Talking Businessly

John is back from his honeymoon. Daniel played in a poker tournament. We talk about a wide range of topics, none of which have anything to do with running a web development agency.

We have a new client. We have so many topics we can't discuss. So we talk about fun things instead.

We got $40k that was owed to use months ago.

We talk about BJJ, but I promise it's actually interesting. We plead with a former client to be a good guy.

We're learning a lot from early Tidy users. We're sending a cease and desist.

We have an idea to do Thunk marketing and Tidy marketing at the same time. And it feels like a breakthrough.

Tidy marketing is in full swing. Please join our mailing list to support the launch! tidyup.agnecy

After hemming and hawing for 20 minutes, we are joined by the inimitable Justin Jackson . He gives us an absolute treasure trove of good advice for launching and marketing Tidy .

Laracon. EU was a blast. We continue to develop the sales funnel. We need to know whether our growth plans are actually working. So we set some simple goals for the next 6 weeks.

We have quietly launched our client management app. It has invoices, agreements, schedules, time sheets, reports, and more. We'll be doing a full marketing blitz soon. Daniel has been cooking up an extremely cool AI feature.

John went on a Claude frenzy, and Kapow is nearly here. We reach out to bankers and learn a little bit about how their world works. John believes in benevolent dictatorships more than "flat organizations."

It feels like there's a dark cloud over web development right now. So where does Thunk fit into the future, and how do we win? We lay it all out here.

We had a very bad week. In related news, we are looking for a new client.

Our goal for 2026 is to do a good job. John wants to start doing some serious, long term business development. 

We gave ourselves raises. John is weary of AI. Daniel is using Claude skills. 

We hired someone. We set up standardized pay bands. We discuss how we use AI, and what makes a bad AI-driven pull request. We like Three Body Problem. John sang in choir. 

Marketing works. Late fees don't. John is speaking at Laracon EU! We review our OKRs and cash situation. John has more mic issues.

Our dear friend Caleb Porzio  drops by for some laughs, and a retrospective on Wire:live. We discuss what went well, what could improve, and what we'll do differently next time.

Matt runs Tighten , and is a kind of big brother to us. We ask him about running agencies, building teams, hiring senior developers, and a lot more. Watch his new Laracast series " How to Build a Dev Team " now. 

Our biggest client had a problem. We tried to get out in front of it, with mixed success. Here's what we learned. Join the new social game here . Listen to John's clickbait episode about it here . 

We are busy as heck, with more work coming in. Forge launches this week. Wire:live is filling up fast. Listen to John's new game podcast . We brainstorm the next conference talks we want to give.

We're at an exciting but scary inflection point as a company. Wire:live is filling up fast! John is sad about the internet, but excited about real life. Daniel likes Billy Joel.

We landed a big client, and things are heating up. We learned once again that telling the truth and being candid is the best path. 

We finally talk about our OKRs for the remainder of the year.

Wire:live in Buffalo October 28. Get your tickets today! We had some technical difficulties, and weren't even sure if it was recording, so this one is all over the place. Spicy takes, jack booted thugs, A24, Weapons, video games, and restaurants.