Camp Tech Podcast with Avery Swartz

On today's episode, I discuss the steps to producing a successful Kickstarter campaign, as well as methods for self-publishing. My guest is Jeff Goldenberg, a startup vet and growth marketer who co-authored the book, "The Growth Hacker's Guide to the Galaxy".

Jeff is currently the head of growth and development at Borrowell, an online marketplace for personal loans. His experience co-authoring and self-publishing his book is sure to prove him a useful resource for listeners looking for further insight into becoming self-starters. Listen in as he breaks down exactly what made his Kickstarter campaign and ensuing product such successes.

Episode Highlights:

• Reasons for self-publishing
• Figuring out how to successfully self-publish
• Making connections
• Kickstarter and the pressure to perform
• Why Kickstarter vs. other fundraising platforms
• Steps to launching a Kickstarter Campaign
• The need for a back-up plan

Resources:

Jeff Goldenberg's Blog

Borrowell

Jeff on Twitter

Camptech

On today's episode we discuss the production of online courses with Marie Poulin. Marie is a former designer who became a digital strategist and co-founded the course-building site, Oki Doki. As an experienced guide, Marie walks us through the stages of online course production.  

In discussing the production of online courses, we cover all the important steps one must take to be a successful instructor. Marie drives home the importance of market research (i.e. is your course topic in demand) and also the steps to building a product that fully engages your customers. Marie and Avery also discuss the pros and cons of hosting with user-friendly, customizable sites or going it alone. After this episode, listeners will be ready to set forth and create interactive, in-demand, and unique courses with confidence. 

Episode Highlights: 

• Check your motives: Are they altruistic or simply about the money? 
• How to build a product customers need 
• Market research steps 
• Focusing on your strengths as an instructor (are you best with audio, video, or written content?) 
• Levels of course interactivity 
• Where to build and host your course 
• Beta testing 
• Promoting your course 

If you would like to work with Marie Poulin, you may contact her at MariePoulin.com or go straight to her company's website, OkiDoki.  

Resources: 

18 Reasons Why You Shouldn't Build an Online Course by Breanne Dyck 

OkiDoki 

Udemy 

Skillshare 

Creative Live 

Wish List 

Member Press 

Memberium 

Course Cats 

Thinkific 

Teachable 

Teachery 

Pathwright 

Kajabi 

On today's show, I speak with Shawn Hooper, the CTO of Actionable Books, a startup in the learning and development space.  Shawn is also a Camp Tech instructor. He fills us in on the current state of website security, as well as ways to prevent hacks and remedy your website once it has been compromised.  

Hacking has become a widely publicized problem and is on the minds of most sites that operate businesses on the web; website security is an important facet of this. However, it is often overlooked or neglected simply out of ignorance. Whether you are hosting your own site, your site is hosted by an inexpensive service, or you're working with Wordpress, there are always things you can do to beef up your security. Shawn soothes our fears and outlines extremely simple ways to not only avoid a hack, but also how to make sure that your website stays up and running in perpetuity.   

Episode Highlights: 

• Why security matters 
• Wordpress' unfortunate reputation and the benefits of hosting on that site 
• Why would someone hack your site? 
• Steps to preventing hacks 
• How to recognize a hack 
• What ransomware is and why it's a growing concern 
• How to fix a site once it has been compromised 

Shawn works from Camp Tech's Ottawa location. To learn more about WordPress and the other things he is involved with, check out our Camp Tech website.  Shawn blogs about web technology and WordPress at http://www.shawnhooper.ca/ 

Resources: 

Backblaze cloud storage 

Succuri website security 

Lastpass password vault 

1Password password vault 

Actionable Books 

Fashion is becoming smart and technology is becoming fashionable. A quick review of runways, museum exhibits, and even celebrity performances shows that fashion/tech collaborations are very now. Our guest Amanda Cosco is an expert on the future of fashion tech. During today's episode we discuss how the future goes far beyond the tech hiding wearables we know to include textiles that will revolutionize how we interact with the world. 

Amanda Cosco is a journalist, speaker, and enthusiast of all things fashion tech. She's spoken on topics such as wearables for women and next gen retail at a variety of industry events. Amanda founded Electric Runway as a base for her love of fashion technology. She describes her topic of choice as "the intersection of fashion and technology." 

Episode Highlights: 

• How will technology be integrated into our everyday clothing? 
• The exciting future of techie textiles. 
• Examples of collaborations between fashion designers and engineers.  
• Amanda's thoughts about the progression from runway to closet. 
• How is the Maker Movement inspiring design for consumers? 
• What one fashion tech item does Amanda covet? 

Resources: 

Electric Runway 

Follow Amanda on Twitter 

Daniel Christian Tang 

Ringly 

Cute Circuit 

Oura Ring 

Follow Camp Tech on Twitter