The Modest Product Podcast: Recent Episodes
Steven Abadie, Dan Hulton
Join hosts Dan Hulton and Steven Abadie on their journey to create Modest Products and improve their lives. What is a Modest Product? Well, it's something like an anti-unicorn... You know what? Why not just tune in and find out!
0:30 - Steven reports in on the job search.
6:45 - Musings about why the job market is why it is right now.
14:35 - Where DO product ideas come from, anyway?
17:50 - We're all so very tired, and just don't have the spoons.
18:50 - Dan did indeed release Teams last week! And more info about upcoming plans.
24:00 - Dan's thinks he's going to make a game in August. But why?
26:15 - The viability of doing "alternate weeks" for product/marketing when you're burnt out and/or busy.
29:20 - A complicating factor...
0:20 - On getting back into exercising, and the perils that come with.
5:20 - Jobs, jobs, everywhere!
11:10 - The much-awaited kombucha update.
18:30 - Vaccination celebration!
30:00 - The Nodewood Teams release is live!
36:25 - Podcast recommendation: Slow & Steady
Links:
- https://www.slowandsteadypodcast.com/
- https://userlist.com/
- https://www.usepow.app/
- https://brianrhea.com/
0:20 - Dan gets on a Soapbox about Amazon propagandizing to children.
8:50 - Making sacrifices to stick to your principles.
13:10 - Dan talks about his plans for the first version of the Nodewood production deploy system.
17:20 - Dan gets some good news and gives updates for the final push towards the next release of Nodewood.
23:25 - Steven reports in about his journey into machine learning and data science!
25:50 - The trials and tribulations of making kombucha.
40:40 - Podcast Shoutout: FounderQuest
Links:
- https://www.pulumi.com/
- https://www.founderquestpodcast.com/
- https://www.honeybadger.io/
0:30 - Dan is way too easily influenced by videogames.
5:20 - Trying out a new schedule, to try to improve productivity.
11:00 - A little bit of a Nodewood progress report.
14:25 - Steven has been planning for the summer and rebuilding his personal site.
18:50 - Should you take the "published at" date off of articles?
24:45 - The temptation to turn hobbies into side hustles and why it happens.
55:05 - Podcast shoutout.
Links
- Steven's personal site: https://stevenabadie.com/
- The Art of Product podcast: https://artofproductpodcast.com/
- Giant Robots Smashing Into Other Giant Robots: https://www.giantrobots.fm/
0:30 - "Almost Post-COVID"
1:50 - Building an AI portfolio and finding good data
11:48 - Nodewood Teams progress and scope creep
15:13 - Taxes and VAT in particular
31:10 - We introduce our email address! hello@modprodpod.com
31:50 - Podcast shout-out: https://softwaresocial.dev/
0:30 - We're back!
2:30 - Browse Me Later goes on hold indefinitely.
8:20 - Machine Learning involves a whole bunch of math, it turns out!
13:30 - Finding data science portfolio projects.
19:35 - The ins and outs of building a modern AI portfolio site.
24:00 - Dan talks a bit about burnout, recovery, and everything in the way.
26:50 - Business ideas via Shower Thoughts.
33:33 - A recap of The Basecamp Situation.
38:50 - Bill & Ted talk about Basecamp. (This gets political.)
53:00 - We cannot help but talk about why "no politics at work" is awful.
59:20 - How "no politics" kills diversity and why this matters.
1:05:10 - Some news about our plans for episode releases going forward.
Links:
- https://www.kaggle.com/
- https://latex-project.org
- https://katex.org
- https://notion.so
- https://www.reform.app/
- https://usesummit.com/
- https://stackingthebricks.com/
- https://softwaresocial.dev/
0:20 - A break from the break!
1:50 - Steven introduces his hydroponics inventory control SaaS idea
4:50 - Problem #1: Distribution
7:15 - Problem #2: Custom development
8:30 - Problem #3: Significant setup & support
11:00 - Problem #4: Market not ready for off-the-shelf software
16:05 - Some clarifications on scope and distribution
18:45 - Problem #5: Too early to build as a solo founder, would need a team to market & grow
21:00 - Dan introduces his apartment buzzer password service
23:30 - Problem #1: Can't dogfood it anymore!
24:00 - Problem #2: It's a B2C product
24:40 - Problem #3: Downtime is CATASTROPHIC.
28:50 - Problem #4: May not provide enough value to convince people to pay for it.
34:00 - Wrap-up!
We're taking a short break! As we evaluate new business ideas, we wanted to give those ideas some room to breathe without trying to force them into easily-digestible podcast bites each week. We hope to be back in early May with fresh ideas, topics, and conversation!
0:50 - A change to the format to the show.
6:35 - The merits of rye vs bourbon.
9:00 - Steven talks about potential next steps involving WordPress.
26:10 - Google not prioritizing AMP sites anymore?
31:40 - How to reach your target market?
35:25 - A bet is made about the Ever Given.
36:00 - Steven takes a drastic step.
40:10 - We talk about the brand-new album from Genghis Tron and our... unique music tastes.
48:05 - A few final notes on the new format for the show.
2:30 - Steven's experimenting with AWS AppSync.
6:08 - Oh, God, DST. Really makes sending Browse Me Later emails at a specific time kinda tricky...
13:30 - We talk about why we haven't written any blog posts in a while and how we plan on fixing that.
15:55 - Microconf Remote!
17:15 - Tax season is upon us again.
19:00 - Dan's just takin 'er easy and trying to dodge burnout.
20:35 - An accidental refund. =(
22:45 - Dan went on the MegaMaker Jam! An interesting framework to help pick a product.
27:40 - Twitter Spaces, and on the virtues of audio-only networking.
30:30 - More on picking products.
Episode links:
- What Should I Build?
0:30 - Snowstorms and changing climates
5:00 - A bit of vindication about working with Nodewood
9:25 - The joys of fiber internet
13:15 - Steven's making great progress on Browse Me Later, and we talk about regular expressions for a bunch
19:30 - Talking about alpha plans for Browse Me Later
22:15 - Restarting marketing for Browse Me Later
0:35 - Dan unveils I Paid The Most!
1:50 - We explain, and then rip on, NFTs
8:40 - The history of I Paid The Most, and how it's being built.
12:13 - What's next for Nodewood, and for Dan?
19:25 - Steven's hitting his stride!
21:15 - Concerns about scaling in AWS and preventing abuse.
30:30 - Steven's plans for an alpha for Browse Me Later.
31:20 - Talking about attending Microconf Remote, and if their latest attempt to make up for in-person socializing will work.
39:55 - Zapier buys MakerPad, and the future of NoCode.
0:30 - Dan is going very fast!
3:50 - Steven is exploring other ideas, and thoughts on starting with marketing vs. starting with sales.
14:44 - Steven's been going to Gatsbyconf, and what makes for a good virtual conference.
17:05 - Tweetdeck, and how to get the most out of Twitter.
23:00 - Nodewood 0.16.0 is out! And so is 0.16.1! There's a story here...
25:15 - You win some, you lose some, and thoughts about how and why to keep in contact with customers to lower churn.
38:40 - Rejected from TinyAds?
41:00 - Tales of home-made jerky, and other wonderful smells.
Links:
- Julian Shapiro's tweet about how to cleverly use Twitter
0:40 - The trouble with virtual conferences
15:50 - Learning Lambda at AWS
19:45 - "Simple" Email Service at AWS
24:40 - Hot, hot, hot module reloading!
30:15 - TinyAds... Remember webrings?
32:50 - Software Ideas and Dan's Next Big Thing
38:10 - Little improvements to Nodewood
41:40 - Oh no, Daft Punk!
44:45 - Perseverance... persevered!
0:37 - Speeding up Docker on MacOS
6:56 - Dan completely misses a joke about Canonical being creepy in the news
9:13 - Another nice milestone for Nodewood!
10:57 - Considering Referrals & Affiliates for Nodewood
13:00 - New Years Resolutions and Goal Setting
22:22 - Roadblocks in the path of Browse Me Later
24:49 - When does it make sense to start/stop pre-marketing?
34:33 - Off-topic: weird SEO results
36:00 - Perseverance!
0:45 - We talk about videogames for a bit, specifically Valheim, where you get to be a viking.
6:45 - Steven wants to make all your decisions for you!
9:00 - Figuring out how to figure out how links should work.
13:55 - Chrome's browser extension development docs need some love.
16:10 - We debate what the primary interaction for Browse Me Later should look like.
20:05 - Nodewood is in open beta! Now how to market it...?
22:10 - Musing on people who don't want to pay any money at all.
26:00 - Dan spills the beans on what he MIGHT be working on next.
31:34 - Dan spills the beans on what he WON'T be working on next.
36:28 - What's next for Nodewood - probably a lot of SEO, honestly.
39:03 - Maybe app marketplaces are the next big thing?
0:30 - Introducing our special guest, Lesley Sim of Newsletter Glue!
4:38 - Talking about Newsletter Glue's pro service launch.
9:16 - How Lesley got started building in the WordPress community.
10:00 - Is modern WordPress better to develop in than it used to be?
18:55 - Balancing a lot of work on a little energy.
21:13 - "So what are you guys doing for marketing?"
24:00 - Post-launch feelings and dealing with The January Blahs.
31:20 - What's next for Newsletter Glue?
34:35 - How paid newsletters are changing the monetization landscape for websites.
39:40 - Inbox as ToDo list.
0:45 - Minecraft with nuclear reactors, and Factorio games?
4:45 - Nodewood updates, balanced with new day job.
7:35 - A Nodewood sale, and simple customer lifecycle management.
17:50 - Steven's focus? New landing page complete! Setting up blog to improve SEO.
20:40 - Tackling email, and a critical AWS SES tip.
23:49 - Is it even possible to avoid Amazon?
26:45 - Contracting is a LOT of work. Is a full-time job easier to manage while working on a side-project?
0:35 - We wanna go back outside. =(
2:20 - Steven is refining his target market segment and messaging.
9:20 - Derrick Reimer, and a masterclass in messaging.
17:40 - The day job(s) get in the way of Nodewood.
19:00 - Recording videos for Nodewood marketing.
23:00 - Falling into the trap of A/B testing & personalization.
26:40 - Planning Nodewood's future based on users and critical features.
0:40 - The coup, how it affected us, and how big effects SHOULD affect us.
9:10 - Focusing on speed or learning when building Browse Me Later?
14:00 - Wrapping & Alternatives to AWS Services.
19:05 - On Pivoting and Inspiration.
20:10 - Making those Etsy sales!
23:30 - Nodewood competitor analysis & the trouble with recording explainer videos.
0:40 - Nodewood soft launch, part 1
1:50 - Reconsidering how we use the internet
5:45 - The Tale of Bean Dad
10:15 - On writing more, or more deliberately
21:20 - Browse Me Later updates and plans
24:10 - Nodewood soft launch, part 2
31:00 - Nodewood roadmap: more marketing & Teams
35:00 - Oh hey, we launched a podcast!
0:40 - Dan is changing everything... about Nodewood's documentation, at least
5:30 - Video tutorials vs text tutorials
9:50 - Getting ready for Nodewood open beta
12:30 - Nodewood pricing
14:35 - Annual vs Monthly pricing
17:00 - Post-trial save emails & customer loyalty
20:00 - Steven needs sleep, and here's why
23:00 - Upcoming plans for Browse Me Later
24:00 - The trials and tribulations when sending email
38:00 - Transactional email - are they secretly sales emails?
Links mentioned in the show:
https://www.litmus.com/
0:30 - Steven is undecided
4:10 - Can you ask for feedback too early?
8:45 - The definition of success
10:00 - Privacy-focused products
14:50 - Bring back webrings!
17:00 - Dan is blowing things up
19:55 - Planning upgrade paths for Nodewood
25:10 - Refactoring Nodewood's documentation
34:00 - Mangool's SEO Suite & SEO as a tactic
42:20 - Stolen blog content
Links mentioned in the show:
https://mangools.com/
0:40 - The Benefits of Journaling and Not Burning Out
6:00 - Dealing with Late Nights
9:40 - Finishing up Nodewood Documentation
12:50 - Adding support for Tailwind prefixes & tribulations with Tailwind 2.0
18:10 - Cleaning up Nodewood's rough edges
20:50 - Getting Feedback on Browse Me Later without sounding too "sales-ey"
37:00 - Comparing yourself & pacing yourself
39:30 - The motivation behind Browse Me Later
41:20 - On the merits of frameworks
45:30 - Working on the back-end of Browse Me Later
48:20 - Why have mobile apps?
56:00 - Pricing Browse Me Later
1:01:00 - Competing Against Free
1:05:45 - Sales Safari Workshop
Links mentioned in the show:
https://emailoctopus.com/
https://www.reddit.com/
0:30 - Introducing Browse Me Later
6:35 - Marketing to Indie Communities
9:00 - Advertising and SEO Tools
13:45 - Ethics in Advertising
17:45 - Content Marketing
24:00 - Nodewood Launch & Marketing Plans
29:20 - Setting Goals & Stoic Philosophy
35:05 - Nodewood Beta Progress (Windows is Haunted)
38:50 - Tutorial/Introduction Videos for Nodewood
46:20 - Documentation as SEO
48:00 - Competing in a Large Market
52:45 - Search Engine Advertising Effectiveness
58:45 - More complaining about Windows
Links mentioned in the show:
https://ahrefs.com/
https://keywordplanner.net/
https://neilpatel.com/ubersuggest/
https://www.sanity.io/
https://clicky.com
https://usefathom.com/
https://matomo.org/
0:10 - Introduction
0:25 - Nodewood feedback about Ansible
3:20 - Talkin' about Docker
7:20 - Production deploy changes
11:10 - License changes
14:25 - Adding a video to the marketing website
16:10 - Have you considered streaming?
20:00 - Snowstorms and slowdown
20:45 - Swingin' Consulting
22:05 - Data science tools and widening scope
26:00 - Be a profit centre, not a cost centre
28:00 - Anyone who's succeeded has usually failed, spectacularly
29:00 - The pottery thing
32:45 - On how pottery is not quite like business
34:00 - "Oh no, they're going to Jira it all up!" (Said about Trello.)
35:50 - Being responsible to your customers and employees.
37:30 - On knowing when to fold 'em.
38:55 - The value being NOT changing things.
40:30 - A different interpretation of moving fast and breaking things.
0:00 - Introduction
0:30 - Not Necessarily Small!
1:40 - Benefit Corporations
2:25 - The Opposite of a Unicorn
3:35 - Investment Not Necessary
4:55 - Low Customer Support Burden
6:55 - Outro