Escape Velocity: Recent Episodes
German Velasco and Sam Selikoff
A podcast about two developers trying to build profitable businesses. Hosted by German Velasco and Sam Selikoff.
Last week's episode never aired due to technical issues, but this week Sam and German are back! They talk about how much Build UI and Testing LiveView have made this year. Sam shares how pairing has been great for him and Ryan. German and Sam discuss the importance of thumbnails and titles for YouTube videos. And finally, German touches on what he wants to do next.
Sam and German are back! Sam shares an update on course progress, when Build UI will raise prices, and his focus on creating videos faster. German talks about his two areas of focus for the coming months: courses and a conference talk. He shares his new approach on researching material for a course. Then, they dive into a conversation about having a growth mindset – focusing on effort instead of outcomes, and the positive neurological effects that can have.
Links
- Build UI: https://buildui.com/
- Growth mindset episode on Huberman Lab: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/huberman-lab/id1545953110?i=1000621365285
- Elixir Streams: https://www.elixirstreams.com/
Sam gives an update on Build UI nearly three months after launching lifetime memberships. German talks about how his course launch went and considers what to focus on next.
Adam Wathan joins the show to talk about a new direction Sam could take for getting his video products up and running. They talk about ideas like releasing content incrementally, starting a private Discord forum, and hosting a weekly Q&A.
Adam also talks about some recent challenges he's been working through at his own business, Tailwind Labs, and shares some hard-earned lessons from his years of selling products – like why you shouldn't talk about pricing until a week before a new product launch.
Resources mentioned
- Sam's Framer Motion Course: https://samselikoff.com/framer-motion-course
- German's Testing LiveView Course: https://www.testingliveview.com/
- EmberMap: https://embermap.com/
- Build Your Personal Brand podcast episode: https://thefutur.com/podcast/build-your-brand
Resources mentioned:
- Sam's Framer Motion Course: https://samselikoff.com/framer-motion-course
- German's Testing LiveView Course: https://www.testingliveview.com/
- EmberMap: https://embermap.com/
Resources mentioned:
- Sam's Framer Motion Course: https://samselikoff.com/framer-motion-course
- German's Testing LiveView Course: https://www.testingliveview.com/
- EmberMap: https://embermap.com/
Diverge then converge is an exercise that is sometimes performed during Design Sprints.
- https://www.thesprintbook.com/the-design-sprint
- https://thoughtbot.com/product-design-sprint/guide/diverge
- https://thoughtbot.com/product-design-sprint/guide/converge
German submitted talks to Elixir Conf
- https://2022.elixirconf.com/
Courses we talked about
- Sam's Framer Motion course - https://samselikoff.com/framer-motion-course
- German's Testing LiveView course - https://www.testingliveview.com
Sam talks about a breakthrough he had while working on his course, which will allow him to both cut scope and also deliver more value to his students. German talks about some customer research he did for teams who want to share updates on their projects, while also working through a low-energy week and trying to figure out whether he needs more clarity on his long-term vision.
- The Mom Test book: http://momtestbook.com/
- The 4 Quadrants of Time Management from 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: https://www.franklincovey.com/habit-3/
German mentions how unsubscribes are gut punches and revisits 5 options for choosing a niche for his SaaS idea. Sam talks about how the first lesson of his course is taking longer than he wanted, but he wants to finish the first one to figure out more unknowns.
Sam and German talk about German's consulting load, Sam taking on more consulting, hourly billing vs billing per project, and how to stop trading time for money. Sam commits to completing a demo for the first lesson of his course, and German commits to narrowing down the scope of a potential product to find people to talk to.
Links referenced
- https://samselikoff.com/framer-motion-course
- https://germanvelasco.com/blog
German's and Sam's websites
- https://www.germanvelasco.com/
- https://samselikoff.com/
Sam's course landing page
- https://samselikoff.com/framer-motion-course
German's blog posts
- https://www.germanvelasco.com/blog