Shows
The Art of Product184: Delete Your Backlog?Ben and Derrick have been recharging with some vacation time the last few weeks. Ben is excited to onboard his new sales hire. Derrick shipped a Fastmail calendar integration and released a Zapier integration. The guys discuss the merits of having and tending to a backlog.
Derrick could use your help getting to 50 active Zapier integrations! Create a Zap here2021-08-2547 minThe Art of Product125: Keeping Things in PerspectiveBen and Derrick are doing their best to focus right now with so much going on in the world. Ben is spending less time on Twitter these days. Derrick is working on hedging his opportunity bets by doing jobs-to-be-done interviews in the scheduling space.2020-03-2626 minThe Art of Product124: Back After A BreakSuntans and sunburns aside, Derrick’s winter escape to Mexico provided meaningful ideas and perspective on StaticKit. By reading, Competing Against Luck, Derrick’s goal is to be innovative and gain traction in product/market fit by asking customers the right questions and identifying jobs to be done.
Ben recommends reading, Schlep Blindness by Paul Graham. It describes how startup ideas remain a painful process instead of a phenomenon. Also, Ben announced that Tuple wants to hire a part-time remote developer with Mac iOS and C++ experience. Recently, Ben realized that writing is better than talking when it c...2020-03-1941 minThe Art of Product123: Customer Service as a Competitive AdvantageBen put big and new priorities to the side to cover support for Tuple. By doing so, he discovered different opportunities to reduce the number of support requests received. It’s challenging to work on the right things in a smart order.
Derrick knows how support is one of the best ways to identify pain points with your product. He describes how founders often follow their passion instead of their priorities. With StaticKit, Derrick is expanding his focus to align tools that he’s building to meet niche market demand. However, less is more when it comes to o...2020-02-2734 minThe Art of Product121: Futureproofing Your BusinessBen never wants to stop working on his startup company, Tuple. Despite some stress, it’s successful and satisfying. However, team members may be added to take over some of Ben’s responsibilities. Based on the book, The Great CEO Within, Ben continues to provide feedback and to document standard operating procedures, policies, and other information to handle the challenge of knowledge management.
Derrick emphasizes the importance of documentation, support, and smooth transitions. You don’t know what other people don’t know. Derrick wants to be doing what he’s doing with his startup, StaticKit, but is feeling...2020-02-1330 minThe Art of Product119: Undoing a Twitter AddictionIf you’re spending too much time on Twitter, Ben shares some helpful advice. Fully lock and block it by setting parental controls and content restrictions. While attending Big Snow Tiny Conf, Ben’s awareness of his Twitter addiction could no longer be denied. He successfully resisted being lured back into the app. Also, Tuple launched its Apple Pro Display XDR stand giveaway. So far, a sense of humor has generated a positive brand impression and collected more than 900 email addresses.
Derrick describes how StaticKit started as a form provider for static sites, but he continues to buil...2020-01-3028 minThe Art of Product118: Reliability and MinimalismBen’s back from Tuple’s ski trip retreat, where survey responses were reviewed for strategic planning purposes. Turns out that those who value pair programming actively use Tuple. What’s Tuple doing well? Latency and low friction. What can be added, changed, or improved? Free text, and make the basics a bit more stable and reliable. Ben knows it’s expensive and annoying to run tests all the time, but it’s also possible to mess something up that’s good.
From building Level, Derrick understands how minor deviations to features can become major annoyances for customers. H...2020-01-1633 minThe Art of Product117: Our 2020 RoadmapNew Year’s Resolutions? Ben’s goal is to drink less coffee and get a survey out to Tuple customers. What do they want in the future for Tuple features? Are people using Tuple for reasons other than original core assumptions? Ben is looking forward to collecting customer insights to determine if they are on the same product development roadmap.
Derrick came up with trends, themes, and habits that he hopes to cultivate and aspire to in 2020. He wants to exhibit intentionality with how he spends his time and not be a slave to Slack, Twitter, and othe...2020-01-0934 minThe Art of Product116: Should We Be Setting Annual Goals?In the last episode of 2019, Derrick and Ben focus on reflections and projections. Should they set goals for the coming year when it comes to Tuple and StaticKit? After all, nobody can predict the future, and hard work doesn’t always lead to perfect products and startups. But it’s been an amazing year for Tuple, which went from zero to hundreds of customers. What’s next? Adding cross-platform operating systems and going with freemium pricing model? Always looking ahead, how good are Tuple founders at predicting the future? Time will tell, once they receive their delay emails.
Derr...2019-12-2627 minThe Art of Product115: Debunking the Arrival FallacyBen has turned out to be a terrific tweeter about Tuple on Twitter. So far, more than 750k impressions have been made regarding his post about the enterprise sales process. He also shared that Tuple’s scaling issues appear to be resolved and fixed. He gave a shout out to the team at You Need A Budget (YNAB) for consistent and concise support. Plus, Ben has started using Anki flashcards to spark his memory and recall names via mnemonics.
Derrick reminds us that the last ‘S’ in SaaS is service. He describes how to prevent and combat arriva...2019-12-1923 minThe Art of Product114: Building Today For Tomorrow's GrowthBen describes how a recent Tuple tweet led to thousands of impressions and mentions, as well as possibly increased free trial sign-ups. Ben is experiencing the enterprise sales process where he could make a good deal of money from a large company, if he chooses to meet its numerous demands. Also, Tuple is making progress with scaling challenges by addressing related Heroku and Ruby issues. Tuple’s smallness is a strength!
Derrick’s been working on API design for StaticKit’s payments plug-in, especially to handle European customer authentication regulations that Stripe is moving toward. However, complex and fl...2019-12-1227 minThe Art of Product113: Rounding out the Product RoadmapDerrick shipped a few things for StaticKit, including Mailchimp and ConvertKit integrations. What’s next? Stripe integration. For now, Derrick is targeting more technical users comfortable with code. At some point, he will involve “no-code” users who can easily drop-in Derrick’s plug-in. He’s done all the hard work for them. Check out new content he created, such as guides and features-specific landing page for opt-in forms.
Ben decided to take some time off and away from Tuple during the Thanksgiving holiday. It’s just one of the lifestyle perks of being part of a startup. Ben finally...2019-12-0529 minThe Art of Product112: The Evolution of Product PositioningBen announced the release of a new version of Tuple. The app includes improvements to its Webcam feature and requires less CPU usage and bandwidth. Also, Ben decided to turn off payment notifications from Stripe. Thankfully, too many emails created too much noise. He understands the value of not sending lots of emails, but the right emails to educate Tuple’s target market. Tuple’s pricing page and corporate swag will be released soon.
As a Superhuman user, Ben offered Derrick advice on implementing it via Chrome or Electron, as well as a setting to remove badges. In a...2019-11-2129 minThe Art of Product111: Continuous Improvement for GrowthDerrick shipped a revamped version of StaticKit’s homepage and plans to add a payments section soon. He’s eager to conduct another round of customer development calls. If you want to chat about your experience with static sites and help shape product direction for StaticKit, schedule a call with Derrick on Calendly.
Ben already utilizes a checkout option for Tuple and shares some of its challenges. Also, Ben announced and shipped the release of a highly requested and expected Tuple feature—ability to start a Tuple session without sharing your screen. Despite Tuple’s burst of free tri...2019-11-1424 minThe Art of Product109: Split Test = OptimizationSome podcasts present terrible sound quality, yet garner tons of listeners. Ben and Derrick are professionals, and care about the sound quality of their AoP podcast episodes.
Despite audio difficulties, Ben and Derrick are back. They sound good, and they’re ready to rock their updates on StaticKit and Tuple!
Today’s Topics Include:
Should you test? Trust weak data? Split-test customer email messaging tools should push you to test as default path
(Not) Steady State of New Trials: Email blast offering free Tuple trial to everybody
Tuple T-shirt Prototype: Take the next step...2019-10-3127 minThe Art of Product108: Getting Back to Growth PlanningDerrick returned from JAMstack Conf with a jolt of energy and excitement thanks to face-to-face conversations and strategic connections with potential StaticKit customers.
Ben expressed interest in once again speaking at developer conferences. After all, he has plenty of worthwhile information and lessons learned to share about Tuple.
Today’s Topics Include:
Frontend and Backend: Considerations for implementation/migration with StaticKit
Main Objective at JAMstack: Market validation, not to make sales to customers
Future Feature: Allows people to configure StaticKit account via config file
Prevent UI Creep and Wall of Fields: Keep it elegant, bu...2019-10-2436 minThe Art of Product107: Becoming a Multi-Product Company (with Amir Salihefendić)Derrick and Ben welcome Amir Salihefendić, founder and CEO of Doist. Ben was able to break away from Slack and uses Doist’s Twist app at Tuple for team communication.
Also, Ben and Derrick share updates and experiences about their businesses that spark familiarity and advice from Amir based on his entrepreneurial adventures.
Today’s Topics Include:
Founder Therapy: Derrick helped talk Ben off the ledge and figure things out with Tuple
Live and Learn: An entrepreneur starting a business is on a psychology rollercoaster
Ben’s path forward to break past lull via positiv...2019-10-1726 minThe Art of Product106: Creating Growth Key MetricsDerrick spent his birthday at the north shore of Lake Superior to disconnect and getaway. Yet, he found some time to brainstorm and problem solve for StaticKit.
Ben’s back from Martha’s Vineyard, only to experience less positive updates for Tuple. For the first time, Tuple is shockingly “in the red” financially. So, he feels guilty about going away.
Today’s Topics Include:
Slow Growth: Substantially fewer Tuple trial signups than previous time periods
Marketing and Sales Strategy: From being the new tool on the block to steady state where Ben has to earn new T...2019-10-1034 minThe Art of Product105: Exploring FreemiumBen is living his best life with walks on the beach and wonderful weather. On the Tuple side, he shipped some code, got a pull request (PR) merged, and is now on the devise authentication gem.
Derrick’s been busy, too. StaticKit’s official integration with ZEIT went live. ZEIT is one of two major hosting providers in the static site ecosystem. Also, an initiative with Zapier is in the works.
Today’s Topics Include:
Derrick did it his way: Integrations can be a powerful marketing channel
Zapier Integration: Derrick’s waiting on approval to be li...2019-10-0324 minThe Art of Product104: Tiny Conferences, and Business Growth ChallengesBen is finding it easier to plan meetings to talk about challenges, and how he appreciates consistency. He describes his recent experiences with NanoConf and TupleConf.
Derrick understands how perspectives shift as a business goes through different stages. Everyone wants financial security, but they always have complicated problems to solve.
Today’s Topics Include:
Mini Mastermind Conferences: Growth Strategy for building rapport and trust while bringing in new people for new perspectives
Lessons Learned: Capture what went well, what should change in the future
TupleConf: Ben, Joel, and Spencer discussed high-level questions and risk of...2019-09-2632 minThe Art of Product103: Code Quality and Balancing TDDBen’s been adding variety to work by biking to breakfast and the beach, while working in-between during his stay on Martha’s Vineyard. He’s feeling lucky to work remotely, and still be able to connect with co-founders!
Derrick enjoys a change of scenery from time-to-time during workdays, especially to kickstart his blood flow during an afternoon lull or breaking point.
Today’s Topics Include:
Writing code is like riding a bike: Tuple moving forward with adding single sign-on
Caring about Code Quality: Ben’s higher level tests prove more valuable, less coupled
Evolut...2019-09-1235 minThe Art of Product102: Single Sign On (SSO) for Tuple?The true life of an entrepreneur! From backgrounds to beards, change is in the air for both Ben and Derrick. Ben is a 36-year-old man who is back living with his parents temporarily to save some cash. Ben considered himself a minimalist, until he realized just how much stuff he had to move. So, he hired movers.
Derrick describes the importance of documenting lessons learned and accumulating knowledge. As a result, he got his first paying customer for StaticKit. A meager $10 in revenue is greater than zero.
Today’s Topics Include:
Tuple: All for On...2019-09-0527 minThe Art of Product101: Mentorship Momentum with Matt Wensing of SimSaaSWhile Ben’s on vacation, Derrick welcomes Matt Wensing, founder of SimSaaS and co-host of the Out of Beta podcast. Matt was also the co-founder and CEO of Stormpulse.
Derrick credits Matt for giving him great advice to make the winding down of Level less daunting. Now, Derrick’s on the upswing of rebuilding his confidence, despite challenging cluster headaches and stress cannibalising productivity.
Today’s Topics Include:
Out of Beta: Matt’s new podcast where he publicly discusses projects and products
Mentorship Momentum: Seek help to sharpen software as a service (SaaS) skills
Matt’s f...2019-08-2932 minThe Art of Product99: The Binge Is Real, Countdown to the 100th EpisodeThere’s no need to ask them who they are, what they do, businesses and products they built because listeners know them through their stories. After a lot of random, but worthwhile conversations, they’re getting good at being podcast co-hosts.
How long does it take to listen to all episodes of Ben and Derrick’s Art of Product (AoP) podcast? Who knew it would be binge-worthy? One more down, one to go before they reach Episode 100!
Today’s Topics Include:
Tuple 1.0: App is available, despite instant self-serve checkout setback
Tuple customers are expanding their us...2019-08-1525 minThe Art of Product98: Adam Covers for DerrickDerrick’s short notice about not co-hosting this episode because of being on a plane, and Ben not knowing or planning what to discuss, who and what’s left?
Updates and reports on Tuple and Tailwind. Welcome back Adam Wathan!
Today’s Topics Include:
Today’s Trend: Advisor/investor/founder journals and reports of accomplishments
Serves as a way to stay in touch, build relationships, ask questions, and get feedback
Three Tuple Reports Later: Things are still going good
Programming meets Business: Gary Bernhardt commits to being future podcast guest
Successful Tuple Shipments: Significant use of W...2019-08-0837 minThe Art of Product97: To Build, or Not to Build - Jane Portman of UserlistWhile Ben’s on vacation, Derrick welcomes another podcast host who can commiserate with him about email automation.
Jane Portman is a UI/UX expert and consultant who hosts the UI Breakfast Podcast and co-founded Userlist.io. She describes what it takes to create a customer messaging tool.
Today’s Topics Include:
Product Priorities: Slow, steady, and quality
Lifestyle Business: Overall goal is to replace consulting with SaaS recurring revenue
Challenges: Limited development time and resources; slow growth rate to adopt mission-critical product
To Build, or Not to Build: Avoid feature creep by focusing on w...2019-08-0128 minThe Art of Product96: Tuple Official Launch and Taking Time to UnplugIs something bugging you? Need to get away from everything? Derrick can’t wait to once again ride rugged waters on Minnesota’s many lakes. Not unlike startups, it isn’t always easy to stay afloat when under pressure.
Heeelllloooo! Are you there? Still interested? Ask and you shall receive. Ben shipped a major feature for Tuple. Drumroll please…video support. I’ll Tuple you!
Today’s Topics Include:
Sensible Deprivation: Some suffering can be good; makes you appreciate things more
Get Over It, and Gain Confidence: Design and develop video support prototype
Official Launch Date...2019-07-2532 minThe Art of Product95: What Really Happened to ScreenheroWhile Derrick is away, Ben welcomes Don Goodman-Wilson, who was the first hire at Screenhero in 2013.
Don shares his version of Screenhero’s incredible journey, its migration to Slack, and Tuple coming to the rescue. Better late than never!
Today’s Topics Include:
Work Ethic/Culture: Doctorate in philosophy requires logic and dedication
Engineering Challenges: Learning low-level C/C++ code in Screenhero product
Microsoft Windows and Apple Mac: Harmonizing code bases
Web Application Programming: User interface (UI), reliability, latency, quality, and billing
Product/Market Fit: Quick growth, adoption, and implementation of Screenhero
Pair Prog...2019-07-1143 minThe Art of Product94: Seeking ClaritySummer is in full swing. Ben spent a fun and productive day talking about work at a Red Sox game. It was an own-your-own business startup moment.
Derrick can see clearly now, thanks to SMILE laser eye surgery. But he’s still seeking clarity on whether to make the masses happy, or stick to core concerns to attract specific customers when creating a new product.
Today’s Topics Include:
Tuple Grows Up: New version of marketing site getting ready to launch
Cha Ching: Confirmation of biggest single Tuple invoice sent for payment
How much wisd...2019-07-0434 minThe Art of Product93: Company of One with Paul JarvisAfter a QuickTime error eradicated Paul Jarvis’s conversation with Ben and Derrick for an Art of Product episode, he’s back with an update on his recently published book, Company of One.
Should Paul strike while the iron is hot? Despite the book’s success and being encouraged to write another one, Paul wants to take a necessary break before proposing a new book idea.
Today’s Topics Include:
Legally Binding Thumbs-up Emoji: How Paul sold rights for book to be in 13 languages
Break between Building: Frustration of figuring things out, replaced with hammock...2019-06-2748 minThe Art of Product92: Slack Leaves the MarketThe world received amazing news in the form of a great gift: Slack is making a major change in the market—it’s leaving!
Ben and Derrick share their thoughts on Slack’s reasonable and rational decision to remove remote control functionality. What happens now? Try Tuple! Just sayin’, actually that’s what Tuple customers are suggesting.
Today’s Topics Include:
Improve Slack Calls: Reason for removing rarely used remote control feature
Kicking marketing machine into gear: Customers’ kind words generated surge in requests for access to Tuple
Slack and Screenhero Saga: Complete story of acquisition...2019-06-2030 minThe Art of Product91: Feeling Superhuman with Rahul VohraDerrick’s feeling “superhuman.” Fortunately, he’s a user and lover of the Superhuman product. Maybe that’s why today’s guest is Rahul Vohra, co-founder and CEO of Superhuman.
Today’s Topics Include:
Reason for Superhuman still being invite-only is not to increase user demand
Sustainable Word-of-Mouth Growth Engine: If you don’t pick the users, you can’t responsibly work on their feedback
Purpose of Product and Target Audience: Email is work, and work is email; designed to be meaningful and life changing for high-volume email senders
Startup Details: Deliberately think through and consider everything deeply...2019-06-1341 minThe Art of Product90: The Mom Test with Rob FitzpatrickBen and Derrick welcome Rob Fitzpatrick, author of The Mom Test: How to talk to customers and learn if your business is a good idea when everyone is lying to you. It’s not your typical non-fiction business book, but short and straight to the point. It should be a mandatory prerequisite for anyone embarking on the startup journey.
Derrick’s Level Retrospective describes how Rob’s book had a major impact on his most recent startup experience. People want to be supportive, so it’s difficult to get unbiased feedback during customer validation. Derrick already knew this to...2019-05-3047 minThe Art of Product89: Go Big, or Stay Small?Ben announced a medium-sized step forward for Tuple. A bug where the video portion would freeze at the start of or during a call was replicated and resolved. It was a double bonus: Fixed the bug and made the Tuple app faster.
Derrick’s contemplative mode continued as he tried to figure out the future of Level. He retreated to think and disconnect. He sought clarity on what to do and is confident that he has made the best decision.
Today’s Topics Include:
Dynamic Duos: Problem solving doesn’t require understanding of programming langua...2019-05-2335 minThe Art of Product88: Will They Make the Jump?Recently, Ben felt gloriously empty and described how nice it was to have nothing going on. In his stomach, that is. He successfully finished a 48-hour fast. It was difficult, but pleasurable. Now, he’s back to craving calories, eating, and work!
Derrick had a challenging week with feelings of uncertainty. He invited more people to try Level, but got similar results. He fears that people may not progress with the product. Will people actually make the jump to Level?
Today’s Topics Include:
April showered Ben with 66 sign ups of paid trials for Tupl...2019-05-0929 minThe Art of Product87: Meta PodcastingBen boldly admitted to doing a “weird” thing. He started listening to “us.” Not necessarily for quality control, but to spark his memory about topics Derrick and he talked about in previous AoP episodes. As a result, Ben’s become addicted to listening to people building companies podcasts. Unfortunately, there’s just not that many of them.
Derrick also admitted to listening regularly to previous AoP episodes. But more so during the early days of the podcast, when he was apprehensive about his own ability on the microphone and wanted to find ways to improve.
Today’s Topi...2019-05-0247 minThe Art of Product86: The Importance of Paying Customers in Product FeedbackBen had another good week. He signed up 25 new trials and about five conversions for Tuple. Are you one of the 500 chosen by Derrick to get access to Level? Be sure to check your Inbox on Monday for an email from him to find out.
Also, Ben and Derrick welcome Adam Wathan as a co-host for this episode. Adam’s working on getting release 1.0 of Tailwind out the door with awesome documentation.
Today’s Topics Include:
Happiness vs. Harassment: Tuple’s paid trial process
Will people pay for Level? Get free feedback first or make t...2019-04-2551 minThe Art of Product85: The Hype Is RealThe hype about Tuple is real! Ben’s been busy adding a bunch of new customers. He’s selling and delivering the dream.
Derrick is back after mentally struggling in the midst of moving, which meant a week of zero productivity on Level. Now, he’s in a better place, mentally and literally.
Today’s Topics Include:
Ludicrous Mode: Full-resolution, uncompressed video stream option added to Tuple
Tuple’s lack of scaling challenges due to peer-to-peer connections
Tuple’s conversion rate for email list
Ben’s “I’m bad at sales” email message and demo video
Things to...2019-04-1833 minThe Art of Product84: Developer Mindset with Brian CaselWho’s the mystery voice that only gets better as you listen to this episode? Actually, you’re probably already familiar with the work of the man behind the microphone.
Derrick is busy moving to a new home, so Ben’s co-host is Brian Casel of BootstrappedWeb, ProcessKit, Audience Ops, and Sunrise KPI.
Today’s Topics Include:
Ben and Brian just got back from MicroConf; it’s an annual gathering of “all our people”
Some talks were among their favorites, but others were mediocre and missed the mark
Brian’s goal was to meet 5-10 new people d...2019-04-1140 minThe Art of Product83: The Biggest Lever to Pull in Your BusinessBen and Derrick are back from MicroConf. There were plenty of solid talks and takeaways to help them think, theorize, and hypothesize about moving forward with their products.
Also, Ben presented two Starter Edition sessions: Q & A with Rob Walling and Idea to Validation to Launch: The First 365 Days of Tuple.
Today’s Topics Include:
Ben stuck to plan of not going to many talks; made connections and socialized
Growth-adjacent trend of not buying tickets to conference, but hanging out with others
Ben crushed it when MCing Starter Edition; being part of conference at or...2019-04-0431 minThe Art of Product82: Idea to Validation to Launch: MicroConf 2019Derrick and Ben have descended upon Las Vegas for MicroConf and an audience hungry for valuable tips on how to successfully start and grow a business.
Ben will have two Starter Edition sessions: Q & A with Rob Walling and Idea to Validation to Launch: The First 365 Days of Tuple.
Today’s Topics Include:
MicroConf Goals: Connect with people, spend quality time with friends; don’t feel guilty or FOMO about not going to all talks
Ben’s seeking a designer to replace super-successful Steve Schoger
Optimism to Realism: Derrick’s shift in mindset about Level at...2019-03-2825 minThe Art of Product81: Sane and Sustainable Growth with Ben Curtis from HoneybadgerDerrick is still traveling. So, Ben’s co-host for this episode is Honeybadger Co-founder Ben Curtis. Honeybadger offers an application health monitoring tool featuring an easy-to-use platform with exception, uptime, and check-in monitoring.
Since its creation about seven years ago, Honeybadger’s three founders - Curtis along with Starr Horne and Joshua Wood - cranked out all the work. However, the company added a marketing person a few months ago and recently hired its first developer.
Today’s Topics Include:
Honeybadger has kept headcount low to optimize profit-per-employee; eventually needed help with marketing and other...2019-03-2541 minThe Art of Product80: Rediscovering Deep WorkDerrick’s been traveling and finding inspiration from re-reading Deep Work, a kind of manifesto of what Level stands for. He’s discovering how to position and market Level, as well as recognize things in his own work patterns that need to change.
Ben’s been feeling anxiety and thinking about Tuple’s broader mission and impact on the world. He believes deep work can be accomplished through the powerful practice of pair programming.
Today’s Topics Include:
Embracing Boredom: Derrick removed Twitter and email client from his phone as dependence on distraction
Recruiting next wave...2019-03-2129 minThe Art of Product79: Moving out of AlphaBen shares that Tuple is now out of alpha and into beta, which is an arbitrary marker of stability and feature ability. The move is working as planned by serving as a way for customers to choose to opt in or out, depending on if they want it now or wait until it’s launched.
Derrick choose to steer away from such labels with Level, but understands they might have been beneficial to clearly denote the product’s progress.
Today’s Topics Include:
Ben’s in onboarding mode with Tuple; spent February selling, people pre-pay...2019-03-1828 minThe Art of Product78: Ultraworking with Sebastian MarshallWe all freak out about things from time to time. Ben becomes neurotic about feedback, but fellow Tuple team members have different triggers that put them into a tailspin. Fortunately, Ben has found ways to better handle stress.
In this episode, Ben and Derrick are joined by Sebastian Marshall, co-founder of Ultraworking. In previous episodes, Ben has mentioned Ultraworking and how he has benefitted from it.
Today’s Topics Include:
Using what he learned about monthly planning from Ultraworking, Ben did March for Tuple
Ben met meditation goal via Ultraworking’s Lights spreadsheet, accountability part...2019-03-1447 minThe Art of Product77: Reset Your PerspectiveBen’s been checking in with Tuple users to find out how things are going. Things aren’t working perfectly with the product. Before this feedback, he was feeling pretty good about things. It’s not the feedback’s fault, but Ben focusing too much on it.
Derrick can empathize with Ben because of his experience with Level. It takes just one negative outcome to have an irrational impact on your mental state. Reset your perspective!
Today’s Topics Include:
Considering additional indicators within Tuple to gain feedback
Ready to buy another seat? Tuple’s first expa...2019-03-071h 00The Art of Product76: The Scotch BudgetDerrick’s been on a startup roller coaster. It’s been one of those weeks for him. So, he’s grateful for Scotch! He just factors it into Level’s budget.
Along the same lines, Tuple bought lunch today for its staff. It feels free, but Ben doesn’t think you can write off such expenses, even if you talk about business between bites.
Today’s Topics Include:
Boring numbers stuff and stress of assembling financials for 2018 taxes
Ben’s goal to meditate every day in February to feel centered in the startup world
Spotify surfac...2019-02-2828 minThe Art of Product75: Lots to Be Grateful ForBen is thankful for Tuple’s success so far. It is helping companies improve efficiency and countries improve the quality of their residents’ lives.
Derrick also expresses gratitude for companies being interested in his product, Level. He is setting up a specific team in Level and addressing concerns to convert them.
Today’s Topics Include:
People want to work at Tuple, and specifically for Ben; it’s flattering, but Tuple is not hiring
Tuple beat out a competitor during a company’s trial use
Tuple will be given to Watsi, a non-profit...2019-02-2135 minThe Art of Product74: The Only Way To LearnDo you lack energy or motivation at work? Ben tried a new service called, Work Gym from Ultraworking. He found it worthwhile and got a lot of work done on Tuple that he had been putting off for quite awhile. Tuple is about to reach a major milestone - recent PR deployments mean no more global list of online users.
Derrick has also been addressing how to set up companies, teams, and individual users interested in trying Level. So, he hasn’t intentionally built any billing model into the backend of Level, yet
Today’s Topi...2019-02-0735 minThe Art of Product73: Helping Early Access Customers Get Value QuicklyBen has been experiencing a mix of emotions. Thanks to Tuple, his calendar is packed, and he’s getting more emails, people, and trials. It feels nuts, but it feels like things are working with the new product. It’s a crazy spot to be in, but it feels good. Every day, Tuple gains a little steam.
Derrick feels the same way. He has started doing onboarding calls for Level. Now that he has done the Level demo a few times, his anxiety has subsided. Overall, people seem impressed with the product and interested in trying it.
2019-01-3140 minThe Art of Product72: How to Know If a Product Is ReadyDerrick set Jan. 21 as the date to start onboarding some pre-order people for Level. He is trying to keep things in perspective when it comes to both positive and negative feedback. So, he is preparing answers to address questions and concerns about the product’s features and functions, or lack of.
Ben’s thirsty for more feedback, customers, and interaction. Fortunately, overall feedback for Tuple has been strongly positively. However, any negativity can be brutal. It’s a mental game. So, he tries to not fear feedback or let it derail progress. Instead, he focuses on celebrating succes...2019-01-2445 minThe Art of Product71: Beyond AlphaBen has been busy. The alpha launch date for Tuple was Jan. 7. He was nervous about it, but so far, it’s going well. One participant said, “I’m sort of surprised you’re calling this an ‘alpha,’ because everything seems to work!” Ben was glad to hear it, but admits that’s not totally true. He’s still far from where he wants to be with Tuple, but is definitely on the right track.
Derrick has been hard at work, too. He continues to develop Level and knows that there will be ups and downs with customers, functio...2019-01-1742 minThe Art of Product70: Refactoring UI: Concept to LaunchIf you listen regularly to the Art of Product podcast, then you’re probably familiar with the ongoing joke: How long does it take before we mention Steve Schoger and Adam Wathan? Well, today is your lucky day because not only do Derrick and Ben mention them, but Adam is once again their special guest.
Adam is a software developer, writer, speaker, and entrepreneur. Also, he is the creator of Nitpick CI, host of the Full Stack Radio podcast, and author of Refactoring UI and Refactoring to Collections. He describes the process of successfully making, promoting, and se...2019-01-101h 15The Art of Product69: Sound, Actionable Advice with Jason CohenDerrick is away, so Ben welcomes Jason Cohen, CTO of WP Engine and four-time entrepreneur. Jason knows a thing or two about startups and mentoring them to achieve profitability and growth.
Jason is a straight talker and tells it like it is to get to solutions sooner. He encourages bootstrap founders to find an advisor who aligns with their goals. You need to know how to take advice and use advice that is right for you and your business. Even if you get great advice, think for yourself!
Today’s Topics Include:
Advice is no...2018-12-271h 10The Art of Product68: Creating Differentiating FeaturesDerrick continues to make progress and work toward his self-imposed deadline for Level. He was able to implement and ship batched notifications for the product, which replaces the instantaneous push notifications you would get from a chat tool. It’ll probably be one of the key features to sell as part of the “Level” way. But he’s wondering how to leverage interesting features in marketing.
Ben has been thinking about the same thing with Tuple. He wants to make some features of his product be a seperate, discrete entity that deserves its own spotlight. Capitalize on features...2018-12-2030 minThe Art of Product67: Refining Level Notifications and Tuple Alpha UsersDerrick had an interesting week with Level. He focused on important features that will be a part of the product, including notifications dependent on team members’ jobs. Some may want more asynchronous and unobtrusive notifications than others. Level distinguishes configurable notifications based on different roles on a team. Notification policies seem simple on the surface, but are actually very complicated.
Ben announced that November was Tuple’s best month ever for marketing! But now, he is approaching the alpha for Tuple and will focus his attention on product management. Ben wants to figure out what works and what...2018-12-1336 minThe Art of Product66: TinySeed Updates with Rob WallingBen and Derrick are joined by Rob Walling to share updates - their favorite part of most podcasts!
It’s been a good week in Tuple marketing land. Thanks to Ben’s tweet announcing the release date for its alpha, his launch list goal was reached. He was surprised by how willing people were to help out when he asked them to do it.
Rob is working on TinySeed, a startup accelerator for bootstrappers.
Derrick provided a pre-order update on Level and plans to do direct outreach to those who ordered it to dete...2018-12-0645 minThe Art of Product65: Effectively Managing Launch DayBen launched Habits for Hackers, a workshop that cultivates habits that lead to an impressive and fulfilling dev career. He incorporates books written by others and makes that content applicable to participants. He’s going to figure out the rest of the details for the course while flying by the seat of his pants. For now, Ben’s just bathing in the dopamine of watching numbers happen!
Derrick has been doing some launching, too. He announced that the end of January will be the beginning of the Level launch and Level can now be pre-ordered (generated about $2,000 so f...2018-11-2932 minThe Art of Product64: Habits for HackersDerrick shipped Level’s Daily Digest feature, which includes a summary of unread/read posts, sampling of posts/replies, and call to action. Also, thanks to Derrick killing it on Twitter, Art of Product’s social media presence is now legit!
Branding and awareness of Ben’s Tuple pair programming tool has garnered interest from well-known companies. So, it’s time to set a deadline for Tuple’s alpha.
Today’s Topics Include:
Ups and downs of building a feature
Good Brain Hacking: Know yourself and have a strategy; try something from your toolbox to change yo...2018-11-2121 minThe Art of Product63: Running Successful Early Access ProgramsBen and Derrick were hoping to share a great conversation they had with author, designer, and consultant Paul Jarvis. But, without warning, all was lost when Paul’s audio for the episode could not be saved. The plan is to have Paul back on the show in a few weeks.
Everything else is going pretty well for Derrick, who provides an update on Level. He met his goal and launched the Level Early Access Program two weeks ago. When it comes to testing Tuple, Ben plans to prioritize people early on who have good bandwidth and help gu...2018-11-1534 minThe Art of Product62: Avoiding NegativityDerrick had a productive week with Level. His deadline of late October to have alpha users try it was looming. So, he has been a bit stressed out. But thanks to relaxation techniques that work for him, Derrick was able to talk himself off the edge!
Ben understands the needs for coping techniques. When little things in his personal life aren’t under control, it’s much harder for him to be productive at work. Every thing’s interconnected.
Today’s Topics Include:
Battle between work and personal life
What makes you happy? Avoid negativi...2018-11-0838 minThe Art of Product61: Unconventional Growth Tactics with Julian ShapiroBen is working on marketing plans for Tuple and it’s associated Pair Programming Guide. So, what does someone he admires think of his growth and content marketing plans?
In this episode, Ben’s special guest is Julian Shapiro, who shares lesser known growth tactics he has used in his content marketing to be successful.
Today’s Topics Include:
Write content that’s best for your target audience; what do you want them to get out of it?
Goal: To have people read your content or buy your product
Content marketing in the form of in-de...2018-11-011h 12The Art of Product60: Celebrating the Small WinsThe feeling of accomplishment you get from doing hard things has become Derrick’s way of living recently. Building a startup like Level is hard, but he feels good when he makes small wins. It’s rewarding when he makes progress.
Ben is on a roll right now with Tuple. He’s making progress and getting stuff done. His Pairing Programming Guide is turning people into Tuple subscribers.
Today’s Topics Include:
Have people with high standards read and review your writing to get feedback
Ben’s article, The Case for Pair Programming, was on the fro...2018-10-2526 minThe Art of Product59: Pros and Cons of Working Alone on a ProductAdam Wathan, a software developer, writer, speaker, and entrepreneur joins Ben and Derrick on this episode. Adam is also the creator of Nitpick CI, author of Refactoring to Collections, and host of the Full Stack Radio podcast.
Usually isolated and working alone, Adam enjoys the opportunity to chat with others about what everyone is working on. It’s like a mastermind session that’s fun and rewarding!
Today’s Topics Include:
Ben launched Tuple’s Pair Programming Guide earlier than expected at learntopair.com
Ben continues to focus on marketing for Tuple, while other team mem...2018-10-1841 minThe Art of Product58: Evolving Roles as a Startup FounderBen and Derrick are joined by Brian Casel, podcaster, cofounder of Big Snow Tiny Conf, and known as “Mr. Process.” The three are fans of podcasts and conferences because they offer time to build relationships with people and talk deeply about things.
In this episode, they share their updates and thoughts on involving others in their day-to-day processes. It brings everyone together to learn from each other, as well as build a community and consensus.
Today’s Topics Include:
Hosting and handling logistics for smaller conferences and retreats
Ben shipped his Pair Programming Guide that o...2018-10-1156 minThe Art of Product57: Finding the Right Marketing/Product BalanceBen recently returned from an entrepreneur retreat that featured sessions and activities focused on various topics, from projects people were working on to troubles with cofounders. Attendees were able to be honest, open, and transparent with each other. Ben had the opportunity to demo Tuple during the retreat. Feedback was that there are too many people working on its development, so he should focus on marketing.
Derrick emphasized the importance of keeping in mind the cost of getting someone caught up to speed on a project. He has thought about hiring a contractor to help with the...2018-10-0452 minThe Art of Product56: Finding Your One ThingBen is back from retreat #2 for Tuple. It may not have been as good as the first retreat, but was still above baseline productivity. The team worked on refactoring the app. Then, he went to CocoaHeads, which is for MacOS X and iOS developers to discuss Apple's Cocoa and CocoaTouch.
Derrick will be speaking about Level at the local Elixir meetup. He is excited to dive deeper into using Elixir and reading books about it. Then, he plans to share what he learns and encourage others to not be intimidated by more powerful concepts in Elixir.
2018-09-2026 minThe Art of Product55: The Entrepreneurial RollercoasterDerrick is in Washington for ElixirConf. Like Elixir, he is becoming more comfortable with stability, as opposed to constant churn and new stuff all the time. He knows you have to show restraint to try and not solve every problem. While at the conference, Derrick wants to make connections with people and hopes Level will one day be a good use case example for the Elixir community.
Ben is discovering that startups are not easy. There are a lot of ups and downs. While other people were enjoying Labor Day, Ben was actually being a boss and...2018-09-1324 minThe Art of Product54: Continuous LearningBen has been focusing on MacOS development and writing code. There’s so much he doesn’t know. But that’s ok. He strives to regularly learn things - just keep making progress for it to feel less intimidating.
Derrick has the same mindset. It’s ok to not know everything. Start with the basics, and keep going. You’ll figure things out eventually.
Today’s Topics Include:
Ben is battling being part of the action or not and what tasks to handle; what is his role?
Ben feels guilty about changing his mind, but doesn’t...2018-08-3031 minThe Art of Product53: Launching Transistor.fm with Justin JacksonToday’s guest, Justin Jackson, just launched a podcast platform called, Transistor.fm. Justin describes the time he spent working with co-founder Jon Buda to get it ready to go live. Launching involves a lot of energy and emotion with ups and downs.
Whether working on your own or with someone else, Justin encourages you to take time away to work on something to focus on it and make significant progress.
Today’s Topics Include:
Reporting is key feature for podcast hosting applications; Transistor.fm offers an awesome analytics feature
When catching up with comp...2018-08-2341 minThe Art of Product52: Tuple Native App and Level Inbox WorkflowsBen is back from a productive retreat with his Tuple co-founders. It was deep concentration work that didn’t feel like a chore, but a feeling of joy. They experienced a milestone - scrapped the electron-based version of their app to work on a native functional prototype. There’s a ton more to do, but it basically works. The pieces are coming together.
Derrick understands the foundation required to pretty much get anything done with a new product. He is considering a future retreat, but wondering if the benefits are worth it to go off somewhere as a so...2018-08-1625 minThe Art of Product51: Recast - The Origin of Level from Startups for the Rest of UsBen is out of town on a retreat with his Tuple co-founders, and Derrick is deep into building Level. So, this episode features Derrick as a recent guest on the Startups for the Rest of Us podcast. Rob Walling interviews Derrick about Level - what inspired the idea and how he went about trying to validate it.
Today’s Topics Include:
Level’s landing page and current query of number of members; scarcity play is effective
Level is a Slack competitor, but much less interruptive and more asynchronous
Derrick discovered Slack does not scale well as a te...2018-08-0935 minThe Art of Product50: Doing the Hard Things FirstDerrick continues to reinvent himself with his new product, Level, and sporting a, “I work for myself beard.” He took a vacation to canoe and camp instead of code. It’s always a refreshing experience for him to get away from work from time to time. Now, Derrick is back to writing code and organizing tasks in Levelland.
Ben also went on vacation, but before doing so, he realized no sales for Tuple had come in that week. So, he made an effort to call prospective clients and was able to sell six annual licenses. Now, like Derric...2018-07-2632 minThe Art of Product49: The Evolving Tech StackDerrick continues to code to make progress on things he will need to build at some point for his product, Level. Also, he spent a lot of time in Elm land for refactoring and additions. Will Elm code work for scaling necessary for Level? Derrick is still trying to decide.
Ben’s team at Tuple has transitioned from C++ to Swift, a newer and friendlier language. Also, Tuple hired a consultant as a sanity check and to be pointed in the right direction for building a native app on Mac. Initially, the consultant will help step up an...2018-07-1221 minThe Art of Product48: When Is the Right Time to Take Outside Funding?Derrick was hoping to finish mock-ups for communication flows inside Level to get feedback, but that turned out to be a lofty goal that he is still working on. The process of designing Level has generated more questions than answers and minute details that Derrick needs to address. This is the real work happens.
Congrats to Ben, who finally crossed 10,000 followers on Twitter. He uses Twitter as a way to provide value, be useful, and build relationships. Also, he launched the Code Quality Challenge sign-ups and a private podcast to share information with people who are interested...2018-07-0531 minThe Art of Product47: Pacing Yourself When Starting UpDespite being in the process of building new companies and products, Derrick and Ben understand the importance of sustainable pace - being able to unplug and get some rest to make smart decisions. So, Derrick just got back from vacation, and Ben plans to take some days off soon. It’s about the mental component of mastering your brain.
Derrick is getting back into the swing of things and trying to finish the mock-ups for communication flows inside Level. Ben has been focusing on filling up Tuple’s alpha and booking substantial pre-pays. Also, Ben shipped his land...2018-06-2833 minThe Art of Product46: The Importance of Trust with Your Audience with Justin JacksonToday’s episode features guest Justin Jackson, who is building a new podcasting startup called, Transistor.fm, and runs MegaMaker training and books for SaaS and indie software companies. He’s discovering that it’s a lot of work to build something.
Derrick and Ben know how he feels. For Derrick, it’s been a fun week in the land of Level. He’s been working on his new landing page and landing new sign-ups for the pre-launch list. Ben has pre-sold $700 worth of Tuple accounts and raised $500 worth of verbal “Yeses.” Contact Ben if you want to be a part o...2018-06-141h 06The Art of Product45: The Value of TeachingHe’s back! Ben returns from traveling to Hong Kong. He shared his rails knowledge by helping someone who is building a business and using a rails app. He made performance improvements and refactored items. Derrick is also doing some Vim tutoring. Learning something new does not take long or a lot of money, and gets easier.
Of course, both Ben and Derrick continue to work on their new products, as well. Derrick is creating Level, an open source team communication and management tool. Ben is starting Tuple, a pair programming tool alternative for Screenhero.
To...2018-06-0741 minThe Art of Product44: Exploring the Open Source Business ModelRob Walling, co-founder at Drip, MicroConf organizer, and host of the Startups For the Rest of Us podcast, continues to co-host with Derrick while Ben is in Hong Kong. Rob is becoming a believer in 3 to 6 hour work days; he is more productive and has more motivation to get things done.
As for Derrick, he read an article titled, After 5 years and $3M, here’s everything we’ve learned from building Ghost, which relates to the business model he is following for his Level product. Ghost is using the open source core product and it’s bootstrapped, which...2018-05-3126 minThe Art of Product43: Strategizing Product ValidationRob Walling joins Derrick once again as a guest co-host while Ben is traveling in Hong Kong. Rob was Derrick's co-founder at Drip, runs MicroConf, and hosts the Startups For the Rest of Us podcast.
Derrick and Rob discuss the latest Level updates and strategize how best to approach previewing product mockups to potential customers. They discuss how the early phase of a startup is very fulfilling because you can be very creative, but also stressful because of risk and uncertainty. Rob gets Derrick's feedback about offering one-on-one founder consulting in his spare time.
Links...2018-05-2440 minThe Art of Product42: Fostering a Culture of Creativity with Rob WallingBen is away, so Derrick invited a special guest for this episode. Rob Walling was the co-founder of Drip and is the co-host of MicroConf. Rob recently removed Slack from his phone, and is waiting for Derrick’s Level product.
Level is an open source team communication tool that Derrick hopes will replace Slack among software teams. Others are looking forward to Level, as well, and wondering how many clients Level is going to be available on: Mobile, desktop...As Derrick continues to work on Level, the two also reminisce about their days together at Drip.
...2018-05-171h 00The Art of Product41: MicroConf 2018 TakeawaysBen and Derrick are recovering from days of being in Las Vegas for MicroConf. They spent time reconnecting with old friends, and making new friends. Knowledge floats around, and you can soak it all in. MicroConf has a culture of extreme transparency, helpfulness, friendliness, and wealth of value. Talks at the conference generated actionable items for and awe from attendees.
Derrick especially enjoyed copywriting and injecting humor sessions. Ben was impressed, too. His favorite talk was from Justin Mares on “How We’ve Taken FOMO 20 to 80k MRR in 18 Months,” where Mares talked about a difficult task and wh...2018-05-1031 minThe Art of Product40: MicroConf, Equity, and Corporate EntitiesBen and Derrick are together again, at MicroConf and working on their new products and businesses. From making T-shirts to thinking about finding funds, things are continuing to move forward.
Derrick is focusing on Level, an open source team communication and management tool. Ben is considering the name, Tuple, for his pair programming tool alternative for Screenhero. He is focusing on all things business-related, from equity to entity options.
Today’s Topics Include:
What’s equity? Ben determines how to break up partnership percentages for his company
Each partner will have their moment in the...2018-05-0319 minThe Art of Product39: Another New BeginningDerrick discovered his marketing and promotional tasks were eating up too much of his time and mind, so he took a break from them. He shifted his focus to the actual development of his product, Level. He made some forward strides on the product’s design.
Ben decided to give notice and leave his current job for an opportunity to develop a Screenhero alternative. Screenhero is a pair programming tool that has a rough history with Slack. So, he has a co-founder, new technology findings from Stanford, and encouragement from original developers. Could anything be more aligned?! Be...2018-04-2626 minThe Art of Product38: Choosing Tech Stack and Taking PreordersDerrick is still moving in the right direction with the product he is developing called, Level. He used Product Hunt’s Ship to set up a landing page. He plans to promote his upcoming product and control its launch.
Also, Derrick published a blog post titled, Building Level #2: The Tech Stack. It summarizes his rationale and reasons why he chose specific technologies. Plus, he posted his and Ben’s conversation, Live Level #2: Branding and GraphQL Mutations, and created a Twitter handle for Level.
Today’s Topics Include:
Derrick plans to create bite-sized content to eng...2018-04-1918 minThe Art of Product37: Pairing and Building In PublicBen is now a Level contributor! Ben has paired with Derrick and his team communication and management tool called, Level - which is officially open source.
Also, Derrick recorded himself building a Level feature and posted it on YouTube for feedback. It draws in people to see how an expert does things and share opinions and knowledge. It’s a win-win for everyone!
Today’s Topics Include:
Leveraging various networks to share information and provide value
Building a brand and putting capital in the bank
Impacts of stress on productivity
Enga...2018-04-1229 minThe Art of Product36: Building LevelDerrick continues to talk with customers and gain insights about a team communication and management tool he is developing called, Level. Derrick is developing personal connections with people interested in his mission, and his conversations with customers is reinforcing patterns.
Today, he shares the main problems with “Chat” functionality and why people are frustrated with the tools they use today. He is exploring possible solutions for Level to replace Slack and other tools. What issues do you experience?
Today’s Topics Include:
False sense of urgency; Derrick’s tool would allow you to filter n...2018-04-0530 minThe Art of Product35: Conducting Customer Development InterviewsAs part of his new business journey, Derrick requested that customers schedule time to talk with him about Level, a team communication and management tool he is developing. Luckily, about 40 people signed up, and he has completed 14 of these calls. What are his customers saying? They confirm main pains they feel with current tools and are very willing to share their frustrations with existing tools. Derrick has not been surprised yet about their answers.
In Ben’s world, he is spending time on slinging and reading about Haskell. He is full of questions. Both Ben and Derrick ar...2018-03-2946 minThe Art of Product34: Maker vs. ManagerIt’s a Snow Day for Ben, and Derrick shares his woes about setting up his home office with two new, Dell monitors and his MacBook Pro featuring only two USB-C ports for a hub. You would think that laptops would offer more of a variety of ports. Other than that, things are going great for Derrick.
On March 5, Derrick pushed out his manifesto via Twitter. In response, people shared, retweeted, and posted supportive thoughts and messages. Developers resonated with his message. And of course, there were a few skeptics who wondered how Derrick’s ideas were diff...2018-03-1548 minThe Art of Product33: The War on Developer ProductivityDerrick recounts his last day at Drip - from being locked out, the elevator breaking, turning in parking passes, wearing a shirt saying “Quit Your Day Job,” to happy hour.
Although he has a feeling of being free now, he is bummed about not seeing his co-workers every day. However, he is excited to share his plans and personal mission for the near future - a project called, Level, based on balance, not chaos.
Today’s Topics Include:
Derrick’s Manifesto: What he is now doing and thinking
Building a prototype to get rid...2018-03-0827 minThe Art of Product32: Big ChangesSome significant changes are going on in our professional lives and today is full of updates.
Ben shares some of the details of his new job at Mackey Research Management Software. It’s providing him with structure, people, team interaction, and new problems, as well as a distance from some other problems. Mackey is a company that makes a note-taking app for hedge funds and features a connection to databases of public companies. Derrick is moving on and away from Drip. While he knows the time is right to move on, there is emotional attachment especially since he wa...2018-03-0231 minThe Art of Product30: Nailing an Interview, and the New Drip DesignBen has moved into his new apartment and had an interesting discussion about fitness with the movers. Derrick got back is Bod Pod results and is formulating his precise fitness goals for fat loss and muscle gain. Ben is still on the job market and had an interview last week. Ben and Derrick discuss successful interview techniques and experiences they’ve had in the past.
In Drip news, Drip recently got a brand refresh, including a new logo, marketing site, color palette, new messaging, app skin, and more. They are working on focusing their marketing efforts to po...2018-01-2540 minThe Art of Product29: Fitness and Code Quality in 2018Ben and Derrick welcome the New Year with this first episode of 2018. Derrick provides an update on his fitness goals for the first quarter of 2018 and plans his Bod Pod evaluation this week. Derrick also shares his strategy improving and maintaining Drip software features.
Ben is launching the second cohort of The 30-Day Code Quality Challenge this week, and this cohort is even larger than the first. He shares how this cohort will be different, and thoughts on adding a fee to increase accountability and participation. He is also thinking about future extensions of the challenge into...2018-01-1154 minThe Art of Product28: Quarterly Goals, and Why They're Better Than Annual GoalsBen is having a successful push for the new cohort of The 30-Day Code Quality Challenge. He is also looking to improve future iterations of the challenge and is preparing to move to a new home outside of Boston.
Ben and Derrick discuss their quarterly personal goals on this episode and the philosophy behind goal setting: developing habits versus achieving specific results. Each list their specific goals for the first quarter of 2018, including fitness, mindfulness, reading, professional projects and career choices.
Today’s Topics Include:
Second cohort of The 30-Day Code Quality Challenge2017-12-281h 09The Art of Product26: Optimizing Team StructuresDrip successfully sailed through Black Friday and Cyber Monday unscathed with no queue backups or problems. Derrick has been thinking about shifting the Drip team structures after Black Friday weekend and is considering adopting more efficient workflows and processes. Ben and Derrick discuss different team structures, including those at Basecamp and Spotify. They also talk about team size, communication overhead, and growing revenue versus growing team size in business.
Today’s Topics Include:
Drip’s Black Friday success
Team structure and restructuring teams at Drip
Work processes and discussing article Running in Circles by R...2017-12-0748 minThe Art of Product25: Chaos, and Growing an Engineering TeamBen introduces The 30-Day Code Quality Challenge and updates us on the progress of his first cohort. He has been receiving positive feedback and participants are engaging with the exercises and community forums. They discuss his work on the project and the future of Ben’s business and his audience moving forward.
Derrick has hired an Elm engineer at Drip and they discuss the adoption of the Elm programming language in the industry. He also shares the hiring and pairing interview process of the candidate. Derrick attended an interesting invite-only conference, Chaos Engineering Day, and discusses Chaos En...2017-11-301h 00The Art of Product9: Deep Thinking and Finding Your GrooveThis week Ben is adjusting to jet-lag from his travels to Las Vegas and Martha’s Vineyard last week. He did however manage to release another episode of his sample campaign that was recorded before his vacation, so he is making good progress with the course. He has a welcome to the mailing list campaign featuring the three sample videos, and has nailed down a pacing and difficulty level for recording each video. He will finish a fourth video in the next few days and is thinking of pre-launching the course once at least half has been recorded.
...2017-07-2024 minThe Art of Product5: Ways We Maintain FocusToday we talk about how Ben just launched his new landing page and set up the domain for his new Rails video course. Ben’s also feeling pretty good about being committed to the first thing and now it’s full steam ahead with the video course. Now it is time to put together a marketing and list-building plan and start organizing the content and getting feedback. Ben feels it will be a compelling video course and plans to go after pre-orders.
Derrick has been shipping stuff this week. He just rediscovered the pulse tab on GitHub whic...2017-06-2233 minThe Art of Product4: Always Talk With the Decision MakerIn this episode, Derrick is broadcasting from California as he visits his family. Ben went to Vermont last week and quickly realized how relaxing it is to be outside and see greenery. Such a different feel from the tension in the city.
Ben has been chatting with a couple of people about consulting as a revenue officer. He had an interesting chat with someone but their visions just weren’t aligned in terms of value and compensation. Also it turned out this person wasn’t the decision maker, and the founder wasn’t as agreeable to Ben’s terms...2017-06-1230 minThe Art of Product1: Welcome to The Art of ProductWelcome to the Art of Product podcast. This is episode 1, and just the beginning of the journey. This is a show with Ben Orenstein formerly from thoughtbot and Drip co-founder Derrick Reimer. Ben recently quit his job at thoughtbot, and is now focusing on what he is going to do next. Stay tuned. This is going to be a fun journey.
Ben and Derrick talk about venturing out on one’s own and starting a new business. Ben has found a new co-working space in Boston. He is even trying a shared desk for interaction with people an...2017-06-0133 min