Makers.dev
128 episodes - English - Latest episode: 5 months ago - ★★★★★ - 1 ratingChris and Christian build some software businesses.
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Episodes
127 Baby!
February 20, 2024 22:17 - 55 minutes - 50.7 MBChristian had a baby! and Chris is now a Kaggle Grandmaster.
126 10x Developer
October 12, 2023 20:18 - 59 minutes - 54.2 MBMuppets Treasure Island is the best movie ever. Chris just got back from Iceland and just re-started his masters classes. He's also considering getting a 3d printer (which Christian is definitely in favor of). Christian's experiments to find new customers aren't going great. Pricing is hard. Christian expands his consulting practice.
125 LinkedIn Outreach
September 27, 2023 17:49 - 57 minutes - 52.9 MBChristian continues to try to reach target customers for FileInbox. He's also still full steam ahead on the serverless transition before his baby gets here. Chris is prepping for a trip to Iceland.
124 Outsourcing development and working with people
September 16, 2023 13:30 - 1 hour - 64.2 MBChristian tries to outsource some development tasks. Chris built a photo frame and is getting ready for a trip to Iceland.
123 Setting aside SaaS for Consulting
August 19, 2023 13:13 - 1 hour - 63.9 MBChris is prepping for a couple of photo trips. Christian is trying to figure out how to talk to his ideal FileInbox customer. He's also wondering how much consulting to do and what that means for his time working on his own SaaS.
122 Ozymandias
August 04, 2023 17:46 - 51 minutes - 47.4 MBChris and Christian both went on vacation. Chris is getting back into Photography. Christian is creating user personas for FileInbox, and is getting more consulting gigs too. correction at 27:45 NVIDIA doesn't even manufacture their own GPU chips! They rely on 3rd party manufacturers too. 0:00 Fun number fact 122: Ozymandias 8:13 Chris vacation update 13:00 Photography as a hobby 23:42 tinygrad ML framework 28:28 Fileinbox user personas 36:15 Christian consulting ...
121 Advantages of Firebase
July 20, 2023 16:55 - 1 hour - 55.5 MBChris is prepping for a trip to Iceland. Christian is trying to figure out exactly who is the target customer for fileinbox. Christian then tries to convince Chris that Firebase is the best platform on which to build a SaaS.
120 Estimating how long features are going to take + All the baby gear
June 29, 2023 18:35 - 1 hour - 66.7 MBChristian has been looking at ALL THE BABY GEAR and has opinions. Also, he's working on the serverless transition for FileInbox and is struggling with estimating how long features will take.
119 Losing 17 pounds + Craft and Commerce takeaways
June 19, 2023 23:12 - 1 hour - 75.6 MBChris totally switches his diet and loses 17 pounds in 3 weeks. Christian went to Craft and Commerce and and takeaways for his business. He also figured out that his time estimates for FileInbox were way off.
118 How to Plan and Get Things Done, and How to Focus
June 08, 2023 18:16 - 1 hour - 59 MBChris finished the StableDiffusion Image competition, but realized he was seriously outmatched in GPU power. Christian has renewed energy for FileInbox after talking with Asia Orangio. We both walk through how to plan to get things done, and how to actually follow through on those plans. Christian is trying to hire an assistant and tries to figure out what he needs to do that, and actually pay them money.
117 How often should you update dependencies? Also, an update on "Dude, where's my Bitcoin?"
May 26, 2023 01:13 - 1 hour - 56.3 MBChristian wants to update Ruby and Rails, but has run into frustrating issues. Should he just... not upgrade? Chris gives up on the latest Kaggle competition, and is already eyeing another one. Also, Christian gets an update on the Bitcoin he lost.
116 Trial to paid conversion rates and Christian's big annoucement
May 18, 2023 23:51 - 1 hour - 56.8 MBChristian has a big announcement! (@ 36 minutes). Chris is done with Linear Algebra, working on Kaggle, and thinking about what type of AI course to make. Christian discovers that FileInbox already has a lot of traffic, but his trial to paid conversion rate is too low.
115 Demystifying the AI Genie + Identifying a SaaS Vision
May 11, 2023 22:19 - 52 minutes - 48.1 MBChris tries to figure out which AI course he should make first; i.e., what skills would give developers superpowers? Christian starts talking to Asia Orangio about FileInbox to see where it can improve. What is his backwards plan?
114 Microconf '23 takeaways
May 04, 2023 16:25 - 1 hour - 64.7 MB(sorry about the weird jumpy video). We talk about Microconf and how we feel about the things we're doing as a result.
113 Attaboy.ai gets interesting. Also: TALK TO YOUR USERS.
April 27, 2023 00:36 - 59 minutes - 54.4 MBAttaboy.ai gets a bunch of users, and Christian is wondering how to charge for it. Chris tells Christian to talk to users of the video clipper in order to see what is valuable to them.
112 We freak out about AI. Also attaboy.ai becomes a thing
April 21, 2023 19:58 - 59 minutes - 54.9 MBChris and Christian talk about using AI for therapy, and re-ignite attaboy.ai (which is now a thing! visit it and send it some texts). Also: AI coaches, the Pope in a puffer jacket, AI doctors, and how AI is coming for all of us. Also: a reminder to TALK TO CUSTOMERS!
111 How ChatGPT actually works
April 17, 2023 14:35 - 1 hour - 58.8 MBChris tries to explain how ChatGPT works. Christian tries to figure out the next steps for the video clipper.
110 Detecting malicious links with Tim Leland
April 10, 2023 19:07 - 58 minutes - 53.7 MBAn update from Tim Leland (originally on episode 70) about his link shortener t.ly, and his journey creating a potentially new API for detecting malicious links. T.LY https://linkshieldapi.com/ Highlights: - How to launch a new API service - Doubling MRR in 6 months! - 5 ideas for how to use a malicious link API to create a new business
109 Social Media Marketing World
March 31, 2023 02:07 - 1 hour - 55.5 MBChristian just got back from Social Media Marketing World and has LOTS of ideas. Chris gets a new computer but it arrived broken :(
108 What would it take to sell FileInbox?
March 21, 2023 18:58 - 54 minutes - 49.7 MBChristian continues to build the video clipper with Remotion and is experimenting with using ChatGPT to create good clips. We also talk about what it would take for him to sell FileInbox. Chris is considering buying another GPU for Kaggle.
107 AI Clip Suggestions
March 10, 2023 15:46 - 53 minutes - 48.6 MBChris starts a new Kaggle competition using stable diffusion. Christian makes progress on how to use AI to automatically suggest clips for the video clipper.
106 $80 MRR
March 02, 2023 16:51 - 51 minutes - 46.8 MBChristian launched thevideoclipper and got it to $80 MRR! Chris comes up with another justification for buying his gpu.
105 "Just do it badly": Fear of Launching + Teaching to Learn
February 03, 2023 20:55 - 47 minutes - 43.6 MBChristian is about to launch thevideoclipper.com, but is feeling "The Resistance". Chris is learning linear algebra for his master's, and is trying to learn it by creating a plan to teach it. We talk about just "doing it badly" for both: and adjusting as we go.
104 Tech layoffs and how to learn AI
January 27, 2023 11:47 - 53 minutes - 49.4 MBGoogle did a 12k layoff. Chris started a new master's class about advanced linear algebra. Christian was on vacation, and was wondering the best way to learn AI in order to keep up with all the recent advances. He also helped his wife launch https://gymnastcode.com/
103 How to find consulting clients
January 20, 2023 16:48 - 1 hour - 57.4 MBChristian is trying to find a few consulting clients to make some extra money. He's also made progress on the video clipper, and signed a new $99/mo account for file inbox! Chris just started a new linear algebra class and finished the gravity waves kaggle competition.
102 First revenue for the video clipper
January 12, 2023 18:43 - 1 hour - 41.5 MBChristian launches a new podcast! He also got a first customer for the video clipper! AND he's also thinking about making more course content, so we talk about how much money can be made with technical courses. Chris is almost done with the gravity wave Kaggle competition. Also: How long is the coastline of England?
101 How to backup all-the-things
January 06, 2023 18:30 - 1 hour - 58.8 MBChris talks about how work at Google is different than a small project or company. He's also working on the gravity waves kaggle competition. Christian tries to figure out how to backup all of his projects and files, and how to promote the video clipper.
100 Dude, where's my email list?
December 29, 2022 20:42 - 1 hour - 61.4 MBChris is still getting used to his job at Google. Christian may have (or not?) lost his email list when a service went down.
99 Dude, where's my crypto?
December 16, 2022 18:05 - 57 minutes - 52.3 MBChristian has some bad news about crypto. Chris is still working on the gravity competition.
98 The Video Clipper
December 08, 2022 13:25 - 59 minutes - 54.2 MBChristian renames clips.marketing to thevideoclipper.com and is trying to figure out what he wants it to be. He also wonders if he should hire someone else to run fileinbox while he builds the video clipper. Chris is still working on the Kaggle gravity waves competition.
97 MeetingPlace shuts down, Musk buys twitter, and crypto crashes
December 03, 2022 20:17 - 1 hour - 57.2 MBChris found out that the person who bought MeetingPlace shut it down :/. Christian is evaluating whether or not he should go all in on clips.marketing, or what to do about it vs FileInbox.
96 When customer conversations feel bad
November 18, 2022 16:51 - 58 minutes - 53.7 MBChristian has a potential customer conversation for clips.marketing that didn't feel very great. Chris joins a kaggle competition about gravity waves.
95 Consultancy vs Software as a Service
November 10, 2022 13:26 - 52 minutes - 48 MBChris has his first full week of Google, and also got his prize money from the Kaggle competition! Christian wonders if he should focus more on clips.marketing as a consultancy, or as a service, or just focus on FileInbox.
94 Freemium features
November 03, 2022 13:31 - 54 minutes - 49.6 MBChristian tries to figure out where his customers are coming from, and how to get more signups for FileInbox. He also is trying to figure out what freemium features are best for clips.marketing. Chris starts his first week at Google. (timestamps coming later)
93 $157.126 per hour
October 27, 2022 15:20 - 46 minutes - 21.5 MBChris is prepping to start his new job. Christian got $157.126 per hour on his latest consulting project for Ali Abdall, and is now wondering if he should spend a lot more time on clips.marketing instead of FileInbox. 00:00 Intro 01:07 Prepping to start a job 07:51 Acornchat changes 13:20 Marketing ideas outside an app store 17:34 Consulting project for Ali Abdaal 24:01 RailsSaaS conference 29:13 No progress on FileInbox 34:13 Stringing pearls 37:27 Being close to...
92 Getting a job at Google
October 20, 2022 10:48 - 50 minutes - 23.4 MBChris gets a job! Christian talks about his latest marketing experiments, and wonders if he should start working on clips.marketing again. 00:00 Intro 01:28 Google Photos DevRel role 03:52 What about acornchat? 05:20 Compensation at FAANG companies 09:03 Salary negotiation 11:34 Hiring freeze 12:33 Using Google ads for FileInbox 23:13 Promoted tweet experiment 25:57 Education as marketing 28:04 Low price file sending plan? 34:01 Detecting bots 36:25 Consulti...
91 Unexpected Google ads results
October 13, 2022 17:04 - 52 minutes - 23.9 MBChristian quickly bought a google ad for Chris (for acornchat), but there were some unexpected results that required a lot more tweaking. Christian is doing a consulting project and enjoying it, and is wondering how to get more projects like that one. 00:00 Intro 02:15 Dedicated marketing days 03:07 Buying google ads 08:45 Adding more documentation for certain install paths 15:37 Conversion tracking and SEO 17:32 Google metadata tip 20:23 Filesize vs memory error in G...
90 100% user growth and profitable
October 06, 2022 15:48 - 1 hour - 32.5 MBChris gets another customer for acornchat, which is 100% user growth! Christian is thinking about marketing for FileInbox using SEO, youtube, a new feature, and more. 00:00 Intro 05:55 2nd Acorn Chat user 09:18 Buying Google ads seems hard 16:35 Winning $5k from Kaggle 21:54 Twitter recommendations 30:09 FileInbox SEO changes 38:04 Youtube is underused for SaaS 45:34 File sending feature as a marketing channel 52:11 Serverless transition - using less memory 58:0...
89 Winning $5000
September 29, 2022 14:50 - 1 hour - 31.8 MBChris wins $5k from Kaggle! Christian fixes some bugs and picks up woodworking to fix his new organization troubles. 00:00 Intro 02:43 Winning $5000 in an AI competition 12:10 The hardest problem in the competition 24:41 AI master's class 32:15 AcornChat: why people switch 38:32 Motivation comes and goes 42:03 FileInbox bugs and features 49:26 SegMetrics Analytics 54:27 Woodworking hobby 58:42 Cleaning and organizing 01:01:39 iPhone vs Android Timestamps c...
88 10,000 Downloads + end-to-end testing
September 22, 2022 15:18 - 56 minutes - 26 MBWe've reached 10,000 downloads for makers.dev! (a while ago). Chris has started his next master's class and is working on AcornChat. Christian is doing end-to-end testing with Playwright, and is still trying to figure out how to get better metrics for FileInbox. 00:00 10,000 downloads 00:54 3 redactions 03:29 Kaggle CTF updates 07:24 Learning things through challenges 10:43 Case studies in Machine Learning 15:33 AcornChat updates 19:59 Violent and original work 28:1...
87 Christian comes to Indy
September 13, 2022 15:42 - 23 minutes - 21.1 MBChristian came to Indy! Chris started his new ML class and is onboarding his first AcornChat customer. Christian tries to figure out a way to test dropbox file uploads. 00:00 Intro 01:28 Kaggle 4th place 04:04 AcornChat motivation 08:12 Case studies in machine learning 10:29 Christian's travels 12:27 How to test Fileinbox 14:40 File uploads to dropbox 20:14 Next steps for fileinbox Timestamps created with https://clips.marketing by @cgenco
86 First paying customer
September 08, 2022 18:58 - 1 hour - 62.1 MBChristian got married! Chris got his first paying customer for AcornChat. 00:00 Intro 01:24 First paying customer 07:32 Heroku is removing the free tier 10:43 Kaggle CTF competition 20:13 Taxes 24:36 Killing grass weeds 30:03 Next marketing thing for acornchat 39:48 💍🎉 Christian got married! 47:15 2nd customer migrated for fileinbox 51:43 Next marketing channel for fileinbox 56:22 Youtube as a search platform 59:57 TikTok for B2B saas? 01:05:36 Smartwatch ...
85 Is DALLE going to take over art? + Business taxes
August 26, 2022 11:06 - 44 minutes - 25.4 MBChristian is in up state New York so he hasn't done much SaaS stuff this week - but he is preparing his business taxes. Yippee! Chris is recovering from being sick, so he's working on an AI security competition on Kaggle. 00:00 Intro 03:19 Kaggle DefCon AI security competition 15:07 DALLE prompts and AI art 22:40 Tricks to make AI art generators output a specific style 24:31 Systems to reduce friction 28:37 Business taxes 37:56 Full sized CNC machine 40:28 Neat wedd...
84 What do you use for analytics?
August 21, 2022 22:10 - 57 minutes - 32.6 MBChris got covid; Christian is in upstate New York, and wonders about a new marketplace project. 00:00 Intro 05:09 AcornChat feature requests 12:41 Marketing for acornchat 15:23 What do you use for analytics? 21:20 Outreach strategies 29:59 GPS Gold Medal 32:57 AI driving to the woods 39:28 Weird birthday project with artist commisions 55:15 FileInbox Timestamps created with https://clips.marketing by @cgenco
83 Christian loves TDD now
August 05, 2022 15:27 - 54 minutes - 29.2 MBAcornChat has real users now! Christian loves how TDD makes his code bulletproof. 00:00 Intro 06:58 Kaggle GPS update 14:09 AcornChat real users 15:33 Reaching out to users is hard 19:00 Analytics 27:50 MarketingChangelog ? 30:32 FileInbox work time 33:55 New features for fileinbox 35:16 TDD 41:45 Dropbox OAuth 43:09 File uploads and virus scanning 48:32 SEO links 50:03 How to get MRR up faster 52:42 Personal updates Timestamps created with https://c...
82 Face on a billboard
July 29, 2022 14:15 - 53 minutes - 29.2 MBChris had his name and face on a billboard. Christian is pushing forward FileInbox stuff, and is looking for the next marketing task. 00:00 Intro 01:40 Face on a billboard 10:10 How to evoke emotion 11:09 Marketing strategies work until they don't 14:38 AcornChat trials 21:17 DALL-E 2 25:21 Kaggle GPS 28:12 Free shirt 30:01 FileInbox SEO 32:08 Live video chat widget 34:46 Next marketing activity 38:14 Next projects for EA 45:23 Paramotoring is dangerous ...
81 Tired of Coding
July 22, 2022 01:09 - 55 minutes - 30.3 MBChris is tired of coding. Christian has too many ideas and should focus on SEO. 00:00 Intro 03:53 AcornChat on Slack App Store 06:01 Developer advocate 11:42 Grass is greener 17:38 Three years 21:07 Controversial figures 25:07 Don't break the chain 27:03 Josh Kaufman's personal master plan 30:17 Therapy is great 30:42 SEO 39:44 Sending large files: Hot take 51:20 Rails vs serverless 53:53 Increase revenue Timestamps created with https://clips.marketing...
80 5 Marketing Hot Takes for FileInbox
July 15, 2022 14:26 - 1 hour - 35.2 MBChristian has been reading the book "Traction" by Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares and has 5 marketing hot take ideas that he wants feedback on. 00:00 Intro 03:33 Kaggle updates 07:58 AcornChat resubmitted 09:54 Cold call update 12:33 Traction book about marketing 17:56 Marketing hot take #1: Blogs 26:16 #2: Publicity 33:46 #3: Unconventional publicity 41:08 #3a: Live video feed of Christian 43:28 Intermission 45:59 #3b: How Jason Bourne would send files 51...
79 SaaS Deep Dive with Johnny Tong
July 11, 2022 11:45 - 1 hour - 32.3 MBWe talk with Johnny Tong about how he bought a SaaS and is now struggling to grow it. Should he rebuild it? Dive into marketing? Rework the onboarding flow? Buy a bunch of ads? 00:00 Intro 02:47 What Johnny is looking for 10:01 SurveyBot overview 15:29 Buyer's guide 22:00 "The funnel" 28:45 Onboarding friction 33:49 The ups and downs of build vs buy 41:19 Conversion rate 44:19 Marketing vs coding 50:47 The end goal 57:43 Getting professional help 59:00 Deepe...
78 Ways to organize and live your life
June 30, 2022 01:45 - 1 hour - 57 MBChristian went to Greece and got a new perspective on how he could be living. Chris resubmitted AcornChat to the Slack app store and finished up a Kaggle competition. 00:00 Intro 03:17 AcornChat submitted to the Slack app store 06:40 Kaggle Patent competition 16:51 Reinforcement learning 21:06 Covid (again) 25:40 Building a Second Brain 38:05 On Looking 47:14 FileInbox cold calling 53:24 Consulting update 56:26 Switching to iOS Timestamps created with https:...