Lynne Tye is the founder of Key Values, a platform where developers find engineering teams that share their values. To be more precise, Lynne is a solo-founder. She’s also a team of one. Lynne’s path to becoming a founder was anything but typical. She had plans to follow in her parent’s and sister’s footsteps to go into academia, and got two years into pursuing her PhD in Neuroscience before she made one of the best choices in her life — she quit. Lynne has mastered the art of quitting, at the r...
Jul 05, 2019•1 hr 38 min
Sahil Lavingia is the founder and CEO of Gumroad, a platform for creators to sell the things they make. Since 2011 Gumroad has sent over $200 million dollars to creators. That’s a big number. Sahil’s ambitions lead him to believe that Gumroad would become a billion-dollar company, have hundreds of employees, and eventually IPO. That didn’t happen. We talk through Sahil’s journey with Gumroad, why it failed to meet his goals, the path he’s on today and the things he now values…but to understand w...
Jun 14, 2019•1 hr 12 min
Saron Yitbarek is the founder and CEO of CodeNewbie — one of the most supportive community of programmers and people learning to code. Saron hosts the CodeNewbie podcast, Command Line Heroes from Red Hat, and she’s also the creator of Codeland Conference taking place on July 22 this year in New York City. We talk through getting started, lessons learned, mental health, developing and running a conference…but our conversation begins with a pivotal question asked of Saron…“What are you optimizing ...
May 31, 2019•1 hr 14 min
Colin Billings is the founder and CEO of Orro where they’ve built the first truly intelligent home lighting system. It knows when you’re in the room, and adjusts the lights automatically for you. But Colin’s path to starting this company wasn’t a straight line. Like most innovative products, Orro has an interesting beginning — after-all, they’re going up against the giants. Join the discussion Changelog++ members support our work, get closer to the metal, and make the ads disappear. Join today! ...
May 23, 2019•1 hr 6 min
What would be the impact on the world if a Computer Science education was available to you completely free of charge until you get a job in that field paying $50,000 or more? That’s the question that drives Austen Allred and the team behind Lambda School. Lambda School is a revolutionary new school that invests in its students and they completely align their interests with their students. Seems like a novel idea, right? But Austen’s path to Silicon Valley was where things began for him, so that’...
Apr 19, 2019•46 min
With JavaScript in every corner of software development and npm in every corner right along with it, the rise of npm can be drawn as a hockey stick up and to the right with Isaac Schlueter at the top grinning ear to ear. After reading their recent announcement to hire a CEO, I knew it was time to talk one-on-one with Isaac about building npm and the journey of hiring his successor. Join the discussion Changelog++ members support our work, get closer to the metal, and make the ads disappear. Join...
Jan 25, 2019•1 hr 8 min
For the final show of 2018 I’m talking with Travis Kimmel, the CEO of GitPrime. Travis has spent years as an engineering manager. Travis’s mission at GitPrime is to bring crystal clear visibility into the software development process and bridge the communication gap between engineering and stakeholders. This communication gap is often an ongoing plague in product development lifecycle. We talked through focus, tech debt, leading teams, predictability, and more. Join the discussion Changelog++ me...
Dec 21, 2018•1 hr 29 min
Kyle Mathews is the founder and CEO of Gatsby, a new company he’s building around an open source project of the same name. Gatsby as a project describes itself as a flexible modern website framework and blazing fast static site generator for React.js. At the macro level — Kyle’s career has been focused on a better way to build and ship websites. It seems he’s done just that with Gatsby’s launch in late May 2015…since then he’s taken on a co-founder and a seed round of $3.8M to form Gatsby Inc. J...
Nov 30, 2018•1 hr 12 min
Donald Fischer and the team at Tidelift are on a mission of making open source work better — for everyone. To pay the maintainers of open source software they are putting a new spin on a highly successful business model that’s a win-win for the maintainers as well as the software teams using the software. In this episode we dig into that backstory and Donald’s journey. Join the discussion Changelog++ members support our work, get closer to the metal, and make the ads disappear. Join today! Spons...
Sep 21, 2018•1 hr 8 min
David Cramer dropped out of high school AND college, but that didn’t stop him. He ended up teaching himself programming and eventually landed his first job as the webmaster of a World of Warcraft community website. What a beginning… We talked through “the rough slog” period of Sentry and how David powered through to traction and enough profit for him and his partner to go full time, raise three rounds of funding, and take on New Relic. Join the discussion Changelog++ members support our work, ge...
Sep 16, 2018•1 hr 13 min
Here’s a bonus segment from episode #57 of Founders Talk with David Cramer, co-founder and CEO of Sentry. Check the feed for the full length episode (later today). We talked about sales in the full length episode, but this BONUS segment is a completely isolated conversation that’s not included in the full length episode — so don’t gloss over this thinking it’s just a teaser. Join the discussion Changelog++ members support our work, get closer to the metal, and make the ads disappear. Join today!...
Sep 14, 2018•11 min
Eric Berry started Code Sponsor a year ago because of his passion for finding ways to sustain and fund open source developers. He ultimately had to shutdown due to potential legal issues with GitHub, but was given new life as CodeFund when he went to work for ConsenSys and Gitcoin. We talked through the backstory of this idea, why he’s so passionate about funding open source, ethical advertising, being unapologetically focused on your mission, the value of honesty and openness, and the future di...
Aug 28, 2018•1 hr 21 min
Bryan Helmig, Wade Foster, and Mike Knoop started Zapier in 2011 as a side hustle. They ultimately applied to Y Combinator, twice. And this year they hit $35 Million dollars in annual revenue. I talked with Bryan Helmig (CTO) through the backstory of starting this company, being 100% distributed, the flexibility as well as the constraints of being remote-only, how they reached product market fit, growth, scaling their teams, and how they bring everyone together for company wide retreats. Join th...
Aug 17, 2018•1 hr 9 min
When Mikael Cho started Unsplash from its small beginning as a Tumblr blog and side project, he had no idea it would have such a huge impact and ultimately disrupt the photography industry. In this episode, Mikael shares the backstory of Unsplash, how it got started, keeping things focused, levers of growth, flipping the marketing funnel, turning free into a business, raising $7.25 million to build a new economy for photography, and the impact of an API. Join the discussion Changelog++ members s...
Jul 06, 2018•1 hr 21 min
Danielle Morrill joined the show to talk about how she’s starting over from zero after the recent acquisition of Mattermark to FullContact where she held the role of CEO and co-founder who walked away with “zero dollars and a job”. We talked through the details of the company, the acquisition process, the deal — which she brokered herself — as well as her outlook on the startup grind and silicon valley today, and what she’s planning to do next. Join the discussion Changelog++ members support our...
Jun 28, 2018•57 min
Pia Mancini joined the show for the first episode back from a nearly 5 year hiatus. We talked about her work at DemocracyEarth, being a mother, her new role as CEO of Open Collective, their focus, supporting ad-hoc community formation all around the world, their revenue and growth plans, and their path to sustainability. Join the discussion Changelog++ members support our work, get closer to the metal, and make the ads disappear. Join today! Sponsors: Hired – Salary and benefits upfront? Yes ple...
Jun 15, 2018•1 hr 12 min
It’s been just shy of 5 years since I’ve published a new episode to this podcast. The break was planned actually. Long story short, I had to focus. If you want to hear the slightly longer explanation, you should listen. Join the discussion Changelog++ members support our work, get closer to the metal, and make the ads disappear. Join today! Sponsors: Fastly – Our bandwidth partner. Fastly powers fast, secure, and scalable digital experiences. Move beyond your content delivery network to their po...
Jun 15, 2018•3 min
Could this be Sam’s final appearance on Founders Talk? Only time will tell. Sam says he’s moving onward. New things await. The future is bright and he’s wearing shades. Follow along. Join the discussion Changelog++ members support our work, get closer to the metal, and make the ads disappear. Join today! Featuring: Sam Soffes – Website , GitHub , X Adam Stacoviak – Website , GitHub , LinkedIn , Mastodon , X Show Notes: Make sure you listen to Sam’s other appearances: #40: Sam Soffes / Seesaw - P...
Sep 11, 2013•1 hr 18 min
Adam talks with Chad Pytel, founder of thoughtbot. Join the discussion Changelog++ members support our work, get closer to the metal, and make the ads disappear. Join today! Featuring: Chad Pytel – Website , GitHub , X Adam Stacoviak – Website , GitHub , LinkedIn , Mastodon , X Show Notes: Chad Pytel (cpytel) on Twitter cpytel (Chad Pytel) We make web and mobile apps : thoughtbot thoughtbot Learn Community, open source ruby on rails development : thoughtbot About Us : thoughtbot giant robots sma...
Aug 20, 2013•1 hr 37 min
Adam talks with Geoffrey Grosenbach, founder of PeepCode and now the VP of Open Source at Pluralsight. Join the discussion Changelog++ members support our work, get closer to the metal, and make the ads disappear. Join today! Featuring: Geoffrey Grosenbach – GitHub , X Adam Stacoviak – Website , GitHub , LinkedIn , Mastodon , X Show Notes: Contact Geoffrey Leveling Up | Free PeepCode Blog Pluralsight - Hardcore Developer Training Play by Play | PeepCode Screencasts PeepCode (peepcode) on Twitter...
Aug 19, 2013•1 hr 8 min
Adam talks with Kevin Delaney, the founder of Charity Hack - a simple concept that takes 5 amazing charities and the most talented people you can find to create innovative fundraising campaigns for those charities. Join the discussion Changelog++ members support our work, get closer to the metal, and make the ads disappear. Join today! Featuring: Kevin Delaney – Website , X Adam Stacoviak – Website , GitHub , LinkedIn , Mastodon , X Show Notes: Kevin Delaney’s Blog charityhack2013 Kevin Delaney ...
Jul 22, 2013•1 hr 3 min
Adam talks with Tim Smith, the creator of The East Wing, Tim Likes to Teach, Lustra and more. Tim is a master of the art of design and UX and loves hacking on front-end web codes. Join the discussion Changelog++ members support our work, get closer to the metal, and make the ads disappear. Join today! Featuring: Tim Smith – GitHub , X Adam Stacoviak – Website , GitHub , LinkedIn , Mastodon , X Show Notes: Something missing or broken? PRs welcome!...
Jun 27, 2013•1 hr 26 min
Adam talks with Drew Strojny the founder of The Theme Foundry and Memberful. Drew is back again to talk about his latest product, Memberful - a membership as a service site that lets you create a membership in minutes and start selling monthly or yearly subscriptions. Join the discussion Changelog++ members support our work, get closer to the metal, and make the ads disappear. Join today! Featuring: Drew Strojny – Website , GitHub , X Adam Stacoviak – Website , GitHub , LinkedIn , Mastodon , X S...
Jun 13, 2013•1 hr 1 min
Adam talks with Dalton Caldwell the Founder of App.net. Since we barely scratched the surface of the planned conversation around what he’s doing with App.net in part 1 , Dalton agreed to come back on the show for a part 2 to discuss the back story of App.net! Join the discussion Changelog++ members support our work, get closer to the metal, and make the ads disappear. Join today! Featuring: Dalton Caldwell – Website , GitHub , X Adam Stacoviak – Website , GitHub , LinkedIn , Mastodon , X Show No...
Jun 07, 2013•1 hr 34 min
Adam talks with Robert Sha, the founder of CAPSULE and the maker of Minimalist - a super slim wallet for minimalists popularized by its successful project on Kickstarter. Join the discussion Changelog++ members support our work, get closer to the metal, and make the ads disappear. Join today! Featuring: Robert Sha – Website , X Adam Stacoviak – Website , GitHub , LinkedIn , Mastodon , X Show Notes: Minimalist by CAPSULE - Kickstarter CAPSULE™ Minimalist™ - A Slim Leather Wallet Made for Cash Rob...
May 30, 2013•1 hr 48 min
Adam talks with Daniel Genser and Jamie Smyth, the makers of TypeEngine, to talk about their “beautifully simple” solution to publishing a magazine to Newsstand and the future and democratization of digital publishing. Join the discussion Changelog++ members support our work, get closer to the metal, and make the ads disappear. Join today! Featuring: Daniel Genser – Website , X Jamie Smyth – Website , X Adam Stacoviak – Website , GitHub , LinkedIn , Mastodon , X Show Notes: TypeEngine (TypeEngin...
May 23, 2013•1 hr 35 min
Adam Stacoviak talks with Dalton Caldwell the Founder of App.net after Founders Talk #42 . Join the discussion Changelog++ members support our work, get closer to the metal, and make the ads disappear. Join today! Featuring: Dalton Caldwell – Website , GitHub , X Adam Stacoviak – Website , GitHub , LinkedIn , Mastodon , X Show Notes: Something missing or broken? PRs welcome!...
May 16, 2013•4 min
Adam talks with Dalton Caldwell the Founder of App.net. This is a hefty part 1, mainly focusing on the road traveled by Dalton to get to App.net. We barely scratched the surface of the planned conversation around what he’s doing with App.net. We end this call by teeing up the topic of discussion for part 2 . Join the discussion Changelog++ members support our work, get closer to the metal, and make the ads disappear. Join today! Featuring: Dalton Caldwell – Website , GitHub , X Adam Stacoviak – ...
May 16, 2013•55 min
Garrett Dimon the Founder of Sifter and writer of Starting + Sustaining joins Adam to share his history with becoming a founder and the wisdom he’s gained by bloodying his knuckles over the years with lessons learned. Join the discussion Changelog++ members support our work, get closer to the metal, and make the ads disappear. Join today! Featuring: Garrett Dimon – Website , GitHub , X Adam Stacoviak – Website , GitHub , LinkedIn , Mastodon , X Show Notes: Simple bug and issue tracking. | Sifter...
May 10, 2013•1 hr 40 min
Sam Soffes the Founder of Nothing Magical and NOW the VP of Engineering at Seesaw joins Adam Stacoviak to share some of the most recent details and changes for him in the finale part 3 show. Core take away? Embrace risk. Stay focused. Join the discussion Changelog++ members support our work, get closer to the metal, and make the ads disappear. Join today! Featuring: Sam Soffes – Website , GitHub , X Adam Stacoviak – Website , GitHub , LinkedIn , Mastodon , X Show Notes: Make sure you listen to S...
Dec 06, 2012•1 hr 29 min
