Open Threads

What a fascinating episode with Daniel Vassallo , creator of smallbets.com .  From leaving Amazon to become self-employed, to experimenting and iterating on business models, software, books, courses, and finally his flagship community, Small Bets.

Had a fascinating conversation today with Joel Hooks who runs egghead.io and badass.dev .  We talked about about the evolving landscape of online education in the developer space. Recorded on September 5th, 2024.

Chris Oliver, the creator behind GoRails , Jumpstart , HatchBox and his new product, SellRepo , joins me to talk bootstrapping his Ruby on Rails training business and related tools with only a team of 3!  A great wide-ranging conversation. Recorded on September 4th, 2024 Note:  Sorry!  My short intro audio is left speaker only... But that's fixed after the first minute!

I caught up with Josh Pigford today, founder of Maybe , ToolStash , and many other projects .  We covered a lot of ground across many of his different projects, but spent the bulk of this chat geeking out about programmatic SEO.  The strategy, the technical approach, and exactly what (and how) he built some of his AI-generated content marketing strategies for his projects. We recorded this intervi...

Mike McAllister is a designer of brands, websites, products, and WordPress goodness... Here in part 2 of our conversation, we dive into Mike's current work on OllieWP , a new product that brings great design to the WordPress ecosystem. We also talked about the balance of working on products with taking on selective design consulting partnerships with clients. This conversation was recorded on Marc...

Mike McAllister has an incredible track record as a designer of brands, websites, products, and WordPress goodness... In part 1, we talked about Mike's experience building a successful WordPress products business that was acquired by WPEngine, and what he learned from the transition between indie product founder to acquihired in a large organization. In part 2, we'll dive into Mike's current work...

Here's my conversation with Shawn Adrian, co-founder of Input Logic , a product design and development agency.  They're also launching their own product in 2024 in the AI journaling space, called Stilo.ai . This conversation was recorded on March 5th, 2024.

Daniel Coulbourne is the cofounder of Thunk.dev and the co-host of the Talking Businessly podcast.  We had a great conversation about the "80/20 model" in software development consulting, striking a balance between working with clients and building your own products and projects.  This conversation was recorded on February 27th, 2024.

Jack McDade is the creator of the new course, Radical Design . He's also the founder of Statamic CMS.  In this contuation of our conversation, we talked about Jack's unique approach to designing things and how he strikes a balance between fun refreshing projects like this, and running a successful product company. Brian and Jack's conversation was recorded on February 20th, 2024.

Jack McDade is the founder of Statamic CMS and the creator of the new course, Radical Design .  In this conversation, Jack shared his story of going from film maker to full stack designer and developer to building a website CMS product. Brian and Jack's conversation was recorded on February 20th, 2024.

Sam Selikoff , cofounder of BuildUI , returns to the show and we talk all about NYC! New York City, one of my favorite places.  Brian and Sam’s conversation was recorded on December 15th, 2023. (00:00) - Software founder life in NYC with Sam Selikoff (02:59) - What is the crowd like? (05:08) - New York's downfall - sports teams (06:56) - Working remotely in NYC (10:47) - City life vs. Suburb life...

Kevin Powell returns to the show where we talk about the business side of his work as a YouTuber and teacher of front-end development and CSS.  Brian and Kevin’s conversation was recorded on December 7th, 2023. (00:00) - Building a Courses Business with a YouTube audience with Kevin Powell (01:34) - Kevin's ideal customer journey (03:18) - Using call-to-action cards on YouTube (05:35) - Kevin's ch...

Lianna Patch wasn’t thrilled with the work she was doing, who she was doing it for, and the lack of fun she was having as a professional copywriter. So she changed everything and relaunched her Punchline Copy business with a focus on comedic copy.  Brian and Lianna’s conversation was recorded on  December 13th, 2023. (00:00) - How Lianna Patch Reinvented Her Copywriting Business (01:48) - The evol...

I invited James Lewis on to help understand the idea of a “fractional product manager” (and we covered that) but it turned into James’ story of how we transitioned from that into cofounder of a new SaaS, Lemon , in the payments space.  Brian and James’ conversation was recorded on December 8th, 2023. (00:00) - Fractional Product Management to SaaS Cofounder with James Lewis (02:13) - James' curren...

Justin Ferriman returns and we discuss his post-exit transition to becoming a business coach for other founders.  Brian and Justin’s conversation was recorded on November 10th, 2023. (00:00) - From Founder to Coaching Founders with Justin Ferriman (01:26) - Justin's coaching story (03:09) - The Know/Like/Trust list (04:13) - Ideation to execution (05:38) - How Justin is structuring his coaching of...

Sam Selikoff , cofounder of BuildUI joins me for a wide-ranging (and sometimes technical) conversation about his journey as a software engineer, and his business teaching UI development with video courses and YouTube.  Brian and Sam’s conversation was recorded on December 15th, 2023. (00:00) - Teaching User Interface Development with Sam Selikoff (BuildUI) (04:47) - Sam's elevator pitch (06:16) -...

Jay Clouse , founder of Creator Science , returns to the show and we have a fun episode where we talk about our lives away from the cameras and mics to talk about how we stay fit and healthy (or at least try to be).  Brian and Jay’s conversation was recorded on November 8th, 2023. (00:00) - The Health Pendulum as Entrepreneurs (01:39) - Physical health = mental health (03:42) - Jay's health and fi...

Lianna Patch is known as a fantastic copywriter. Why? Because she’s also a comedian! We talk about Lianna’s passion for the craft of comedy, her comedic roots, and how she translated that into a thriving career as a copywriter .  Brian and Lianna’s conversation was recorded on December 13th, 2023. (00:00) - Geeking out on Comedy with Lianna Patch (01:50) - Lianna's introduction to comedy (05:08) -...

I spoke to Kevin Powell , YouTuber and front-end CSS teacher about how he operates his YouTube content business and how he grew to over 800,000 subscribers.  Brian and Kevin’s conversation was recorded on December 7th, 2023. (00:00) - Teaching CSS to 800k YouTube Subscribers with Kevin Powell (05:10) - A week in the life of Kevin Powell (07:49) - Kevin's YouTube origin story (08:49) - Who is your...

Aaron Francis, creator of screencasting.com and prolific YouTuber returns to the show to talk all things video, screencasting and growing a business on YouTube. Brian and Aaron's conversation was recorded on November 16th, 2023. (00:00) - YouTube as a business with Aaron Francis (01:06) - Talking video and screencasting.com (02:46) - Growing multiple YouTube channels (06:22) - How many YouTube sub...

Justin Ferriman , founder of LearnDash , talks to me about how he started, grew, and exited from this WordPress business in the LMS space.  Brian and Justin’s conversation was recorded on  November 10th, 2023. (00:00) - From Selling a WordPress Business to SaaS with Justin Ferriman (01:22) - Justin's business transition to coaching (04:10) - Highlights of building a business (05:58) - Taking advan...

  Jay Clouse , who runs Creator Science , joins me to talk all things creator businesses.  Brian and Jay’s conversation was recorded on November 8th, 2023  (00:00) - The Science Behind a Creator Business (03:35) - Content as a product (10:03) - Seperating personal and creator brands (16:35) - Creator Science breakdown (26:11) - Creative energy and prioritization (29:20) - Content ideation, product...

Adam Gilbert , founder of My Body Tutor , joins me to talk about how he scaled a personal fitness coaching business.  Brian and Adam’s conversation was recorded on November 3rd, 2023. (00:00) - Scaling a Fitness Coaching Business with Adam Gilbert (01:30) - What is My Body Tutor? (02:34) - The evolution of Adam's business (05:15) - Adam's background in health and fitness (08:15) - Taking the leap...

Dru Riley, founder of Trends.vc , returns to the show to talk about his life as a digital nomad for 3+ years. Brian and Dru's conversation was recorded on November 20th, 2023. (00:00) - 3+ Years of Nomad Life w/ Dru Riley (01:10) - Where in the world is Dru? (03:18) - Why choose the digital nomad lifestyle? (06:48) - Favorite places (so far)? (07:55) - Working across timezones (11:00) - Processes...

Aaron Francis, creator of screencasting.com and prolific YouTuber joins me to talk about his “Era of Maximum Effort”. We get into building products businesses vs. creator businesses, and more. Brian and Aaron's conversation was recorded on November 16th, 2023. (00:00) - Product vs. Creator Businesses with Aaron Francis (00:45) - Conversations across podcasts (03:18) - Aaron's "era of maximum effor...