Makers.dev

Makers.dev

By Chris Achard and Christian GencoBusinessEntrepreneurshipMarketing
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Makers.dev episodes

  • 71 $183.60 per hour

    Christian calculates his consulting rate per hour. Chris soft launched saastips.com and was immediately overwhelmed by email bot signups. After fixing that problem, it led to three new SaaS ideas. 


     00:00 Intro 
     02:57 Launching saastips.com 
     12:25 Fixing fake bot email signups 
     18:54 Hot take #1: email signup saas 
     23:55 Hot take #1.5: better newsletter sending UI 
     32:29 Hot take #2: Marketing Changelog 
     39:11 $183.60 per hour 
     51:45 Back to SaaS 
     57:14 Hot take #3: Face follower 
     
     Timestamps created with https://clips.marketing by @cgenco 

    1 hr 6 min
  • 70 Creating Successful Chrome Extensions with Tim Leland

    We chat with Tim Leland who runs a link shortener (t.ly) and a weather extension. We cover how he came up with the ideas, how he developed and marketed them, and where he sees the future of his products and Chrome extensions in general.



    00:00 Intro

    00:22 Tim Leland's start as a developer

    05:24 The Chrome Extension Marketplace

    09:52 Security concerns about Chrome extensions

    16:21 Chrome change create opportunities for new developers

    20:13 400k active users

    21:48 How t.ly works and compares to other link shorteners

    29:28 Marketing playbook

    33:01 Chrome extension marketplace tips

    37:15 Malicious chrome apps

    40:35 How to make money with a Chrome extension

    42:54 The hard parts of running a link shortener

    49:40 What's next for t.ly?

    55:19 Other marketing channels

    01:00:56 Be simple technically, focus on marketing

    01:03:05 Where to follow Tim


    Timestamps created with https://clips.marketing by @cgenco


    Where to find Tim online:


    https://twitter.com/Tim_Leland

    https://timleland.com/migrate-chrome-extensions-to-manifest-v3/

    https://timleland.com/extensions/
    1 hr 5 min
  • 69 MicroConf Growth '22 Takeaways

    We both share our takeaways from Microconf.



    00:00 Intro

    00:37 Microconf growth '22

    07:46 Takeaway #1: Focus instead of niche

    13:16 Takeaway #2: Buying is harder than selling

    19:35 subpoint: have a buyers guide

    27:18 Takeaway #3: It's OK to optimize for experience instead of growth

    39:05 Tall poppy syndrome

    41:37 Excited for SaaS again

    46:20 A nice little Italian restaurant on the internet

    50:28 Hot take #1: Google voice style frontend for Twilio

    55:20 Hot take #2: Tree map for expenses in QuickBooks

    01:02:00 Fixed audio


    Timestamps created with https://clips.marketing by @cgenco


    🚽 “How to Craft a Story that Sells” by April Dunford: https://www.recap.app/april-dunford

    🔍”How to Go-To-Market Across Many Verticals” by Asia Orangio: https://www.recap.app/asia-orangio

    🐎”Ending Well: The Complex Psychology of Exiting Your Company” by Sherry Walling: https://www.recap.app/sherry-walling

    ☑️The 7-Figure To Do List: 29 Tactics To Level-Up Your Business In 60 Minutes or Less by Rob Walling: https://www.recap.app/rob-walling-2022

    🚀”Here’s the exact method I used to scale to $100k MRR in 12 months”: https://twitter.com/nathanbarry/status/1512782207508643845

    🌳Grand Perspective’s tree map: http://grandperspectiv.sourceforge.net/

    🍝 “​​Nice Italian restaurant of the internet”: https://youtu.be/0CDXJ6bMkMY
    1 hr 3 min
  • 68 Close to feature complete

    Chris almost has Acorn Chat feature complete and ready to submit to the Slack app store. Christian is getting close to finishing the serverless FileInbox v1. Also we talk about RSI and using voice commands as a potential way to limit injury.



    00:00 Intro

    00:37 Expectation maximization

    06:06 Acorn Chat

    09:10 Screenshots and video marketing

    12:55 Simple can be a differentiating factor

    17:50 New Kaggle competition - are patents good or bad?

    28:21 AI can be both good and bad

    31:48 All the Music

    33:49 The Gap

    35:48 FileInbox recording, uploading, and downloading

    41:25 RSI causes and fixes

    44:44 Talon voice control

    49:22 Home automation architecture


    Timestamps created with https://clips.marketing by @cgenco


    🔍 "The Gap" by Ira Glass: https://youtu.be/91FQKciKfHI

    🎼 All the Music project: https://youtu.be/sJtm0MoOgiU

    🎧 All The Music player: https://gen.co/allthemusic
    1 hr 1 min
  • 67 Doing work for friends: paid or free?

    Chris is almost ready to submit his Slack app to the Slack app directory. Christian tries to figure out how to charge for work he wants to do for a friend. Christian also has ideas about home automation. 


     00:00 Intro 
     01:08 Kaggle essay competition 
     08:16 Building a Slack app 
     09:32 The amount of time things take to get done 
     17:09 Administrative poms 
     20:12 Home automation 
     37:50 Doing work for friends: paid or free? 
     52:48 Fileinbox update 
     55:36 Naming things is hard 
     
     Timestamps created with https://clips.marketing by @cgenco

    1 hr 1 min
  • 66 Why developers are bad at marketing

    MeetingPlace is sold, so Chris is working on his next SaaS. Christian keeps getting stuff done on FileInbox, and wonders when he can actually fly with his paramotor.



    00:00 Intro

    02:28 Microaquired

    09:29 SaaS feelings

    13:23 Why developers are bad at marketing

    16:31 What is the core functionality?

    17:58 AcornChat development roadmap

    22:31 Kaggle update

    28:50 Getting work done one step at a time

    44:42 Hobbies


    Timestamps created with https://clips.marketing by @cgenco
    54 min
  • 65 Selling MeetingPlace Part 2

    Chris finalizes the sale of MeetingPlace. Christian worries that he's getting too productive.



    00:00 Intro

    01:03 Completing the sale of MeetingPlace

    11:33 Should Christian sell something?

    15:01 Data science

    16:14 Coworking progress

    21:30 Open vs closed mode of working

    32:09 Admin work

    38:49 Three Body Problem

    40:29 Paramotor Adventure


    Timestamps created with https://clips.marketing by @cgenco
    43 min
  • 64 Selling a SaaS

    Chris sells a SaaS! Christian tries to figure out what makes him productive. [Sorry for the audio quality! - it gets better next week]



    00:07 Slava Ukraini

    03:31 Selling MeetingPlace

    08:43 Advice for selling a SaaS

    11:21 Strategy to build apps just to sell

    13:53 Motivation to sell

    16:15 SaaS valuation calculations

    20:30 Data competitions

    22:51 Accountability buddy effectiveness

    27:03 Time estimates are hard

    30:41 Another app idea

    33:05 So easily tricked

    34:16 Open vs Closed mode

    36:58 Goals for the next week

    41:26 Administrative stuff

    45:18 Talking openly about work issues

    48:24 Audio quality

    49:05 Allergies


    Timestamps created with https://clips.marketing by @cgenco


    The Killer Combo of Free Content with Paid Promotion – Jordan Gal – MicroConf Growth 2018: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9aLKqRuS7A
    51 min
  • 63 Accountability buddies

    Microconf is in 40 days! We talk about what we want to accomplish before then, and come up with a strategy to hold each other accountable and get stuff done.



    00:00 Intro

    01:18 MicroConf in 1.5 months

    04:07 The next 40 days

    10:22 Accountability buddies

    15:13 AI competitions

    19:13 Tesla safe driving score

    24:20 Writing mini blog posts

    31:42 Paramotoring

    33:45 Flashcard app

    38:54 The big SaaS idea for a flashcard app

    42:17 Neuroticism


    Timestamps created with https://clips.marketing by @cgenco
    46 min
  • 62 Have you ever made a french fry?

    Chris has to relearn a bunch of math and tries to figure out how to teach it as well. Christian has a new way to try to get things done by delaying work on his fun projects.



    00:00 Intro

    03:08 ML Math

    08:16 Teaching as you're learning

    17:57 Games that you can't lose

    22:08 Anki flashcards app

    31:55 New tactic to get things done

    36:04 Making clear priorities for Christian's assistant

    40:18 Have you ever made a french fry?

    45:11 Tesla roadtrip

    50:53 Paramotoring

    57:08 FSD Beta 10


    Timestamps created with https://clips.marketing by @cgenco
    1 hr 3 min

About Makers.dev

From the publisher's feed

Chris and Christian build some software businesses.