69: We'd be richer if we lied more
We discuss the Beatles. Daniel reviewed John's code on the Social Game. Finally, we lost a proposal for a big contract. We wonder if the entire RFP process is antithetical to what we do.
Jul 14, 2025•44 min•Ep. 71
Talking Businessly
We (John and Daniel) are co-founders of a small software development agency. This is a recording of our weekly "state of the company" call where we discuss the nitty gritty details of running our business day-to-day.
Want to work with us? Reach out at thunk.dev
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Episodes
68: The pitch to the "lower middle market"
Daniel and Chris are nearly done with Verbs 1.0. We settle into our new roles. John prepares another talk directed at non-tech companies. Finally, we think through what we want the business to look like at the end of the year. And we recap where we are with Kapow.
Jul 08, 2025•57 min•Ep. 70
67: We fire Daniel (from project management)
We played the Social Game a lot, and it's so cool. Daniel is not going to do project management at Thunk anymore, and we brainstorm how we backfill for him. Finally, we review our OKRs for the first half of the year.
Jun 30, 2025•1 hr•Ep. 69
66: Empaneling Erin Antcliffe
Erin is an outstanding product manager who is fairly new to the agency world. She shares her feedback on our process. We brainstorm how to position and sell our product management services.
Jun 10, 2025•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 68
65: Being uncomfortably explicit
Daniel got a 3D printer. John got a new iPhone that he feels meh about. We are feeling out how to consult when there are issues way outside of our control. Getting uncomfortably explicit is awkward in the moment, but makes everyone happy later. John has a wild story about Emily Belz's article .
Jun 02, 2025•36 min•Ep. 67
64: Kapow!
We hung out in Philly and had a little role reversal. Chill clients abound. The sales funnel is decent. We talk about who Kapow is really for, and brainstorm what features are next.
May 27, 2025•1 hr•Ep. 66
63: We sent invoices from the client app
Spring is here, and the boys are out frolicking. We sent our first invoices from the client app. The Laracon game is going to be its own company. Clothing sizes are a lie.
May 12, 2025•28 min•Ep. 65
62: Useful anxiety
We watched a lot of movies, and gambled a little. We are deep into silly season, and talk about our relationship with anxiety. Finally, we talk about politics and urbanism again.
May 05, 2025•43 min•Ep. 64
61: Empaneling Ian Landsman
We are now a professional podcast. Ian Landsman gives us some feedback on our goals, and our new client app. He is smart. And we don't talk about poker even once!
Apr 29, 2025•1 hr 19 min•Ep. 62
60: Our biggest client yet
John got star struck on Easter. Daniel got a new couch. We got a big new client. John is working nights and weekends on the Laracon game, and it's awesome. Daniel is working on the client app. We review OKRs.
Apr 21, 2025•48 min•Ep. 61
59: We lost a client for good reasons
John is locked in, and made a playlist so you can lock in too. We are in silly season, but we have an excellent new PM who will get us through. We lost a client, but for good reasons. We recap what we learned. John is grinding on the new game, and Daniel gives technical guidance. We try to diagnose what's wrong with tv writing. The Iranian film maker John couldn't remember is Kiarostami . Here's a funny scene from Hail Caesar....
Apr 14, 2025•1 hr•Ep. 60
58: Finding the real decision maker
John's Macbook air is having problems. We made a bonus episode. We have a new trick for finding the decision maker at a prospective client. Always negotiate. We LOVE Adolescence. Finally, we talk politics :(
Apr 07, 2025•38 min•Ep. 59
Bonus Episode: PHP × NYC Chaos-Cast™
At a PHP x NYC event, we realized we had a critical mass of Laravel podcasters. Apologies for the audio problems.
Apr 07, 2025•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 58
57: Sunsetting Papercuts
Spring is here. John was on the Over Engineered podcast to discuss running product processes on small teams. We are sunsetting Papercuts. We do a quick retro about why, and what we learned. John did a heroic refactor on the new client app. Daniel is making home improvements
Mar 31, 2025•37 min•Ep. 57
56: Chunks of work
John got married. We got paid by a delinquent client. John spoke at PHP x Philly. The client management app is getting really good, which can now invoice clients. Finally, John thinks tv is maybe bad.
Mar 24, 2025•34 min•Ep. 56
55: Vertical Slices
You need to build vertically, not horizontally. Also: Point Break is a good movie ( Broey Deschanel 's analysis). We helped a client dismiss a scammy wordpress agency. Squarespace is good. Daniel bought a suit. John is making a DJ set, and thanks Daniel for being the reason he learned to do that.
Feb 24, 2025•57 min•Ep. 55
54: Building without a blueprint
Why do old special effects look good? Pennsylvania needs better websites. John wants to speak a lot more. We are building our PM business, but don't have an obvious blueprint to follow.
Feb 17, 2025•45 min•Ep. 54
53: Be a great place to work (empaneling Bossman Chris)
We empanel Bossman Chris . Daniel and Chris survived Philly's Super Bowl celebration. We recap Laracon EU, and give high praise to Amsterdam. Chris counsels us on how to be a great place to work.
Feb 10, 2025•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 53
52: Coaching clients to have more urgency
We talk retro video games. Daniel is wiring up his whole home. John preps for his Laracon talk. We recap what we learned from an uncomfortable client moment. We finalize our OKRs. John was on Joe Tannenbaum's podcast talking about games . John talks about doing jiu jitsu against the Dutch.
Jan 27, 2025•58 min•Ep. 52
51: John built the client management app 🤫
John built the MVP client app! Daniel watched Survivor. We brainstorm what we want out of our 2025 OKRs.
Jan 20, 2025•43 min•Ep. 51
50: Growing our product team
We talk about how it will work to have another PM around, the paradox of project scoping, good interview questions, and the power of learning from retros. On a less businessly note, we also talk Survivor, Pecking Order, gas leaks, soothing YouTube videos , cable management, and trying to feed our notes into ChatGPT.
Jan 13, 2025•51 min•Ep. 50
49: What does success look like in 2025?
We do a little vision casting for what a great year would look like. We have some disagreements about sales, plan to remove ourselves as individual contributors from many clients, and to get better at scheduling / planning.
Jan 06, 2025•44 min•Ep. 49
48: Holiday party
Daniel is moving, and we have some business logistics to figure out. We want to hire a junior PM. We do a roundup of our OKR results. We also talk game of the year, John is about to release a digital game, and get into the weeds testing a board game.
Dec 09, 2024•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 48
47: Killing Harvest
John saw Hamilton. Daniel is moving. We are finally building the client management app that we've long resisted. We talk through the requirements and speak ill of Harvest.
Nov 18, 2024•59 min•Ep. 47
46: We want to buy your business (maybe)
We watched good movies this weekend. We re-learn that good management is mostly about un-blocking people. John's journey into React led him back to Livewire and Alpine. John is speaking at PHP x NYC . And finally, we discuss the (probably terrible) idea of buying a small business / product.
Nov 11, 2024•51 min•Ep. 46
45: The client onboarding checklist
Daniel played Colossi . We make a checklist of all the things that have to happen when we bring on a new client. Thunk wants to buy a small business??
Nov 04, 2024•35 min•Ep. 45
44: Clarifying roles for Silly Season v2
John went jet skiing at the Statue of Liberty. We love Bluesky . Tech bros keep getting one-shot by psychedelics. Business is great right now. We clarify our roles, headed into silly season. Daniel dreams up where Verbs will go in the long run.
Oct 28, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 44
43: Getting personal about working styles
John used to be a choir boy. We remember being terrible at college, and wish we could have a second try. We talk working styles, and where we could do better. John brings up some important feedback from recent retros about how we work. John is writing a game in React! Daniel still insists that John start playing Deadlock.
Oct 21, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 43
42: Celebrating $1M in revenue!
(sorry for the terrible quality. SOMEONE forgot to record. We'll let you guess who). How to write a good email. John went to the Texas State Fair. We hit $1M in revenue, and Daniel bought John a gift. We touch briefly on the Wordpress drama. Joker 2 looks awful but fun. Finally, we review OKRs.
Oct 14, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 42
41: Un-profitable software that helps people
Daniel survived a terrifying storm. We are building software to support Asheville. John is speaking at Laracon EU! We're in sales mode for Papercuts. We are making slow progress getting better at client communication. John watched THREE good movies.
Oct 08, 2024•58 min•Ep. 41
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