Shows
Makers.dev130 Job Search UpdateChris 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
2025-03-111h 03Makers.dev129 Looking for a jobChris 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...
2025-02-111h 52Makers.dev126 10x DeveloperMuppets 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.
2023-10-1259 minMakers.dev122 OzymandiasChris 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
2023-08-0451 minMakers.dev121 Advantages of FirebaseChris 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.
2023-07-201h 00Makers.dev118 How to Plan and Get Things Done, and How to FocusChris 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.
2023-06-081h 04Makers.dev117 How often should you update dependencies? Also, an update on "Dude, where's my Bitcoin?"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.
2023-05-261h 01Makers.dev116 Trial to paid conversion rates and Christian's big annoucementChristian 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.
2023-05-191h 02Makers.dev113 Attaboy.ai gets interesting. Also: TALK TO YOUR USERS.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.
2023-04-2759 minMakers.dev99 Dude, where's my crypto?Christian has some bad news about crypto. Chris is still working on the gravity competition.
2022-12-1657 minMakers.dev98 The Video ClipperChristian 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.
2022-12-0859 minMakers.dev97 MeetingPlace shuts down, Musk buys twitter, and crypto crashesChris 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.
2022-12-031h 02Makers.dev96 When customer conversations feel badChristian has a potential customer conversation for clips.marketing that didn't feel very great. Chris joins a kaggle competition about gravity waves.
2022-11-1858 minMakers.dev95 Consultancy vs Software as a ServiceChris 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.
2022-11-1052 minMakers.dev94 Freemium featuresChristian 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)
2022-11-0354 minMakers.dev93 $157.126 per hourChris 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/Too...
2022-10-2746 minMakers.dev92 Getting a job at GoogleChris 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
2022-10-2050 minMakers.dev91 Unexpected Google ads resultsChristian 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 Buildi...
2022-10-1352 minMakers.dev90 100% user growth and profitableChris 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 WeRateDo...
2022-10-061h 10Makers.dev89 Winning $5000Chris 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
2022-09-291h 09Makers.dev88 10,000 Downloads + end-to-end testingWe'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...
2022-09-2256 minMakers.dev87 Christian comes to IndyChristian 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
2022-09-1323 minMakers.dev86 First paying customerChristian 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 got married! 47:15 2nd customer migrated for fileinbox 51:43 Next marketing channel for fileinbox 56:22 Youtube as a search platform 59:57 TikTok for B2B saas? 01:05:36 Smartwatch for kids Timestamps created with https://clips.marketing by @cgenco undefined
2022-09-081h 07Makers.dev85 Is DALLE going to take over art? + Business taxesChristian 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
2022-08-2644 minMakers.dev84 What do you use for analytics?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
2022-08-2257 minMakers.dev83 Christian loves TDD nowAcornChat 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
2022-08-0554 minMakers.dev82 Face on a billboardChris 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
2022-07-2953 minMakers.dev81 Tired of CodingChris is tired of coding. Christian has too many ideas and should focus on SEO. 00:00 Intro 03:53 AcornChat on Slack App Store 06:01 Developer advocate 11:42 Grass is greener 17:38 Three years 21:07 Controversial figures 25:07 Don't break the chain 27:03 Josh Kaufman's personal master plan 30:17 Therapy is great 30:42 SEO 39:44 Sending large files: Hot take 51:20 Rails vs serverless 53:53 Increase revenue Timestamps created with https://clips.marketing by @cgenco
2022-07-2255 minMakers.dev80 5 Marketing Hot Takes for FileInboxChristian has been reading the book "Traction" by Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares and has 5 marketing hot take ideas that he wants feedback on. 00:00 Intro 03:33 Kaggle updates 07:58 AcornChat resubmitted 09:54 Cold call update 12:33 Traction book about marketing 17:56 Marketing hot take #1: Blogs 26:16 #2: Publicity 33:46 #3: Unconventional publicity 41:08 #3a: Live video feed of Christian 43:28 Intermission 45:59 #3b: How Jason Bourne would send files 51:12 #4: Search engine marketing 55:19 #5: Social and display ads 01:03:37 AcornChat in the Slack App Store! Timestamps created with https://clips.marketing by @cgenco
2022-07-151h 05Makers.dev78 Ways to organize and live your lifeChristian went to Greece and got a new perspective on how he could be living. Chris resubmitted AcornChat to the Slack app store and finished up a Kaggle competition. 00:00 Intro 03:17 AcornChat submitted to the Slack app store 06:40 Kaggle Patent competition 16:51 Reinforcement learning 21:06 Covid (again) 25:40 Building a Second Brain 38:05 On Looking 47:14 FileInbox cold calling 53:24 Consulting update 56:26 Switching to iOS Timestamps created with https://clips.marketing by @cgenco Book recommendations: Building a Second Brain by Tiago Forte On Looking by Alexandra Horowitz
2022-06-301h 02Makers.dev77 Cold calling is spookyChris wants to spend a bunch of money. Christian got advice to do some cold calling, but it sounds spooky 👻. plus 2 bonus hot takes 00:00 Intro 01:30 3d printer, camera and gpus 06:52 Kaggle update 15:49 Slack app update 17:52 Advanced Operating Systems 21:28 Rust 23:30 Personal productivity 25:30 FileInbox update 28:09 TDD 33:21 Firebase security rules 38:26 Spooky recommendation to increase MRR 43:16 100 paperclips 52:13 Hot take 1: Finance tracker (again but different) 59:02 Hot take 2: NFT project Timestamps created with https://clips.marketing by @cgenco
2022-06-091h 06Makers.dev76 $20k MRR in 12 months (also Christian gets engaged 💍🥳)Chris is prepping for an AI for JS devs course. Christian gets engaged! Also, he wants to get to $20k MRR in 12 months, so we talk about how that would be possible. 00:00 Intro 01:28 AI for JS devs course 19:33 Too many Kaggle competitions 26:00 Christian gets engaged!!! 31:19 Parable of the pottery class 39:25 $20k MRR in 12 months 44:04 Do you really want that? 46:42 Is it better for customers? 50:08 Chris is mean and hypocritical 51:32 Personal life is all over the place Timestamps created with https://clips.marketing by @cgenco
2022-06-0357 minMakers.dev75 What sells wellChristian makes an easy way to send email templates from FileInbox. Chris got a response from the Slack App Store, and is wasted a bunch of time on an ML bug. 00:00 Intro 02:47 Chris's week 04:21 Slack app store 11:18 Working on things that don't go anywhere 16:36 Christian did a bunch of stuff 21:31 Fileinbox email system 24:03 What sells well 28:57 ffmpeg 32:18 Free Fileinbox for marketing? 37:40 3D printing bezier curves 45:24 Tick Tock development (again) 51:44 Just do stuff (again) 53:32 Tinnitus 57:59 How to read a paper Timestamps created with https://clips.marketing by...
2022-05-2659 minMakers.dev74 Getting started is the hardest partChris is in 3 different AI competitions (anyone want to know how GPS works?) and Christian was gone and describes how it feels to get back to work. He's also selling a paramotor, so hopefully that goes well 😆 00:00 Intro 01:07 Life and death reflections 07:00 Give yourself some leeway 12:10 Work is hard until it's easy 16:00 Kaggle competitions 18:17 Objective measures of learning 27:39 Christian wants Black Mirror 🤨 29:24 Different types of AI problems 31:15 How GPS works 41:46 Patent competition (NLP) 44:57 Bird Call competition (audio) 49:26 Slack app store 49:53 MarketingChangelog.com 53:14 Christian's week 54:53 Getting started is...
2022-05-191h 01Makers.dev73 SaaS math is bananasChris was on a trip, and Christian fell off the co-working wagon. Also, focus on authenticity (on YouTube, but everywhere too) 00:00 Intro 04:06 Tests 08:57 Having a beginner's mind 10:32 Fileinbox bugs 16:21 Consulting 18:52 SaaS math is bananas 23:50 Talking to customers 24:31 Focus is fickle 27:20 Makers.dev early episodes 34:54 Youtube as a reliable source of information 36:17 Prioritize authenticity 50:18 Attaboy 54:13 Hot Take #1: personal private podcast host 56:49 Hot Take #2: ffmpeg as a service (again) 01:02:21 How to start working with other people Timestamps created with https://clips.marketing by @cgenco undefined
2022-05-121h 07Makers.dev72 Weeding and contract jobsChris created his buyer's guide for acornchat. Christian gets another contracting job and wonders how to leverage that or if he should try to get more similar contracts. 00:00 Intro 00:50 SaaS buyer's guide 11:20 Look at all these salad dressings! 14:00 Machine learning theory and math 19:01 Fileinbox updates 24:37 Errands and engagement rings 32:09 Face follower contracting job 39:16 Making an automated Fiverr service 42:58 Modularizing code Timestamps created with https://clips.marketing by @cgenco
2022-05-0648 minMakers.dev71 $183.60 per hourChristian calculates his consulting rate per hour. Chris soft launched saastips.com and was immediately overwhelmed by email bot signups. After fixing that problem, it led to three new SaaS ideas. 00:00 Intro 02:57 Launching saastips.com 12:25 Fixing fake bot email signups 18:54 Hot take #1: email signup saas 23:55 Hot take #1.5: better newsletter sending UI 32:29 Hot take #2: Marketing Changelog 39:11 $183.60 per hour 51:45 Back to SaaS 57:14 Hot take #3: Face follower Timestamps created with https://clips.marketing by @cgenco
2022-05-031h 05Makers.dev68 Close to feature completeChris almost has Acorn Chat feature complete and ready to submit to the Slack app store. Christian is getting close to finishing the serverless FileInbox v1. Also we talk about RSI and using voice commands as a potential way to limit injury.
00:00 Intro
00:37 Expectation maximization
06:06 Acorn Chat
09:10 Screenshots and video marketing
12:55 Simple can be a differentiating factor
17:50 New Kaggle competition - are patents good or bad?
28:21 AI can be both good and bad
31:48 All the Music
33:49 The Gap
35:48 FileInbox recording, uploading, and downloading
41:25 RSI...
2022-04-081h 00Makers.dev67 Doing work for friends: paid or free?Chris is almost ready to submit his Slack app to the Slack app directory. Christian tries to figure out how to charge for work he wants to do for a friend. Christian also has ideas about home automation. 00:00 Intro 01:08 Kaggle essay competition 08:16 Building a Slack app 09:32 The amount of time things take to get done 17:09 Administrative poms 20:12 Home automation 37:50 Doing work for friends: paid or free? 52:48 Fileinbox update 55:36 Naming things is hard Timestamps created with https://clips.marketing by @cgenco
2022-03-311h 00
Makers.dev66 Why developers are bad at marketingMeetingPlace is sold, so Chris is working on his next SaaS. Christian keeps getting stuff done on FileInbox, and wonders when he can actually fly with his paramotor.
00:00 Intro
02:28 Microaquired
09:29 SaaS feelings
13:23 Why developers are bad at marketing
16:31 What is the core functionality?
17:58 AcornChat development roadmap
22:31 Kaggle update
28:50 Getting work done one step at a time
44:42 Hobbies
Timestamps created with https://clips.marketing by @cgenco
2022-03-3053 minMakers.dev66 Why developers are bad at marketingMeetingPlace is sold, so Chris is working on his next SaaS. Christian keeps getting stuff done on FileInbox, and wonders when he can actually fly with his paramotor.
00:00 Intro
02:28 Microaquired
09:29 SaaS feelings
13:23 Why developers are bad at marketing
16:31 What is the core functionality?
17:58 AcornChat development roadmap
22:31 Kaggle update
28:50 Getting work done one step at a time
44:42 Hobbies
Timestamps created with https://clips.marketing by @cgenco
2022-03-2453 minMakers.dev65 Selling MeetingPlace Part 2Chris finalizes the sale of MeetingPlace. Christian worries that he's getting too productive.
00:00 Intro
01:03 Completing the sale of MeetingPlace
11:33 Should Christian sell something?
15:01 Data science
16:14 Coworking progress
21:30 Open vs closed mode of working
32:09 Admin work
38:49 Three Body Problem
40:29 Paramotor Adventure
Timestamps created with https://clips.marketing by @cgenco
2022-03-1742 minMakers.dev64 Selling a SaaSChris sells a SaaS! Christian tries to figure out what makes him productive. [Sorry for the audio quality! - it gets better next week]
00:07 Slava Ukraini
03:31 Selling MeetingPlace
08:43 Advice for selling a SaaS
11:21 Strategy to build apps just to sell
13:53 Motivation to sell
16:15 SaaS valuation calculations
20:30 Data competitions
22:51 Accountability buddy effectiveness
27:03 Time estimates are hard
30:41 Another app idea
33:05 So easily tricked
34:16 Open vs Closed mode
36:58 Goals for the next week
41:26 Administrative stuff
45:18 Talking openly about work issues
48:24 Audio quality
2022-03-1050 minMakers.dev62 Have you ever made a french fry?Chris has to relearn a bunch of math and tries to figure out how to teach it as well. Christian has a new way to try to get things done by delaying work on his fun projects.
00:00 Intro
03:08 ML Math
08:16 Teaching as you're learning
17:57 Games that you can't lose
22:08 Anki flashcards app
31:55 New tactic to get things done
36:04 Making clear priorities for Christian's assistant
40:18 Have you ever made a french fry?
45:11 Tesla roadtrip
50:53 Paramotoring
57:08 FSD Beta 10
Timestamps created with https://clips.marketing...
2022-02-241h 02Makers.dev61 Like a BossChris tries to figure out how to learn the math he needs for ML by teaching it. Christian buys a new domain name, then works on another project for 16 hours and tries to figure out how to deliver it.
00:00 Intro
03:38 Benefits of taking a break
08:28 How to teach math?
12:52 Am I a web dev or actually shifting to AI?
14:07 Snow water equivalent competition
19:23 Doge wordle
26:50 Feeling like a BOSS
34:45 Nerdle solver
38:31 Magic robot arm
43:10 Some people are controversial
52:17 Don't make work for other people
2022-02-1859 minMakers.dev60 Having a Really Productive WeekChristian had a really productive week and would like to figure out how to have more weeks like that. Chris is doing well in a Kaggle competition and had to learn a bunch of math for ML this week.
00:00 Intro
02:11 ML math is like coding
08:45 How Kaggle promotes code and idea sharing
18:12 Balancing family life and work
27:20 Christian's super productive week
33:04 Stripe extension vs coding your own
35:36 How to handle feature flags
37:20 What can an executive assistant do?
43:10 Attaboy
49:07 Making SaaS videos (as a service?)
2022-02-1056 minMakers.dev59 Baby's First EmployeeChristian's executive assistant experiment is going great. Chris has to learn a lot more math to do his ML class. Christian has great LEGO aspirations.
00:00 Intro
00:42 LaTeX
06:44 How to learn by teaching
13:28 ML for essay classification
19:39 Folding data into bins
25:22 Christian's executive assistant is great
38:13 FileInbox Stripe integration
46:33 Harry Potter LEGO
Timestamps created with https://clips.marketing by @cgenco
Correction: 59 is prime 😆
2022-02-0255 minMakers.dev58 Christian gets an Executive AssistantChristian finally gets an executive assistant! Chris finishes the pet kaggle competition and prepares to start the next semester of his masters program.
00:00 Intro
02:47 Chris cleans up
07:13 Adam Savage's rules for putting things away
13:16 Kaggle top 6%
18:34 Overcoming futile feelings
21:08 Public and private leader boards are different
27:13 Crypto trading is still gambling
28:46 AcornChat Slack App Store
30:48 Morning pages
34:33 Executive assistant for Christian
41:44 Stripe integration with Firebase
43:40 Whole house humidifier
46:31 Dude, where's my heart?
Timestamps created with https://clips.marketing by @cgenco
2022-01-2654 minMakers.dev57 Productive ProcrastinationCan we only get a lot accomplished if we have something more important to do that we are ignoring? Both Chris and Christian had productive weeks, but only by ignoring other things that we were supposed to do...
00:00 Intro
01:07 Getting stuck on features
07:25 Why features feel good
10:03 Next steps for AcornChat
11:04 Frustrated at Kaggle competition
17:21 Difference between cats and dogs
18:13 Applying AI to business
21:09 MeetingPlace features
22:18 Best way to do HTML embedding
23:15 Productive procrastination
24:21 Wordle solver
29:59 Getting things done only if you have...
2022-01-1955 minMakers.dev56 Dude, where's my laptop?Chris re-learns that to go fast you have to slow down. Christian rediscovers who his best customers are and tries to focus on getting more like them. Then he tries to sell a laptop...
00:00 Intro
00:27 Chris did nothing
01:26 Go slow to go fast
05:55 Software is magic
11:04 Dropbox api upgrade
19:01 Won't you be my boss?
31:16 Dude, where's my laptop?
Timestamps created with https://clips.marketing by @cgenco
2022-01-1351 minMakers.dev56 Dude, where's my laptop?Chris re-learns that to go fast you have to slow down. Christian rediscovers who his best customers are and tries to focus on getting more like them. Then he tries to sell a laptop...
00:00 Intro
00:27 Chris did nothing
01:26 Go slow to go fast
05:55 Software is magic
11:04 Dropbox api upgrade
19:01 Won't you be my boss?
31:16 Dude, where's my laptop?
Timestamps created with https://clips.marketing by @cgenco
2022-01-1351 minMakers.dev55 Brian Casel - Launching and growing a SaaSWe talk to Brian Casel about launching ZipMessage and growing a SaaS business (vs a productize service). We talk to him about his previous business successes, how he got started programming, and how he's thinking about growing ZipMessage.
00:00 Intro
01:08 Brian's backstory
05:35 Scaling by hiring more people
09:40 ZipMessage
12:22 Audience Ops
13:14 Move towards software businesses
18:14 Christian's backstory
20:42 Chris's backstory
21:38 Tech stack: Rails vs React vs Laravel
28:24 ZipMessage company structure
30:26 Business structure: selling just part of an LLC
33:13 What to spending money on
38:18 Freemium
42:44...
2022-01-0755 minMakers.dev53 Is Ruby on Rails still good for SaaS?SaaS is complicated... Christian has FileInbox go down and has to figure out what that means. Chris works on his final lab and runs into issues. Also: what would you do if your car got stolen?
00:00 Intro
00:46 SuperTuxKart AI
13:05 Acorn Chat
17:47 FileInbox was Down!
21:06 SaaS is... complicated
28:25 Programming languages for SaaS
32:49 Dude Where's my Car?
43:28 How to deal with a car thief?
48:54 Health issues are like cold taffy
Timestamps created with https://clips.marketing by @cgenco
2021-12-2952 minMakers.dev52 Digital products are nice - the physical world is hardChris finished his final lab using MPI (used in supercomputers). Christian tries to get his car back, and then we both ask: do you have to be kind of a terrible person to be a billionaire? 00:00 Intro 01:47 MPI to solve the n-body problem 12:40 Dude where's my car? 17:02 Spending money to make money is hard 21:25 Road trip in a Tesla 30:11 The relaxed pace of Barbados 33:54 Steve Jobs was kind of a terrible person Timestamps created with https://clips.marketing by @cgenco Brains: Talking Money with Anthony Pompliano and Sam Parr: https...
2021-12-2540 minMakers.dev51 Is Youtube helpful or harmful?Chris builds an AI to play virtual go kart icy hockey. Christian wants to track his mood and talk to customers.00:00 Intro01:29 SuperTuxKart AI Control13:51 Kittens idle game20:06 Kaggle Superpermutations27:22 Youtube good? Youtube bad?34:50 The formula for retention36:45 Christian's projects41:10 Mood tracking46:40 Theranos51:23 Deploy Empathy54:47 Talking to customersTimestamps created with https://clips.marketing by @cgenco
2021-12-2557 minMakers.dev50 Deploying EmpathyThis was supposed to be an interview with Michele Hansen, co-founder of Geocodio and author of "Deploy Empathy", but due to interview issues that part was lost :(. Instead, Chris and Christian talk about the book and do a customer interview exercise from it - which worked way better than either of us thought it was!
00:00 Intro
01:24 Don't just ask what people want
05:10 You have to be bad before you're good
07:11 Customer interview exercise
08:31 Q1 Can you tell me about a product you bought recently?
11:02 Q2 Where were you when...
2021-12-0532 minMakers.dev49 Strongly Typed Languages and Talking to CustomersChris has been learning Rust and has thoughts about strongly typed languages. Christian has been building "Treebooks" - a new way to read ebooks - and is wondering how to get customers and authors onto this new format. Also and update about Christian's passive income experiment of renting out his card
00:00 Intro
01:36 Chris's update
03:21 What has Chris's GPU been doing?
06:53 Does GPU mining of cryptocurrencies make sense?
12:08 Rust and strongly typed languages
19:08 Deploy Empathy book
24:51 Treebooks - a different way of reading books
37:43 How to get customers...
2021-11-261h 00Makers.dev48 What is the Metaverse?Chris is learning Rust for his next lab. Christian has been renting out his old car to someone who uses it to drive for Uber, and it makes us think about wealth inequality. Also: what actually is the metaverse?
00:00 Intro
01:33 Rust
05:28 Process for learning a new language
09:37 Worrying about memory size and resources
14:43 Custom designed silicon chips
19:34 Low level vs high level programming
20:43 Buying vs making wizard wands
26:25 Aliexpress
31:07 What is the Metaverse?
39:26 The best tech item to bring back in time
41:57 Renting out...
2021-11-1859 minMakers.dev47 Squid Game on the blockchainChris gets a list of all 160 million registered .com domain names and tries to figure out what to do with them. Christian has been looking into Solidity programming and has some hot take ideas.
00:00 Intro
02:39 All the .com domain names
08:31 Using AI to generate new domain names
16:31 Twitter algorithm
17:39 What type of work do you want to be doing?
26:41 Motivation
28:28 Solidity programming
34:56 Hot take #1: unique blockchain auctions
37:52 Squid Game on the blockchain
42:12 Hot take #2: NFT Secret Santa
45:26 Hot take #3: Dead man's switch on the...
2021-11-1559 minMakers.dev46 The Psychology of Viral ContentWhat makes a tweet thread either go viral or go to zero? Christian talks about his recent tweet thread that didn't get any likes, and Chris talks about some of the ways he's used tweet threads in the past. Also: is twitter really the best medium for what we want to share anyway?
00:00 Intro
00:27 Diminishing returns and catching little bugs
05:43 The Go programming language
10:09 Deleting youtube and twitter experiment
22:26 The feeling of flow
26:37 Why tweet threads do well or poorly
39:04 Why do people click retweet?
40:49 The importance...
2021-11-0547 minMakers.dev44 Marketing Channel ExperimentsChristian goes through a list of 20 potential marketing channels and we think about ways to make those work for Fileinbox. We also try to figure out what to focus on and how to frame the work we're doing as "experiments": with a hypothesis, success and failure criteria, and a completion timeframe.
00:00 Intro
03:25 Talking to people as an experiment
13:12 How to figure out what to focus on
15:34 Pushing work forward
16:55 Fighting yourself about what to work on
20:41 How to create work experiments
23:08 Tracking time: good or bad?
26:13 What...
2021-10-221h 02Makers.dev42 Working from RomeChristian has an idea for a financial visualization app and we talk about how to market it. Chris has been doing C++ recently, and has just started GPU programming.
00:00 Intro
00:16 What to do with GPT-3?
05:08 C++
07:41 Programming video games
09:38 CUDA GPU programming
13:23 AI loss functions
14:20 How Chris learns new things
15:34 Reading an ebook like a tree
24:43 Releasing an audiobook as a private podcast
25:43 Hot Take: visualizing finances with a treemap
30:11 Business accounting - do we have to itemize expenses?
35:17 Better understanding business expenses
2021-09-3048 minMakers.dev41 Christian is in RomeA short episode this week: Christian is in Europe! He just got access to GPT-3 so he's really itching to play with that. Chris does his first big project for his masters, and is going to Austin in a few weeks.
00:00 Intro
00:51 Christian got access to GPT-3
09:43 C++ threads
15:45 Microconf Local
Timestamps created with https://clips.marketing by @cgenco
2021-09-2318 minMakers.dev40 Is Freemium a Good Idea?Chris explores how a non-fiction writing buddy app might work. Christian ponders if freemium is a good fit for his app or not and talks about progress on his time tracking app.
00:00 Intro
00:25 We made attaboy.ai
01:51 Offline vs online AI
06:41 Deploying web apps with Vercel and Netlify
08:24 Non-fiction writing tools
23:20 Chris starts his masters
24:05 AI generated narratives
31:38 Is freemium a good idea?
43:05 Time tracking project progress
51:22 Talk to your customers
55:04 Holding office hours for customers
Timestamps created with https://clips.marketing...
2021-09-1558 minMakers.dev39 When giving up on a project is actually a good thingChristian gives up on a project and Chris convinces him that it's actually a big win. Chris is about to finish his summer work and start his masters. Also: How much is a SaaS worth? Is $100k too much to pay for a SaaS that only makes $600 per month?
00:00 Intro
01:10 attaboy.ai
04:58 Chris finishes summer work
11:47 0-shot learning
14:18 The logistics of an online masters program
21:28 Wacky AI experiments
24:31 Instagram vs twitter vs tik tok vs youtube
26:58 First paying customer!
28:55 Give up on gmail integration?
29:33 tailwindui
2021-09-021h 05Makers.dev38 Compare yourself to who you were yesterdayWho wants to take bets about when Tesla Bot will be ready? Chris is finishing up his summer consulting project and getting ready to start his CS Masters program. Christian spent 0 hours on fileinbox last week, and instead created a mini web app to show people's "life timelines"... was that time well spent?
00:00 Intro
06:25 Using AI for a large variety of problems
12:54 Tesla bot
18:05 Is Elon Musk a positive or negative role model?
21:46 Singular minded focus
24:39 Chewing glass and staring into the abyss
26:52 Life timeline - Christian's latest...
2021-08-2659 minMakers.dev37 Generative AI as a Business ModelHow do you feel about NFTs? Chris has finished his GPS competition and is now using his fancy GPU to generate AI art. Christian got clips.marketing past his internal goal line! Now he has to figure out the next steps. We also talk about a potential business idea for sharing family photos
00:00 Intro
00:14 Kids back in school
05:35 Chris got 5th place in the GPS competition
10:03 Learning new things: projects vs classes
16:43 Using AI to generate art
17:55 AI art web app hot take
20:57 NFTs
27:03 What would make...
2021-08-191h 10Makers.dev36 Show up every dayHow do you decide what to work on every day when there's no one really telling you what to do? Christian thinks about ways to keep himself on track, and Chris talks about what motivates him to do Kaggle competitions (hint: it's not money).
00:00 Intro
00:58 GPS competition update
06:29 Olympics data scraping
08:41 Chris's summer work with Hidden Door
12:38 How to choose a day/time for different timezones
29:46 Productivity and the most important work you can be doing
35:54 Sometimes you just have to dig the hole
39:31 Show up every...
2021-08-051h 03Makers.dev35 Spending Money to Make Money with SaaSChristian gets back from New York with an unwelcome update, but is plowing ahead by taking care of himself first. Chris has a new contract for the summer - his first AI position! Then we talk about how great SaaS is compared to other assets.
00:00 The Lost Episode
01:51 Health is important - take care of it!
08:22 The most effective productivity hack
10:15 GPS competition update
17:51 Chris's new job! (for 2 months)
22:43 Are educational games always too contrived?
29:22 Christian geeks out about Tesla
34:08 Can cars be assets?
45:58 SaaS is...
2021-08-011h 02Makers.dev34 Planning an AI based text botLearning AI is like learning to program all over again. Christian tries to plan what an AI based text-bot business would look like. Chris talks about an AI coding assistant (we recorded this before GitHub copilot was released :0 ), and we both marvel as self driving cars.
00:00 Intro
03:46 GPS data competition basics
08:04 Time is hard
11:56 GPS data formats
14:45 The AI Hammer
16:43 Christian experiences self driving
18:21 Tensorflow.js
22:42 Prebuilt AI models
25:35 AI business idea progression
35:13 Self driving isn't self driving yet. Why?
38:40 Why isn't Christian's Roomba...
2021-07-121h 00Makers.dev33 Pushing forward when you feel stuckChris gets stuck on his kaggle competition and when trying to figure out how to move forward, started researching how to buy a farm :). Christian asks about how AI works and also talks about how he got ffmpeg working in the cloud.
00:00 Intro
02:20 The ability to take time off
03:48 Pushing forward when you feel stuck
09:46 Exciting work - buying land
16:37 Self driving cars
25:29 How AI works
40:01 What is the difference between AI and ML?
46:04 What is the future of work?
50:47 Robotics is hard
01:01:05 ffmpeg in...
2021-07-051h 05Makers.dev32 To Focus or Not to FocusChristian gets advice about how to focus to make more money... but is that what he wants? We also talk about how to start and maintain programming projects as a solo dev.
00:00 Intro
03:47 Chris's next week
05:20 Learning math for a masters - making a product from it?
10:52 Short form content plays better in today's world
13:56 What kind of assistant aligns with Christian's business goals?
19:34 Focus to make more money?
33:36 Using business skills for personal projects
38:46 How to start a new programming project
48:17 Syncing changes across projects
2021-06-2456 minMakers.dev31 What is your time worth?If you could just spend money to save time - would you do it? Where is that line? Christian explores a personal assistant and Chris finally gets his new computer.
00:00 Intro
00:04 New computer
03:03 Camping and shiny toys
07:12 Freeze dryer
16:13 Exposing yourself to different ideas
17:43 Selling the core thing vs selling an experience
21:07 The value to the customer
25:07 Chris update
27:54 Apple is focused on the story
29:12 Novelty
32:30 Passion
35:36 Christian update
39:33 "Why don't you just..."
42:42 Applying work tools to family projects
47:27 Consumers...
2021-06-171h 01Makers.dev29 B2-ME: Choose to BelieveCompetition isn't bad, it's good! If you target a narrow market and tell your story, then people will buy your product just for that. This week, Christian figures out who to hire first and Chris preps for his CS masters to start.
00:00 Intro
03:13 Podcasts are cool
04:13 Next week: ADHD chat
06:28 Prepping for a CS masters
10:30 Teaching as you learn
16:38 Future Christian tells past Christian who to hire
26:36 Activation energy to hire someone
30:56 Choosing what you spend time on
36:00 Hot take: clips.marketing is B2-me
42:52...
2021-06-0451 minMakers.dev28 Tactics to get work done + is college worth it?Chris has big news about the next few years. Christian thinks about how and who to hire. Also, we talk about ADHD again: how to handle it, and what it means.
00:00 Intro
00:29 Meal prep
03:29 Solving AI problems
08:38 MS CS
10:40 Why get a college degree?
15:28 What makes someone a student?
17:10 Work in Progress update
19:56 Having more capacity to do work
25:48 Live streaming as accountability for work
31:50 ADHD behaviors and tactics
45:35 How to get started in practical AI
47:38 Who and how to hire help
58:44...
2021-05-301h 01Makers.dev27 AI and Negative ExternalitiesChris's Kaggle competition wrapped up and he finished in 5th! Christian goes on a hunt to figure out what is wrong with his parents house, and contemplates what the future of life and business is once an AI is better than humans at most things.
00:00 Intro
02:29 Chris finally bought a computer
12:39 GPT-3 and the future of AI
21:52 Home diagnosis
33:11 How do you curate when there's too much information?
35:28 Dusting tips with Chris and Christian
37:47 Negative externalities
42:05 Makermade CNC
Timestamps created with https://clips.marketing by...
2021-05-2444 minMakers.dev26 Burnout and Meaningful WorkBurnout is sneaky. Chris and Christian talk about what makes work meaningful, and how to find that work. Christian talks about onboarding and how many info products get the checkout flow all wrong. Also, Christian is building a tiny house and is super excited about it.
00:00 Intro
01:29 Burnout
09:22 AI Update
11:10 What makes work exciting?
16:44 Work in progress
18:51 Deep learning machine
21:09 Meaningful work
23:28 COVID
25:17 Tiny houses
29:04 Improving checkout flows and onboarding
33:32 How to transition to serverless
40:58 Should Christian do a kickstarter?
Timestamps...
2021-05-1350 minMakers.dev25 How much is $1,000 MRR worth?How much would you spend to increase your MRR by $1000? Christian thinks he has been thinking about customer acquisition all wrong, and could be spending a lot more to get customers.
00:00 Intro
00:26 Kaggle contest update
06:34 Christian had A WEEK
13:53 Making a super simple info product
21:48 How much is $1000 MRR worth?
26:57 LTV = ARPU / Churn
31:09 Acquiring a small saas or info product
Timestamps created with https://clips.marketing by @cgenco
Profitwell blog: https://www.profitwell.com/recur/all
Microaquire: https://microacquire.com/
2021-05-1036 minMakers.dev24 B2B SaaS or Start a CultChris talks about overfitting to the public leaderboard (on Kaggle and in life), and Christian tries to figure out a direction for two different projects: a hierarchical book reader (or writer?), and his timetracking app: should he go more B2B, or be more like Scott's Cheap Flights or Nomad List?
00:00 Intro
02:48 Overfitting to the public leaderboard
06:48 Different approaches to life, business and problems
11:40 Buying a new computer?
20:04 SaaS Work in Progress and 30x500
23:03 Hot Take: hierarchical book reader
37:29 Hot Take: timetracker: B2B or start a cult?
2021-04-2948 minMakers.dev23 Choosing a direction, growing a twitter audience, and writing about RubyChristian is out this week so Chris is joined by Matt Swanson (https://twitter.com/_swanson). We talk about making decisions about features and user roles in his software consulting role, how he grew a twitter audience to 4,000 and what he learned, and "Boring Rails", his latest project, where he talks about writing software using the tride-and-true "boring" rails stack.
2021-04-2752 minMakers.dev22 Refocusing on SaaSBoth of us refocus on the businesses we had when we started makers.dev, and we become each other's boss again. 00:00 Intro 01:38 Taking breaks is good for work 03:52 Chris's update - AI plus WIP 09:25 Specific marketing next steps 21:39 A tool for finding "watering holes" 23:54 Make specific next steps and cultivate long term habits 31:12 Chris might buy a computer 34:12 The most effective way to allocate money 44:17 Should Christian transition to serverless? 49:44 Making plugins for every site building app 56:20 OneDrive and SharePoint integrations 01:03:58 Want us to "Hot Take" your business idea...
2021-04-161h 04Makers.dev21 Graphics Cards and Hot TakesChris dives deeper into data science and complains that crypto currency miners are buying all the graphics cards. Christian talks about how to decide what to work on, plus has 6 new business ideas to think about.
00:00 Intro
01:11 Chris's projects
03:43 When to buy vs rent (graphics cards and more)
12:34 Trying to rise in a Kaggle competition
16:44 MeetingPlace - what to do next, committing to action
23:55 Mining Ethereum
30:40 Hot take 1: better YouTube suggestions
35:08 *YouTube history tip*
36:34 Hot take 2: solar system Oculus Quest app
39:23 Hot take 3: selling physical...
2021-04-011h 04Makers.dev20 It's never as good as it seems, it's never as bad as it seemsChris enters a Kaggle competition to expand his data science skills, and Christian tries to figure out what to work on and how to prioritize time. We also talk about personality and learning traits, and how we get things done.
00:00 Intro
01:23 Data science update
02:37 Kaggle indoor positioning competition
11:51 How Chris dives into learning a new topic
14:18 Balancing short term vs long term
17:02 ADHD styles of getting things done
22:53 Studying personality
27:06 Christian defeats email mountain
32:47 It's never as good as it seems, it's never as bad as...
2021-03-261h 01Makers.dev19 Living in the FutureChris talks about learning more AI and ML, and how learning that is helping as he teaches others. Christian is about to get a new 3D printer, and talks about how it's so cool that we can just download and print real things - we're living in the future.
00:00 Intro
02:15 Doing things under your own name vs a new domain name
07:18 Learning new things makes you a better educator
09:27 Consuming the content you create is important in business
14:33 Penny wise and pound foolish
19:11 Paying money for human experts to...
2021-03-1858 minMakers.dev18 Leaky abstractions, ML, and email mountain"Christian just do your emails"
00:00 Plumbing problems
01:31 When do you outsource vs. do it yourself?
13:18 Chris's AI research
17:38 Overview of Machine Learning
22:24 PyTorch vs. TensorFlow
26:02 Python, Javascript, and Ruby
29:41 Slogging through email
33:34 Email systems
40:43 Bookmark bankruptcy
41:44 Zettelkasten Google Search browser plugin HOT TAKE
44:34 Just do your emails Christian
Timestamps created with https://clips.marketing by @cgenco
9️⃣MNIST number dataset AI practice: https://twitter.com/chrisachard/status/1369313924970143749
🌊TensorFlow: https://www.tensorflow.org/
🔥PyTorch: https://pytorch.org/
🏃🏻fast.ai: https://www.fast...
2021-03-1050 minMakers.dev17 Doings things you shouldn't doApparently makers.dev is now the #1 Entrepreneurship podcast in Albania
00:00 Intro
01:45 2^4 episodes and the #1 Albanian Entrepreneurship Podcast
04:00 Chris's GAN AI research
09:32 How hard is it to make a GAN?
14:56 Feeling like you should be working on something else
21:31 EMAIL
24:56 Building a book reader in public
28:47 Orders of magnitude of views vs. engagement
31:12 Letting projects incubate
36:28 Boutique paper scanning business idea #HOTTAKES
41:40 Google lockout insurance #HOTTAKES
45:57 Chrome Extensions, npm, and other dangerous ecosystems #HOTTAKES
56:59 Christian spends several minutes reinventing Squarespace
01:08:04 gen.co...
2021-03-031h 09Makers.dev13 Converging styles, products over blog posts, clips.marketing next steps00:00 Christian and Chris are converging 00:40 Maker.dev interactions on twitter 01:47 Audio quality is bad and it's not the microphone's fault 04:56 Chris's talking head videos 08:46 Why is Facebook's moneymaker backend so bad? 15:01 What's the plan for clips.marketing? 20:52 Build your audience first (unless you can build really quickly and cheaply) 26:16 Manually onboard to make sure you talk to customers 28:24 Talk to dirty messy humans about their FeElInGs 30:48 Clips.marketing as a productized service? 37:22 Christian's next week 39:36 Chris's next week Timestamps created with https://clips.marketing by @cgenco
2021-01-2743 minMakers.dev12 Problems in search of an audience, Stripe Checkout, and hypocritical gear upgradesApparently "worse is better" is how you get Christian to buy things.
00:00 Intro
00:23 Seeing the zoo through a child's eyes
02:56 Kids are like startups
05:27 Stripe Checkout
13:53 Microphone upgrades
17:52 Camera upgrades
21:54 Aspirational purchases
22:31 How would you live differently with more money?
28:25 A programmable phone in search of a problem and audience
34:40 Next week's plans
Timestamps created with https://clips.marketing by @cgenco
💳 Stripe Checkout: https://stripe.com/payments/checkout
🎙 Shure SM7B with cloud lifter: https://amzn.to/3p4y9z1
📷...
2021-01-2038 minMakers.dev11 Worse is better, done is better than perfect, make cupcakesIt's usually better to just get something done and out there rather than obsess over every little detail. Christian also figures out a better way to handle customer support emails.
2021-01-1757 minMakers.dev10 WebRTC, CamHead.app, and pandemic advantages00:00 10 episodes!00:34 Listener shoutouts02:59 Pumping your voice into someone else's ears05:38 Converting internet numbers to real numbers06:40 "Slack is down, use async!"08:04 Meeting Place, Async.dev, and WebRTC update09:59 How does WebRTC work?14:59 Twilio's TURN at $0.40/GB vs. $0.01/GB16:09 Business WebRTC bandwidth costs18:49 STUN servers20:09 Anyone could build AT&T from their bedroom!20:43 Integrating audio chatting in Async.dev/Meeting Place22:47 Chris's pandemic advantage over Meetup.com27:32 Future plans for Async.dev and Meeting...
2021-01-061h 00Makers.dev09 big news from Chris, CamHead.app and Clips.Marketing, and a Christmas IglooAlternate title: doing everything right and seeing what happens00:00 Intro00:34 CHRISTIAN'S CHRISTMAS IGLOO04:02 Chris's soundproofed office05:14 Chris's co-founder breakup08:53 Why not swing for the fences instead of bootstrapping?09:55 Optimizing for flexibility11:06 How do kids change business priorities?12:46 Consulting vs. full-time for Riverside15:44 Chris's upcoming consulting info-product17:59 Manifesting consulting with The Secret 19:56 Chris's Christmas thinkin' about the future of async.dev and meeting place23:43 Slack hate is a great opportunity28:46 Niching down Meeting Place t...
2020-12-2953 minMakers.dev08 What do you want to win by doing?00:00 Hello!00:31 How do you take vacations as a bootstrapper?03:58 Brain dumping04:51 How is work is more fun than skiing or ziplining?07:44 Morning Pages from The Artist's Way08:08 How do you balance vacations and family with work?10:13 Needing meaningful work10:50 YouTube to Transistor script for makers.dev13:57 Dogfooding async.dev for makers.dev15:53 Websocks in Rails18:33 Doing art for art's sake vs. making art for a market24:19 What do you want to win by doing?27:52 Christian's...
2020-12-2144 minMakers.dev07 Optimize for learning - just do a lot0:00 Drywall is like business1:24 Just doing the work is more important than tips and hacks6:00 Christian's robot video editor11:34 The dream podcasting workflow17:40 Automatic YouTube to Transistor.fm flow19:20 Makers.dev vs. BusinessMan.Business work22:58 MeetingPlace update24:13 Dogfooding Async.dev instead of Slack27:20 How do you decide what to work on next?36:45 Setting immutable biweekly or monthly goals38:50 Enjoying the work vs. growing the business41:48 Fileinbox Sign Printer Interviews46:12 Customer chats are more enjoyable, less...
2020-12-1358 minMakers.dev05 doing everything wrong and seeing where it goes0:00 Intro3:51 Spending money to make more money5:47 Imposter syndrome in charging more8:05 Micropreneurs vs. YouTubers13:00 Marketing without feeling slimy14:45 Doing everything wrong and seeing where it goes17:00 Chris's MeetingPlace and Async.dev update21:50 Tick Tock Development24:56 Chris's Goals for next week27:03 Christian's Fileinbox update and goals33:16 How do you know which features to build?34:37 Customer workflows show you adjacent problems36:00 Tick tock audience research37:00 Pivoting39:12 Makers.dev is super useful for us40:03 Repurposing interview content?42:49 Skyscraper posts
2020-11-2944 minMakers.dev04 async.dev, Atomic Habits goal improvements, interviewing customers, and knowing your audienceAlternate title: Christian's smelly mouth holes
2020-11-2045 minMakers.dev03 Overcoming ProcrastinationWhile talking about weekly goals, Chris and Christian talk about the feeling of procrastination and how to overcome it.
2020-11-1335 minMakers.dev02 Talking to customers, textbooksplease.com, and code is magicTalking to customers is important! Chris talks to potential business customers for meetingplace.io, and Christian gets ready to convert fileinbox to serverless before he turns on more marketing.
2020-11-0534 minMakers.dev01 Let's start a podcastChris and Christian introduce themselves and figure out what this podcast is going to be about.
2020-10-2937 min
Your ThoughtsWould you rather have sticky hands for the rest of your life or lose all your money?On today's episode of Your Thoughts, you think about the answer to the question: Would you rather have sticky hands for the rest of your life or lose all your money? from your regular host Christian GencoToday's episode is sponsored by Bulogi sauce. To learn more, visit an Asian grocery store near youTo share what you thought on today's episode or to send in a suggested prompt, visit YourThoughts.fm.
2020-04-0202 minYour ThoughtsHow did you sleep last night?On today's episode of Your Thoughts, you think about the answer to the question: How did you sleep last night?Today's episode is sponsored by the Dreem 2 Headband. To learn more, google "dreem headband" and use code GENCO for 10% off.To share what you thought on today's episode or to send in a suggested prompt, visit https://yourthoughts.fm
2020-02-0402 min