We bring in one of our references in UI/UX, Fabio Basile, to discuss freelancing in this sector. About time we discussed building a portfolio (with all the restrictions we can find as an agency: unlaunched projects, NDAs, etc.), choosing the right freelancer/agency for your project, red flags in clients AND in providers and much more.

Of course, we also discussed AI, because if not, we wouldn't be in 2023.

Join us in this very interesting conversation, with BLUNT opinions and "ahà" moments between two non-native English speakers who could've recorded this in Italian, but it would've been awkward for most of our audience. #customerfirst

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🎬 You can watch the video of this episode on the Life on Mars podcast website: https://podcast.marsbased.com/

Kicking off the new year in great fashion with a solo episode of Àlex (CEO) doing a recap of our historic 2022 and some of the landmarks we've accomplished as a company and a look into 2023, with some hints regarding what we will research as a company and new technologies we will be tinkering with.

This episode is short and easy to digest, which comes in handy after two weeks of big and heavy meals. You're welcome.

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🎬 You can watch the video of this episode on the Life on Mars podcast website: https://podcast.marsbased.com/

This week, we didn't have a guest speaker either, so we decided to record a solo episode.

Àlex has addressed the team in an internal basecamp post to let us know that the company is very stable and that we're signing very long contracts with clients. That in mind, he gave us three things the company is doing to ensure more stability during this downturn of the market, where literally almost every company out there is firing employees left and right.

Listen directly from Àlex what is MarsBased doing to ensure stability, because it could be applicable also to other agencies and contractors/freelancers.

Also, someone tell him to stop recording episodes a few minutes before midnight.

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🎬 You can watch the video of this episode on the Life on Mars podcast website: https://podcast.marsbased.com/

One day you're a developer, like all the rest, and then you're not one of them anymore. That's what happens when you go up the management ladder in technical teams.

You still want to code and be cool, but you have to be focused on business, fundraising, managing people, putting processes into place and talking to partners and the leadership team or even the board. Definitely, not what a developer has to do.

In this episode, we discuss at length with Pau Minoves (ex-CTO at Typeform) and Xavier Noria (Rails Core Member) about the solitude of the managers, especially in remote environments.

There's some intrinsic solitude in what was mentioned in the first two paragraphs, but throw in full-remote working environments and BOOM, the perfect equation for developing solitude and other mental issues, if not dealt with carefully.

We talk about the pandemic, challenges of managing people remotely, impostor syndrome, communication styles, leadership in rough times, the importance of offsites and company retreats, and much more.

Also, this is the last episode Àlex recorded with his iconic brick wall background!

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🎬 You can watch the video of this episode on the Life on Mars podcast website: https://podcast.marsbased.com/

We had our friend Mark from AWS calling in from Websummit last year, we also had Jorge Jaramillo recording his podcast episode in a camper van, and now it's the time for someone to record from his car!

Jonas Rinde, serial entrepreneur in the Nordic region of Europe, and current CEO of Nomono, shares with us a masterclass of calculating risks and taking decisions at critical times, mixing his experience in extreme sports and high-level management in big corporations.

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🎬 You can watch the video of this episode on the Life on Mars podcast website: https://podcast.marsbased.com/

Breaking news: Factorial raised 123.5MM in a series C funding round led by Atomico and Tiger Global, and Kantox has sold to BNP Paribas for 120MM.

Both companies are built with Ruby on Rails, which might sound as irrelevant, but it's also great news for the technology and for its ecosystem.

In this episode, Àlex rambles on for 20 minutes about how these companies are showing the potential of B2B in Barcelona and how they should spearhead the third wave of startups in the city. Àlex also talks at length about the previous two waves and how they differed from one another.

Yeah, we also didn't have a speaker for this week. You guessed right!

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🎬 You can watch the video of this episode on the Life on Mars podcast website: https://podcast.marsbased.com/

This episode will see us discussing text input and how to build keyboards for smartphones with Olivier Plante, CEO at Fleksy.

Olivier has had a fruitful career in entrepreneurship but our paths didn't cross until some of the first Startup Grind events we organised in Barcelona, where he came and pitched his latest invention, ThingThing, a most flexible smartphone keyboard. A Swiss army knife of sorts, if you will, that integrated with other apps to manage files and other stuff within the conversation, without ever leaving the context of the app.

In this conversation, Àlex and Olivier nerd out about how to get your custom keyboards into your smartphone, how they hacked iOS before the keyboard APIs were public, how Fleksy found a niche market in pharma, and how they're helping big players in the industry to detect early signs of neurological decline with their platform.

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🎬 You can watch the video of this episode on the Life on Mars podcast website: https://podcast.marsbased.com/

Remote worker solitude is something that strikes within 12-18 months of working remotely. We all suffer from it yet very few speak about it publicly.

As an officeless company, we have to be very aware of this, and coach people into spotting it and dealing with it correctly. That's why we have decided to normalise it, speaking about it publicly, on our blog, on our podcast, and so forth.

In this occasion, we speak with two friends of the company: Nikki Parsons and Sara Ronzero.

We discuss home office setup, the importance of documentation, the definition of productivity, personal schedules and mental bandwidth optimisation, how to deal with this with your partner/housemates/family and much more.

Also, Sara is a strong contender for fanciest drink category on the upcoming Life on Mars awards.

🎬 You can watch the video of this episode on the Life on Mars podcast website: https://podcast.marsbased.com/

Support the show

🎬 You can watch the video of this episode on the Life on Mars podcast website: https://podcast.marsbased.com/

In this episode, our CEO Àlex Rodríguez Bacardit, devotes some time to answer questions from our friends from in- and outside of business, clients and other people we admire.

Àlex rambles on for half an hour giving answer to the following questions:

• Who's the most brilliant individual you've ever worked with?
• What are your business weaknesses and what do you want to improve on?
• When are you going to launch the Startup Grind Mars chapter?
• What are the pros and cons of founding companies with friends?
• How do you establish a company culture in a remote environment and how to keep the team aligned?
• What drove you to start the company?
• What are the main excuses people have to procrastinate on launching their startup?

Many thanks to Marc Collado, Josh Feldberg, Clemens from Barcinno, German from Exedra, Francisco Javier and Joan for the questions!

🎬 You can watch the video of this episode on the Life on Mars podcast website: https://podcast.marsbased.com/

Support the show

🎬 You can watch the video of this episode on the Life on Mars podcast website: https://podcast.marsbased.com/

Back in the day, pre-pandemics and whatnot, we used to organise an annual conference called Startup Grind Tech. Oh, boy, long gone are those days.

We hosted Carlota Pi, former CMO of HolaLuz, in her new role as chairwoman, to discuss their TV marketing campaign and marketing at scale.

Carlota breaks down and shares all the learnings from that campaign, their revenues, their spend, how they sweated bullets when nothing happened for the first days and more.

Funny story, Àlex messed up with the time scheduled for that session and cut it short, so here's a condensed version of the HolaLuz story!

🎬 You can watch the video of this episode on the Life on Mars podcast website: https://podcast.marsbased.com/

Support the show

🎬 You can watch the video of this episode on the Life on Mars podcast website: https://podcast.marsbased.com/