If you’ve dreamed about building your own product, you’re in the right place. This week the hilarious, talented, and honest Allan Branch joins us to talk about why he’s leaving LessConf behind to focus on LessAccounting. Sponsors This show wouldn’t be possible without these great sponsors. When you support them, you support the show! Sprint.ly has been there from the beginning. Perfect for software teams of 3 or more people, Sprint.ly is the easiest way for managers and developers to track the s...
Aug 21, 2013•40 min•Ep 40•Transcript available on Metacast Spencer Fry built his first product when he was 19, and now’s building a new product called Uncover. It’s a big risk: it’s an HR product, which is a difficult vertical. Listen to hear how he plans to succeed. Sponsors This show wouldn’t be possible without these great sponsors. When you support them, you support the show! Sprint.ly has been there from the beginning. Perfect for software teams of 3 or more people, Sprint.ly is the easiest way for managers and developers to track the software deve...
Aug 14, 2013•34 min•Transcript available on Metacast What were you doing when you were 19? Spencer Fry built his first online product. Sponsors This show wouldn’t be possible without these great sponsors. When you support them, you support the show! Sprint.ly has been there from the beginning. Perfect for software teams of 3 or more people, Sprint.ly is the easiest way for managers and developers to track the software development process. You and your team can try Sprint.ly for free, go to www.sprint.ly . Use the code productpeopletv2013 to get 10...
Aug 07, 2013•40 min•Transcript available on Metacast Imagine building a product for a whole year, and then deciding to try something new on a whim. You build it in a weekend, and in 4 days you already have your first paying customer. Find out what happens next: this is part 2 with Dan Norris of Inform.ly and WP Curve . Sponsors This show wouldn’t be possible without these great sponsors. When you support them, you support the show! Sprint.ly has been there from the beginning. Perfect for software teams of 3 or more people, Sprint.ly is the easiest...
Jul 31, 2013•38 min•Ep 37•Transcript available on Metacast Imagine this: you sell your web consultancy, and give yourself 1 year to build a product. You decide to do everything by the book: you’re going to validate the idea, and use the lean startup methodology to build it. Find out what happens next: this is part 1 with Dan Norris of Inform.ly and WP Curve . Sponsors This show wouldn’t be possible without these great sponsors. When you support them, you support the show! Sprint.ly has been there from the beginning. Perfect for software teams of 3 or mo...
Jul 24, 2013•41 min•Transcript available on Metacast This is part 2 of our interview with Noel Tock. He built a SaaS app on top of WordPress. In part 1 we talked about the thinking behind that, in part 2 we talk about the lessons he’s learned along the way. Sponsors This show wouldn’t be possible without these great sponsors. When you support them, you support the show! Sprint.ly has been there from the beginning. Perfect for software teams of 3 or more people, Sprint.ly is the easiest way for managers and developers to track the software developm...
Jul 17, 2013•28 min•Ep 35•Transcript available on Metacast If liked our episodes on using WordPress to build your web app’s MVP, you’re going to love this interview with Noel Tock, of HappyTables.com. Sponsors This show wouldn’t be possible without these great sponsors. When you support them, you support the show! Sprint.ly has been there from the beginning. Perfect for software teams of 3 or more people, Sprint.ly is the easiest way for managers and developers to track the software development process. You and your team can try Sprint.ly for free, go t...
Jul 10, 2013•26 min•Ep 34•Transcript available on Metacast It’s part 2 with Jason Calacanis! In this episode we explore the question every product person needs to answer: should I bootstrap, or should I get investors? Sponsors Sprint.ly has been there from the beginning. Perfect for software teams of 3 or more people, Sprint.ly is the easiest way for managers and developers to track the software development process. You and your team can try Sprint.ly for free, go to www.sprint.ly I also just discovered KnowAds . The hardest part about online advertisin...
Jul 03, 2013•26 min•Ep 33•Transcript available on Metacast Normally we cover bootstrapped products: people who are self-funding the stuff they build. We do this because I’m naturally drawn to bootstrapped companies. For this episode I wanted to go into “enemy” territory: I wanted to talk to the VC community. To do that I contacted Jason Calacanis, an angel investor, and the voice of funded startups on his podcast This Week In Startups. This is part 1 where we delved into the human said of Mr. Calacanis – where he came from, and how he got to where he is...
Jun 26, 2013•34 min•Ep 32•Transcript available on Metacast Dan Martell discovered computers in rehab. After he overcame his problems with drugs, he taught himself to program. From there, he started building businesses. Eventually, he travelled to San Francisco to learn everything he could from the startup scene. You might recognize his former product: Flowtown, and his current one: Clarity. In this episode Dan shares his story from the beginning, and how he overcame a difficult beginning to build his own products. Notable quotes “I got the idea for Clar...
Jun 19, 2013•41 min•Transcript available on Metacast Dan Martell discovered computers in rehab. After he overcame his problems with drugs, he taught himself to program. From there, he started building businesses. Eventually, he travelled to San Francisco to learn everything he could from the startup scene. You might recognize his former product: Flowtown, and his current one: Clarity. In this episode Dan shares his story from the beginning, and how he overcame a difficult beginning to build his own products. Notable quotes “I had a hard upbringing...
Jun 12, 2013•43 min•Transcript available on Metacast Imagine this: you build a product that you’re passionate about. To demonstrate it’s capabilities, you create a demo that attracts the attention of the New York Times legal department; who promptly send you a cease and desist letter. That’s exactly what happened to Cody Brown and his team at ScrollKit. Highlights “Scrollkit is a way to create powerful visual stories on the web.” “We’re trying to bring what you can do in print, to the web.” “A kid will intuitively understand what to do when you gi...
Jun 05, 2013•32 min•Transcript available on Metacast Hey, let me ask you a question: when you were a kid, after a game of Mario Brothers, did you ever take out a pencil and paper and try to draw your own video game levels? The idea of creating video games from a kid’s imagination is something that today’s guest is working on. Highlights “Growing up, playing Mario Bros and Donkey Kong, I would draw my own video game levels.” “A lot of us that grew up in the 80’s, we’re in our 30’s, we grew up dreaming of creation our own video games.” “Sometimes th...
May 29, 2013•29 min•Ep 28•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode of Product People: does Amy Hoy still get scared before a launch? How do you choose an audience? And she answers some listener questions. Highlights “The 30×500 bootcamp has been moved to June 15/16: Why you should do a tiny product first ” “So much of what we’re doing (with our online courses) is creating community.” “Our Bacon Biz community will be open to everybody: baconbiz.com” “People have set-up their lives where they let themselves get jerked around by their emotions all ...
May 22, 2013•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast Amy Hoy gives a personal interview on her growing up in suburban Maryland, programming on an Apple IIc, selling her My Little Ponies to buy a Power Mac, and how she ended up building her first products. Highlights “I started programming when I was 7 year old. At home we had an Apple IIc, and I wrote some programs in BASIC on that.” “Programming books suck.” “I grew up in suburban Maryland. It was a wasteland: the only place to get coffee was at a gas station, or one of those sub shops that don’t...
May 15, 2013•53 min•Ep 26•Transcript available on Metacast Hey Product People! What’s your process for finding an idea that people love? How do you take your initial hunch for an idea, and make it a reality? What is a funnel? Hiten Shah from Kissmetrics is back to answer these questions and more! Highlights “Making human connections is the most important thing in any startup.” “You need some sound reasoning behind why you’re building your product. It’s a balance of having a vision AND taking all the customer inputs you can find to make sure that your vi...
May 08, 2013•38 min•Transcript available on Metacast Can you build a healthy software business when you don’t know how to code? Hiten Shah is on the show today. He and his co-founder Neil Patel, have built two successful SaaS apps: CrazyEgg, and Kissmetrics. Today you’ll hear Hiten’s secret to being a successful entrepreneur. Highlights “I don’t know how to ‘feel’ like an entrepreneur. To me entrepreneurship isn’t a feeling.” “When you create something, out of nothing, and somebody consumes it and loves it – that’s entrepreneurship.” “The people t...
May 01, 2013•40 min•Ep 24•Transcript available on Metacast On the show today is one of the best bootstrappers in the business: Paul Farnell of Litmus.com joins me and shares some great stories. Highlights “It felt magical to send an email to a random address, and then showing screenshots of the HTML email design. It was a magical thing when we got it working.” “We found a technical challenge in automating Lotus Notes 7 on an old version of Windows, and then delivering that result to a beautiful Rails app” “There are a lot of business opportunities in th...
Apr 24, 2013•36 min•Ep 23•Transcript available on Metacast On the show today is one of the best bootstrappers in the business: Paul Farnell of Litmus.com joins me and shares some great stories. Highlights “My parents didn’t want me to have a games console; they wanted something that I could create things on. My first computer was an Amiga.” “I was inspired by my dad. I started publishing a magazine myself, and distributing it in my middle-school. We even sold annual subscriptions! (mostly to teachers, because they had more money)” “When I was 12-13 year...
Apr 17, 2013•47 min•Transcript available on Metacast Jason Evanish has made a name for himself as a customer-focused entrepreneur. He caught the eye of Hiten Shah , the founder of KISSmetrics . Hiten asked Jason to leave Boston, and move to the Valley to become KISSmetric’s Product Manager. Since then, he’s become known as a generous teacher; especially when it comes to customer development, pattern matching, and product development. Show notes KISSmetrics Jason on Twitter Jason on About.me FogPHP blog post on launching Sponsors Our premium sponso...
Mar 27, 2013•31 min•Ep 19•Transcript available on Metacast While in Boston, Jason Evanish made a name for himself as a customer-focused entrepreneur. He caught the eye of Hiten Shah , the founder of KISSmetrics . Hiten asked Jason to leave Boston, and move to the Valley to become KISSmetric’s Product Manager. Since then, he’s become known as a generous teacher; especially when it comes to customer development, pattern matching, and product development. In this candid interview, Jason shares what he’s learned so far leading product at KISSmetrics. Highli...
Mar 20, 2013•37 min•Transcript available on Metacast Nathan Barry has released two really successful ebooks , and a new web app called ConvertKit . If you’ve ever wanted to write your own ebook, but couldn’t get started, this interview is sure to inspire you to create and launch your own stuff. Show notes https://twitter.com/nathanbarry http://nathanbarry.com http://nathanbarry.com/app-design-handbook/ http://nathanbarry.com/webapps/ Scrivener iBooks Author https://convertkit.com http://nathanbarry.com/competitive-advantage/ http://thinktraffic.ne...
Mar 13, 2013•41 min•Ep 17•Transcript available on Metacast Nathan Barry is an amazing individual: when you spend time with him you can’t help but be inspired to create and launch your own stuff. As a young man he’s had tremendous success is releasing his own products: an iPad app called One Voice , two really successful ebooks , and a new web app called ConvertKit . Show notes https://twitter.com/nathanbarry http://nathanbarry.com http://nathanbarry.com/app-design-handbook/ http://nathanbarry.com/webapps/ http://nathanbarry.com/2012-year-quitting-job/ h...
Mar 06, 2013•41 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week we have Jason Fried of 37signals on the program. We discuss how he made thousands of dollars in high school, why he chose DHH as a partner, what it’s like to be “internet famous”, and the thinking behind the new Basecamp , Basecamp Breeze and Basecamp Personal . A quick note about the audio quality of this show: Jason had a bad WiFi connection that caused Skype to drop out at numerous times in the interview. We felt like the content was good, and so we released the show (even though th...
Feb 27, 2013•37 min•Transcript available on Metacast Kyle Fox is back for another episode: this time he talks with Justin about the power of design, how big their launch mailing list was, and why it’s important to track your metrics from the beginning. How should you run your beta program? Should you give beta testers free access for life? Besides co-hosting this podcast, and working as a Product Manager at Granify , Kyle runs his own SaaS app on the side: FotoJournal . FotoJournal allows photographers to create a professional looking photo blog. ...
Feb 20, 2013•43 min•Ep 14•Transcript available on Metacast Kyle Fox is a real Renaissance man. Besides co-hosting this podcast, and working as a Product Manager at Granify , he also runs his own SaaS app on the side: FotoJournal . FotoJournal allows photographers to create a professional looking photo blog. If you’ve asked these questions, you can learn from Kyle’s experience: what should I build? Should we incorporate? Should I get the .com? Kyle talks about why he decided NOT to launch a competitor to Freshbooks, why perfectionism is his enemy, and ho...
Feb 13, 2013•41 min•Transcript available on Metacast Learn Brennan’s trick for identifying a good market: “find a community, and just keep adding value.” Whether that’s a forum response, blog post, info-product, or SaaS app, learn how choosing an audience and sticking with them can pay off. Highlights “Most of my users don’t care that [ Planscope ] is project management software; they care about outcomes.” – Brennan Dunn “Instead of listing out technical features, which is what [we as developers] want to do, I need to tell a story.” – Brennan Dunn...
Feb 06, 2013•45 min•Transcript available on Metacast How do you make a name for yourself, and your product? That’s the question we posed to Brennan Dunn. It seemed like almost overnight he was everywhere: blog posts on Hacker News, popping up in my Twitter stream, and promoting a new product for consultants called Planscope . In this episode we delve into how he made this happen: we asked him how he got his start in products, how he promoted himself, and what Latin has to do with all of this. Highlights “Businesses value [services] more than consu...
Jan 30, 2013•36 min•Ep 11•Transcript available on Metacast Have you ever wondered how much personal brand affects software sales? Check out this is great episode with Rob Walling. In our interview he reveals a ton of tactics for outsourcing your development on oDesk, finding a good idea for your business, and marketing your product effectively . If you’ve ever wanted to start and launch your own software products as a solo-founder, this episode is full of practical advice you can use. Rob is the founder of HitTail , and co-founder of Startups for the Re...
Jan 23, 2013•37 min•Ep 10•Transcript available on Metacast Rob Walling is the man behind products like HitTail, DotNetInvoice, and Drip. But he also helped start a movement of micropreneurs : solo-founders, who launch their own products. These small startups don’t take venture funding and don’t hire employees. In this part 1 of our interview you’ll hear how he went from consulting, to building products full-time. Learn how you can acquire a product (instead of building it yourself) and why the code is less valuable than the product marketing. “Building ...
Jan 17, 2013•36 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
