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The MetaMonster launch, pricing, and naming a product
Andrew just launched MetaMonster! Andrew and Sean dig into how the launch is going so far (spoiler alert: not great), whether the product is overpriced, and what to try next. Then the guys talk about the demo for Sean's new product and what to name it.
Links:
- Andrew’s Twitter: @AndrewAskins
- Andrew's website: https://www.andrewaskins.com/
- MetaMonster: https://metamonster.ai/
- Sean’s Twitter: @seanqsun
- Miscreants: http://miscreants.com/
- Sean's website: https://seanqsun.com/
For more information about the podcast, check out https://www.smalleffortspod.com/.
Transcript:
00:00:00.75
Sean
Welcome back. How is robotics?
00:00:02.92
Andrew
Robotics was good and bad. Bad good? Good bad?
00:00:07.35
Sean
Okay.
00:00:08.00
Andrew
So we got our butts kicked. Like, plain out, got our butts kicked.
00:00:10.85
Sean
Oh.
00:00:12.28
Andrew
We got there. The robots were insanely good, all of them. We played well. Like, there's this crazy advanced stats thing in robotics.
00:00:22.25
Andrew
Some probably, like, 20-year-old or something.
00:00:22.12
Sean
Yeah.
00:00:26.42
Andrew
built a website called StatBotics that pulls the live data from... All the live data is published through the site called the Blue Alliance from every match.
00:00:36.61
Andrew
And he runs that through some sort of equation, statistical...
00:00:40.43
Sean
Cool.
00:00:41.28
Andrew
thingy and creates he calls it EPA estimated points added which is supposed to because like robots always compete in teams of three and so EPA is like how much of your total score did you actually contribute to the the team estimated points added so anyway this is a long rambly way to say that like throughout the competition so we were
00:00:47.18
Sean
OK.
00:00:56.35
Sean
Oh, what what does what does EPA stand for?
00:01:00.84
Sean
OK, OK, gotcha. OK.
00:01:09.00
Andrew
There were 40 robots in on our field. 160 robots at the competition total, by the way. Four fields going simultaneously all right next to each other. So it's like pure chaos. It's wild. It's really fun and interesting and crazy.
00:01:22.28
Sean
Yeah. Sweet. sweet
00:01:23.97
Andrew
We go into the the weekend ranked top 20 in EPA, like maybe 17 or something like that. And our goal was to end up like around that range at the end of qualifiers like if we had ended up around that range gotten picked for playoffs we would have been a lock for worlds uh our epa stayed around that range like we were at one point as high as like 11 we finished 22 in epa and then like fluctuated kind of between that range so we were playing well our driver was driving well
00:02:00.39
Andrew
But we just got our butts kicked in the actual matches. And EPA is definitely not perfect. It's not everything. like you know It has a bunch of obvious flaws. And so like you know just because our EPA was good didn't mean we were doing well. but But like we had some hiccups here and there.
00:02:12.63
Sean
Yeah.
00:02:15.77
Andrew
But like objectively, I think the team, like the kids drove well. I think they played well. But we ended up ranked out 40th. so we just got whooped we hit we won one match the entire weekend
00:02:25.28
Sean
Damn.
00:02:30.61
Sean
But out of the top 40. Yeah.
00:02:34.09
Andrew
uh well top 160 like top 40 we there were 40 in our field 160 robots there total and most of the robots never play each other so you don't really know who the top 40 are
00:02:37.13
Sean
okay
00:02:46.33
Sean
I just meant like of the state.
00:02:48.19
Sean
cause
00:02:48.29
Andrew
Yeah.
00:02:48.68
Sean
because
00:02:49.17
Andrew
We were top 160. sixty Again, what I'm saying is like, 160 the state.
00:02:51.79
Sean
Yeah.
00:02:54.51
Sean
god i Got it, got it, got it.
00:02:55.25
Andrew
yeah
00:02:55.52
Sean
Makes sense.
00:02:57.41
Andrew
And so like that part sucked. like It sucked to lose a bunch of matches. it really You could tell it was like wearing on the kids. After a while, we had a little bit of drama that we had to work through with the team. like some you know you know it It was sort of getting to people, and it was causing some conflict and tension and stuff.
00:03:15.63
Andrew
But the good side of it is we worked through all of that. We got our first win. We celebrated the heck out of that.
00:03:25.17
Andrew
Celebrated the heck out of the seniors, you know, just, you know, making it to states and their senior season and all of that. And then really cool on Saturday.
00:03:35.58
Andrew
So that we didn't get picked for playoffs. so we just had Saturday to chill, which was honestly really nice and fun. And like, just got to spend a lot of time. Like the team got spend a lot of time bonding and hanging out and watching robots do cool robot shit.
00:03:49.53
Andrew
and then we were one of four teams who won an award called the rising all-stars award which is given to a team that is like has grown drastically and is on an upward trajectory which is exactly what we are and so that was really cool it was it was really cool to get that and so like
00:03:55.32
Sean
Sick. I love it.
00:04:03.57
Sean
love it
00:04:10.31
Andrew
Final rankings in the state, which again are imperfect in the same way that stats are imperfect and all this stuff, but final ranking in the state, we finished 91st in the state out of like 600 teams. So still objectively an incredible season, drastically overperformed where we thought we were going to be,
00:04:29.92
Andrew
The bar like just keeps getting raised every season. you know i think clearly our goal you know our goal for this season was to get to States. And now our goal for next season is pretty clearly get to Worlds.
00:04:43.00
Andrew
Which is just a crazy thing to say. Because like four years ago, 2020 season, this team was down to one kid.
00:04:44.94
Sean
Yeah, absolutely.
00:04:51.22
Andrew
And like barely getting a robot a functioning robot to competitions. Yeah.
00:04:55.84
Sean
Yeah.
00:04:56.24
Andrew
And now we're like, no, we think we can realistically compete for Worlds within the next few years.
00:05:03.07
Sean
I mean, that's awesome. Like, I hope everyone is super proud of all all of that. So that's pretty sweet.
00:05:08.54
Andrew
Yeah, I think they are. like Once they got over the initial losing streak, and then like we got the win, and then we got the award, and I think that the team was able to like feel really proud and really excited.
00:05:44.08
Sean
Nice.
00:05:20.89
Andrew
And yeah, a bunch of the kids are like excited for the offseason. They want to take on offseason projects, and they're like really excited for next season. Some kids who we might have lost because they were going to other schools want to come back and be part of the team, even if they go to another school. So like vibes were really good, even if we objectively got our butts kicked.
00:05:44.94
Sean
Well, nice. Good job. Good job. Good stuff.
00:05:47.71
An...
View all episodes
By Sean Sun and Andrew Askins
5
55 ratings
Andrew just launched MetaMonster! Andrew and Sean dig into how the launch is going so far (spoiler alert: not great), whether the product is overpriced, and what to try next. Then the guys talk about the demo for Sean's new product and what to name it.
Links:
- Andrew’s Twitter: @AndrewAskins
- Andrew's website: https://www.andrewaskins.com/
- MetaMonster: https://metamonster.ai/
- Sean’s Twitter: @seanqsun
- Miscreants: http://miscreants.com/
- Sean's website: https://seanqsun.com/
For more information about the podcast, check out https://www.smalleffortspod.com/.
Transcript:
00:00:00.75
Sean
Welcome back. How is robotics?
00:00:02.92
Andrew
Robotics was good and bad. Bad good? Good bad?
00:00:07.35
Sean
Okay.
00:00:08.00
Andrew
So we got our butts kicked. Like, plain out, got our butts kicked.
00:00:10.85
Sean
Oh.
00:00:12.28
Andrew
We got there. The robots were insanely good, all of them. We played well. Like, there's this crazy advanced stats thing in robotics.
00:00:22.25
Andrew
Some probably, like, 20-year-old or something.
00:00:22.12
Sean
Yeah.
00:00:26.42
Andrew
built a website called StatBotics that pulls the live data from... All the live data is published through the site called the Blue Alliance from every match.
00:00:36.61
Andrew
And he runs that through some sort of equation, statistical...
00:00:40.43
Sean
Cool.
00:00:41.28
Andrew
thingy and creates he calls it EPA estimated points added which is supposed to because like robots always compete in teams of three and so EPA is like how much of your total score did you actually contribute to the the team estimated points added so anyway this is a long rambly way to say that like throughout the competition so we were
00:00:47.18
Sean
OK.
00:00:56.35
Sean
Oh, what what does what does EPA stand for?
00:01:00.84
Sean
OK, OK, gotcha. OK.
00:01:09.00
Andrew
There were 40 robots in on our field. 160 robots at the competition total, by the way. Four fields going simultaneously all right next to each other. So it's like pure chaos. It's wild. It's really fun and interesting and crazy.
00:01:22.28
Sean
Yeah. Sweet. sweet
00:01:23.97
Andrew
We go into the the weekend ranked top 20 in EPA, like maybe 17 or something like that. And our goal was to end up like around that range at the end of qualifiers like if we had ended up around that range gotten picked for playoffs we would have been a lock for worlds uh our epa stayed around that range like we were at one point as high as like 11 we finished 22 in epa and then like fluctuated kind of between that range so we were playing well our driver was driving well
00:02:00.39
Andrew
But we just got our butts kicked in the actual matches. And EPA is definitely not perfect. It's not everything. like you know It has a bunch of obvious flaws. And so like you know just because our EPA was good didn't mean we were doing well. but But like we had some hiccups here and there.
00:02:12.63
Sean
Yeah.
00:02:15.77
Andrew
But like objectively, I think the team, like the kids drove well. I think they played well. But we ended up ranked out 40th. so we just got whooped we hit we won one match the entire weekend
00:02:25.28
Sean
Damn.
00:02:30.61
Sean
But out of the top 40. Yeah.
00:02:34.09
Andrew
uh well top 160 like top 40 we there were 40 in our field 160 robots there total and most of the robots never play each other so you don't really know who the top 40 are
00:02:37.13
Sean
okay
00:02:46.33
Sean
I just meant like of the state.
00:02:48.19
Sean
cause
00:02:48.29
Andrew
Yeah.
00:02:48.68
Sean
because
00:02:49.17
Andrew
We were top 160. sixty Again, what I'm saying is like, 160 the state.
00:02:51.79
Sean
Yeah.
00:02:54.51
Sean
god i Got it, got it, got it.
00:02:55.25
Andrew
yeah
00:02:55.52
Sean
Makes sense.
00:02:57.41
Andrew
And so like that part sucked. like It sucked to lose a bunch of matches. it really You could tell it was like wearing on the kids. After a while, we had a little bit of drama that we had to work through with the team. like some you know you know it It was sort of getting to people, and it was causing some conflict and tension and stuff.
00:03:15.63
Andrew
But the good side of it is we worked through all of that. We got our first win. We celebrated the heck out of that.
00:03:25.17
Andrew
Celebrated the heck out of the seniors, you know, just, you know, making it to states and their senior season and all of that. And then really cool on Saturday.
00:03:35.58
Andrew
So that we didn't get picked for playoffs. so we just had Saturday to chill, which was honestly really nice and fun. And like, just got to spend a lot of time. Like the team got spend a lot of time bonding and hanging out and watching robots do cool robot shit.
00:03:49.53
Andrew
and then we were one of four teams who won an award called the rising all-stars award which is given to a team that is like has grown drastically and is on an upward trajectory which is exactly what we are and so that was really cool it was it was really cool to get that and so like
00:03:55.32
Sean
Sick. I love it.
00:04:03.57
Sean
love it
00:04:10.31
Andrew
Final rankings in the state, which again are imperfect in the same way that stats are imperfect and all this stuff, but final ranking in the state, we finished 91st in the state out of like 600 teams. So still objectively an incredible season, drastically overperformed where we thought we were going to be,
00:04:29.92
Andrew
The bar like just keeps getting raised every season. you know i think clearly our goal you know our goal for this season was to get to States. And now our goal for next season is pretty clearly get to Worlds.
00:04:43.00
Andrew
Which is just a crazy thing to say. Because like four years ago, 2020 season, this team was down to one kid.
00:04:44.94
Sean
Yeah, absolutely.
00:04:51.22
Andrew
And like barely getting a robot a functioning robot to competitions. Yeah.
00:04:55.84
Sean
Yeah.
00:04:56.24
Andrew
And now we're like, no, we think we can realistically compete for Worlds within the next few years.
00:05:03.07
Sean
I mean, that's awesome. Like, I hope everyone is super proud of all all of that. So that's pretty sweet.
00:05:08.54
Andrew
Yeah, I think they are. like Once they got over the initial losing streak, and then like we got the win, and then we got the award, and I think that the team was able to like feel really proud and really excited.
00:05:44.08
Sean
Nice.
00:05:20.89
Andrew
And yeah, a bunch of the kids are like excited for the offseason. They want to take on offseason projects, and they're like really excited for next season. Some kids who we might have lost because they were going to other schools want to come back and be part of the team, even if they go to another school. So like vibes were really good, even if we objectively got our butts kicked.
00:05:44.94
Sean
Well, nice. Good job. Good job. Good stuff.
00:05:47.71
An...