:03 Building games with LLMs
Chris finished his CS masters! Christian tries to figure out if he wants a "real" job, and what that might look like.0:00 Intro2:10 Chris finished his masters4:50 Santa Kaggle competition9:30 NVIDIA Blackwell15:45 Smart vs dumb light bulbs19:30 Christian had a rough month21:20 How to better manage consulting projects39:42 No longer a co-founder of Rootabl1:02:06 Potential benefits of a "real" job1:07:16 What kind of job would Christian want?1:18:42 Different work options1:24:20 Option 1: Consulting1:31:30 Option 2: Get a job1:41:47 Option 3: Start another SaaS1:46:02 Ideal plan1:48:00 How to look for a non-technical co-founder1:49:23 Next steps
Chris got a puppy and is almost done with his masters.Christian switches back to Ruby on Rails, and tries to convince Chris to use more AI to write code.0:00 Intro1:24 Chris got a puppy5:20 Why do people like pets?11:59 Are AI coding assistants worth it?42:07 How Chris' job is going47:14 Finishing up a CS masters54:20 Fatherhood1:03:07 Consulting for Stacks and paying people1:10:00 Rootabl and affiliate programs1:19:37 Ruby on Rails vs Serverless js1:39:59 Going through the pain to get better1:46:01 Fileinbox rewrite in Laravel ???1:57:46 Bluesky2:02:32 Outro
Christian had a baby! and Chris is now a Kaggle Grandmaster.
FounderQuest is back for episode 100! Learn why FounderQuest is down to two hosts. Listen to tales of hosting lavish RailsConf parties. Plus, don't miss the details of the secret upcoming product release that has been a year in the making!Links:Mastodon - @FounderQuest@honeybadger.social Twitter - @honeybadgerappWebsite
Muppets Treasure Island is the best movie ever. Chris just got back from Iceland and just re-started his masters classes. He's also considering getting a 3d printer (which Christian is definitely in favor of). Christian's experiments to find new customers aren't going great. Pricing is hard. Christian expands his consulting practice.
Christian continues to try to reach target customers for FileInbox. He's also still full steam ahead on the serverless transition before his baby gets here. Chris is prepping for a trip to Iceland.
Christian tries to outsource some development tasks. Chris built a photo frame and is getting ready for a trip to Iceland.
Chris is prepping for a couple of photo trips. Christian is trying to figure out how to talk to his ideal FileInbox customer. He's also wondering how much consulting to do and what that means for his time working on his own SaaS.
Chris and Christian both went on vacation. Chris is getting back into Photography. Christian is creating user personas for FileInbox, and is getting more consulting gigs too. correction at 27:45 NVIDIA doesn't even manufacture their own GPU chips! They rely on 3rd party manufacturers too. 0:00 Fun number fact 122: Ozymandias 8:13 Chris vacation update 13:00 Photography as a hobby 23:42 tinygrad ML framework 28:28 Fileinbox user personas 36:15 Christian consulting 44:36 Home Depot adventure
Chris is prepping for a trip to Iceland. Christian is trying to figure out exactly who is the target customer for fileinbox. Christian then tries to convince Chris that Firebase is the best platform on which to build a SaaS.
Christian has been looking at ALL THE BABY GEAR and has opinions. Also, he's working on the serverless transition for FileInbox and is struggling with estimating how long features will take.
Chris totally switches his diet and loses 17 pounds in 3 weeks. Christian went to Craft and Commerce and and takeaways for his business. He also figured out that his time estimates for FileInbox were way off.
Chris finished the StableDiffusion Image competition, but realized he was seriously outmatched in GPU power. Christian has renewed energy for FileInbox after talking with Asia Orangio. We both walk through how to plan to get things done, and how to actually follow through on those plans. Christian is trying to hire an assistant and tries to figure out what he needs to do that, and actually pay them money.
Christian wants to update Ruby and Rails, but has run into frustrating issues. Should he just... not upgrade? Chris gives up on the latest Kaggle competition, and is already eyeing another one. Also, Christian gets an update on the Bitcoin he lost.
Christian has a big announcement! (@ 36 minutes). Chris is done with Linear Algebra, working on Kaggle, and thinking about what type of AI course to make. Christian discovers that FileInbox already has a lot of traffic, but his trial to paid conversion rate is too low.
Chris tries to figure out which AI course he should make first; i.e., what skills would give developers superpowers? Christian starts talking to Asia Orangio about FileInbox to see where it can improve. What is his backwards plan?
(sorry about the weird jumpy video). We talk about Microconf and how we feel about the things we're doing as a result.
Attaboy.ai gets a bunch of users, and Christian is wondering how to charge for it. Chris tells Christian to talk to users of the video clipper in order to see what is valuable to them.
Chris and Christian talk about using AI for therapy, and re-ignite attaboy.ai (which is now a thing! visit it and send it some texts). Also: AI coaches, the Pope in a puffer jacket, AI doctors, and how AI is coming for all of us. Also: a reminder to TALK TO CUSTOMERS!
Chris tries to explain how ChatGPT works. Christian tries to figure out the next steps for the video clipper.
An update from Tim Leland (originally on episode 70) about his link shortener t.ly, and his journey creating a potentially new API for detecting malicious links. T.LYhttps://linkshieldapi.com/ Highlights: - How to launch a new API service - Doubling MRR in 6 months! - 5 ideas for how to use a malicious link API to create a new business
Christian just got back from Social Media Marketing World and has LOTS of ideas. Chris gets a new computer but it arrived broken :(
Christian continues to build the video clipper with Remotion and is experimenting with using ChatGPT to create good clips. We also talk about what it would take for him to sell FileInbox. Chris is considering buying another GPU for Kaggle.
Chris starts a new Kaggle competition using stable diffusion. Christian makes progress on how to use AI to automatically suggest clips for the video clipper.
Christian launched thevideoclipper and got it to $80 MRR! Chris comes up with another justification for buying his gpu.
Christian is about to launch thevideoclipper.com, but is feeling "The Resistance". Chris is learning linear algebra for his master's, and is trying to learn it by creating a plan to teach it. We talk about just "doing it badly" for both: and adjusting as we go.
Google did a 12k layoff. Chris started a new master's class about advanced linear algebra. Christian was on vacation, and was wondering the best way to learn AI in order to keep up with all the recent advances. He also helped his wife launch https://gymnastcode.com/
Christian is trying to find a few consulting clients to make some extra money. He's also made progress on the video clipper, and signed a new $99/mo account for file inbox! Chris just started a new linear algebra class and finished the gravity waves kaggle competition.
Christian launches a new podcast! He also got a first customer for the video clipper! AND he's also thinking about making more course content, so we talk about how much money can be made with technical courses. Chris is almost done with the gravity wave Kaggle competition. Also: How long is the coastline of England?
Chris talks about how work at Google is different than a small project or company. He's also working on the gravity waves kaggle competition. Christian tries to figure out how to backup all of his projects and files, and how to promote the video clipper.
Chris is still getting used to his job at Google. Christian may have (or not?) lost his email list when a service went down.
Christian has some bad news about crypto. Chris is still working on the gravity competition.
Christian renames clips.marketing to thevideoclipper.com and is trying to figure out what he wants it to be. He also wonders if he should hire someone else to run fileinbox while he builds the video clipper. Chris is still working on the Kaggle gravity waves competition.
Chris found out that the person who bought MeetingPlace shut it down :/. Christian is evaluating whether or not he should go all in on clips.marketing, or what to do about it vs FileInbox.
Christian has a potential customer conversation for clips.marketing that didn't feel very great. Chris joins a kaggle competition about gravity waves.
Chris has his first full week of Google, and also got his prize money from the Kaggle competition! Christian wonders if he should focus more on clips.marketing as a consultancy, or as a service, or just focus on FileInbox.
Christian tries to figure out where his customers are coming from, and how to get more signups for FileInbox. He also is trying to figure out what freemium features are best for clips.marketing. Chris starts his first week at Google. (timestamps coming later)
Chris is prepping to start his new job. Christian got $157.126 per hour on his latest consulting project for Ali Abdall, and is now wondering if he should spend a lot more time on clips.marketing instead of FileInbox. 00:00 Intro 01:07 Prepping to start a job 07:51 Acornchat changes 13:20 Marketing ideas outside an app store 17:34 Consulting project for Ali Abdaal 24:01 RailsSaaS conference 29:13 No progress on FileInbox 34:13 Stringing pearls 37:27 Being close to the audience of clips.marketing Timestamps created with https://clips.marketing by @cgenco iFixit toolkit: https://www.ifixit.com/Store/Tools/Essential-Electronics-Toolkit/IF145-348?o=5
Chris gets a job! Christian talks about his latest marketing experiments, and wonders if he should start working on clips.marketing again. 00:00 Intro 01:28 Google Photos DevRel role 03:52 What about acornchat? 05:20 Compensation at FAANG companies 09:03 Salary negotiation 11:34 Hiring freeze 12:33 Using Google ads for FileInbox 23:13 Promoted tweet experiment 25:57 Education as marketing 28:04 Low price file sending plan? 34:01 Detecting bots 36:25 Consulting project update 41:47 clips.marketing ideas 48:35 $20k sewer repair Timestamps created with https://clips.marketing by @cgenco
Christian quickly bought a google ad for Chris (for acornchat), but there were some unexpected results that required a lot more tweaking. Christian is doing a consulting project and enjoying it, and is wondering how to get more projects like that one. 00:00 Intro 02:15 Dedicated marketing days 03:07 Buying google ads 08:45 Adding more documentation for certain install paths 15:37 Conversion tracking and SEO 17:32 Google metadata tip 20:23 Filesize vs memory error in Google cloud 25:24 Building file sending in a day 32:28 Consulting tasks and rate 38:53 Tackling a personal email backlog with an EA 46:59 Building cabinet drawers Timestamps created with https://clips.marketing by @cgenco
Chris gets another customer for acornchat, which is 100% user growth! Christian is thinking about marketing for FileInbox using SEO, youtube, a new feature, and more. 00:00 Intro 05:55 2nd Acorn Chat user 09:18 Buying Google ads seems hard 16:35 Winning $5k from Kaggle 21:54 Twitter recommendations 30:09 FileInbox SEO changes 38:04 Youtube is underused for SaaS 45:34 File sending feature as a marketing channel 52:11 Serverless transition - using less memory 58:04 Doing more consulting 01:03:51 Making cabinets Timestamps created with https://clips.marketing by @cgenco Twitter recommendations: Massimo: https://twitter.com/rainmaker1973 WeRateDogs: https://twitter.com/dog_rates PUNS: https://twitter.com/thepunnyworld
Chris wins $5k from Kaggle! Christian fixes some bugs and picks up woodworking to fix his new organization troubles. 00:00 Intro 02:43 Winning $5000 in an AI competition 12:10 The hardest problem in the competition 24:41 AI master's class 32:15 AcornChat: why people switch 38:32 Motivation comes and goes 42:03 FileInbox bugs and features 49:26 SegMetrics Analytics 54:27 Woodworking hobby 58:42 Cleaning and organizing 01:01:39 iPhone vs Android Timestamps created with https://clips.marketing by @cgenco
We've reached 10,000 downloads for makers.dev! (a while ago). Chris has started his next master's class and is working on AcornChat. Christian is doing end-to-end testing with Playwright, and is still trying to figure out how to get better metrics for FileInbox. 00:00 10,000 downloads 00:54 3 redactions 03:29 Kaggle CTF updates 07:24 Learning things through challenges 10:43 Case studies in Machine Learning 15:33 AcornChat updates 19:59 Violent and original work 28:14 End to end testing 40:13 Metrics and analytics 45:43 Running paid ads? 48:52 How to throw a good party 52:35 Talking to strangers 54:44 CO2 levels indoors Timestamps created with https://clips.marketing by @cgenco
Christian came to Indy! Chris started his new ML class and is onboarding his first AcornChat customer. Christian tries to figure out a way to test dropbox file uploads. 00:00 Intro 01:28 Kaggle 4th place 04:04 AcornChat motivation 08:12 Case studies in machine learning 10:29 Christian's travels 12:27 How to test Fileinbox 14:40 File uploads to dropbox 20:14 Next steps for fileinbox Timestamps created with https://clips.marketing by @cgenco
Christian got married! Chris got his first paying customer for AcornChat. 00:00 Intro 01:24 First paying customer 07:32 Heroku is removing the free tier 10:43 Kaggle CTF competition 20:13 Taxes 24:36 Killing grass weeds 30:03 Next marketing thing for acornchat 39:48
Christian is in up state New York so he hasn't done much SaaS stuff this week - but he is preparing his business taxes. Yippee! Chris is recovering from being sick, so he's working on an AI security competition on Kaggle. 00:00 Intro 03:19 Kaggle DefCon AI security competition 15:07 DALLE prompts and AI art 22:40 Tricks to make AI art generators output a specific style 24:31 Systems to reduce friction 28:37 Business taxes 37:56 Full sized CNC machine 40:28 Neat wedding gifts with 3d printers 43:41 Manual labor Timestamps created with https://clips.marketing by @cgenco
Chris got covid; Christian is in upstate New York, and wonders about a new marketplace project. 00:00 Intro 05:09 AcornChat feature requests 12:41 Marketing for acornchat 15:23 What do you use for analytics? 21:20 Outreach strategies 29:59 GPS Gold Medal 32:57 AI driving to the woods 39:28 Weird birthday project with artist commisions 55:15 FileInbox Timestamps created with https://clips.marketing by @cgenco
AcornChat has real users now! Christian loves how TDD makes his code bulletproof. 00:00 Intro 06:58 Kaggle GPS update 14:09 AcornChat real users 15:33 Reaching out to users is hard 19:00 Analytics 27:50 MarketingChangelog ? 30:32 FileInbox work time 33:55 New features for fileinbox 35:16 TDD 41:45 Dropbox OAuth 43:09 File uploads and virus scanning 48:32 SEO links 50:03 How to get MRR up faster 52:42 Personal updates Timestamps created with https://clips.marketing by @cgenco
Chris had his name and face on a billboard. Christian is pushing forward FileInbox stuff, and is looking for the next marketing task. 00:00 Intro 01:40 Face on a billboard 10:10 How to evoke emotion 11:09 Marketing strategies work until they don't 14:38 AcornChat trials 21:17 DALL-E 2 25:21 Kaggle GPS 28:12 Free shirt 30:01 FileInbox SEO 32:08 Live video chat widget 34:46 Next marketing activity 38:14 Next projects for EA 45:23 Paramotoring is dangerous Timestamps created with https://clips.marketing by @cgenco