Why are we talking about Amy's pants on a business show? There's a connection, we promise. You know this is gonna be good. Stacking the Bricks is back for 2016! Special thank you to everyone who reached out and told us that you missed the show in the time since our last episode. We missed making them for you! The good news is that with the new 30x500 Academy "construction" complete, we're able to focus our attention on you this year and that starts with bringing back the show. It felt ...
Jan 26, 2016•24 min•Ep 14•Transcript available on Metacast "The idea that, oh well, I shouldn't charge money for this because … some reason. Justin spent years noodling on side projects. He made every excuse in the book for not charging for them, including some we haven't often heard: At the time, it seemed like, 'Why should I charge money for this? This is a passion project of mine.' So I should just release it for free." But last year, he decided to make a change. Justin took 30x500. In the first 3 weeks of droppin' ebombs on his blog, he ad...
Mar 09, 2015•42 min•Ep 13•Transcript available on Metacast Click here to watch the video of the ebomb that you hear in the intro of this episode -> https://unicornfree.com/2015/so-youve-got-some-safari-and-ebombs-now-what-pain-to-product-coaching-part-2 ebomb, n - our special 30x500 term for "actionable educational content marketing". Yeah, cuz that's a mouthful. So drop a knowledge bomb on 'em. Ebomb 'em. Sooo… you've got some Sales Safari data, you've got some quality ebombs under your belt, now what? How big should your ebombs be? What i...
Mar 05, 2015•43 min•Ep 12•Transcript available on Metacast "I just need someone to hold me accountable." "If only there was a community where I could get advice…" "Let me tell you my plan…" Have these phrases ever passed your lips? And then you failed to 1. execute your plan, 2. take action on the advice you received, or 3. be accountable? I'm going to assume the answer is "Yes," because it's a mistake we've all made before. Although some of us longer than others. That's what I did for about a decade before shippi...
Mar 04, 2015•10 min•Ep 11•Transcript available on Metacast Newsflash: Lean Startup and Customer Development are inherently broken. If you ask me, the whole process is functionally bankrupt. Why? Let me answer your question with a pair of questions: Why do you create good things… but nobody buys? Worse: Why do you feel the thrill of a great idea, then get stuck before you even finish the damn thing? In short: Why all the struggle? And why do people worship the struggle? This lil mini-episode I made walks you through the problem, and the solution. It’s on...
Mar 03, 2015•13 min•Ep 10•Transcript available on Metacast Jim Gay is a busy dad. A REALLY busy dad, with 4 kids. He really wanted a product business so he could spend more time with his family instead of working endless stressful hours to pay the bills. But this episode isn't actually about making time at all...it's about clearing a path for success. Do you remember the approach to tidying we talked about in episode 6 and 7? We learned that the path to a tidy home is deceptively simple...and part of the process involves letting go of things that are ho...
Feb 26, 2015•58 min•Ep 9•Transcript available on Metacast Amanda has learned the hard way that publishing beautiful books on the Kindle and other e-readers is a pain in the ass. In this hour long masterclass, Amy and I help Amanda through her first steps in turning this deep vein of pain into her first product. We talk about: Choosing and narrowing an audience (including some critically counterintuitive lessons) How to spot evidence of a market (where's the proof that lots of people have the same itch you're trying to scratch) Designing who your produc...
Feb 23, 2015•57 min•Ep 8•Transcript available on Metacast Want a different result than you've been getting? Then you need a different approach. Enjoy part two of our 2-part conversation to learn the revolutionary approach that Japanese organizing expert Marie Kondo teaches for tidying, and how those lessons apply to your startup , too. Bonus: life (and business) wisdom from ancient Chinese philosophers, 500-year-old French noblemen, and the Bible. If this is your first episode of Stacking the Bricks, we'd recommend going back to Episode 6 to listen to ...
Feb 18, 2015•21 min•Ep 7•Transcript available on Metacast Right now I'm reading a book called The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up , by Japanese organizing expert Marie Kondo. It's amazing. I can't recommend it enough. Already, I'm feeling an increase in lightness, beauty, and joy in my home. But that wasn't the reason I started reading it to Alex during one of our Skype calls last week. Nope, I shared it with him because of a deeper truth, and its masterful presentation. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying up isn't just about tidy homes, it's about li...
Feb 17, 2015•30 min•Ep 6•Transcript available on Metacast Earlier this week, Alex and I were stuck. Hard. I was crazy unhappy with the lessons I'd been trying to design. What I was doing… wasn't working. Why was I stuck? What did we do to get unstuck? What on earth is the "voicemail effect" and why is it the source of so much writer's block? If you find yourself stuck in a project — and therefore avoiding it — then this episode might give you the inspiration you need to figure out why. That kind of thinking can save your project. More insider...
Feb 15, 2015•7 min•Ep 5•Transcript available on Metacast Are you a procrastinator? Don't feel bad about it - DO something about it. On this show, you’re going to be hearing a short story from my business partner and co-host Amy Hoy admit something....there was a time when she wasn’t so great at shipping. That's right, the author of Just Fucking Ship used to be a serial procrastinator. As she describes, "I could ship work and projects for other people - bosses, clients - but when it came to shipping my own things I was the worst." Amy goes on...
Feb 05, 2015•10 min•Ep 4•Transcript available on Metacast We didn't hit our goals ( which was mostly our fault ). We let deadlines slip, and probably let some people down. Amy got really sick. :( So of course, looking back on 2014 feels like we didn't get all that much done. But when Amy and I sat down and spent an hour going over the stuff we did do...we realized that holy cow, it was a lot . A bit further down on this post, we've put together our comprehensive review of 2014. It's complete with revenue and subscriber numbers, where we have them readi...
Jan 13, 2015•56 min•Ep 3•Transcript available on Metacast 30x500 Alumni Scott Hurff joins Alex Hillman. They talk about how Scott's approach to building products has changed, and what he's learned from both of his launches. By his own measures, Scott's first product - a technical course for designers wanting to use Quartz Composer - was far from "perfect". But even without perfection, his launch still exceeded his expectations and earned him $10k on launch week. Then, when he improved his launch by incorporating ebombs & our 30x500 launch...
Jan 09, 2015•51 min•Ep 2•Transcript available on Metacast 30x500 Alumni Pat Maddox joins Alex Hillman. They talk about how Pat used the 30x500 process of Sales Safari and dropping ebombs. Then Pat shares how he ruthlessly followed just three steps every day for 10 days to get from from barely making rent to having over $3000 in MRR from paying customers and over 1000 subscribers on his mailing list. Tune in and learn from Pat. Check out his blog at patmaddox.com . This recording originally appeared on UnicornFree.com in an article titled "From zer...
Jan 09, 2015•45 min•Ep 1•Transcript available on Metacast 
