In this episode, the hosts interview Adrian Marin, the creator of Avo, to discuss his journey from PHP and Node.js to Ruby on Rails. Adrian shares insights into the development of Avo, an internal tools and operations framework for Ruby on Rails apps, and the challenges he faced transitioning from a developer to a business owner. He also touches on the importance of positioning, marketing, and sales in building a successful product. Furthermore, Adrian talks about organizing the Friendly RB conference to foster community and knowledge sharing in the Ruby on Rails ecosystem.

00:00 Introduction and Guest Welcome
00:19 Discovering Ruby on Rails
01:34 The Birth of Avo
03:39 Challenges in Marketing and Sales
04:49 Transitioning from Developer to Business Owner
06:32 Insights on Business Development
08:35 TinySeed and Team Expansion
11:29 Understanding Avo's Use Cases
16:41 Integrating Avo into Existing Apps
17:27 Engineers' Weekend Experimentation
18:26 Building and Transitioning to Avo
20:24 Challenges and Benefits of SaaS
23:23 Managing Feature Requests and Development
27:03 Organizing the Friendly RB Conference
32:42 Conclusion and Contact Information

LINKS

- Adrian's X/Twitter

- Adrian's LinkedIn

- Friendly.rb

- Avo.cool

- Ryan's Website

- Brendan's X/Twitter

- Brendan's Bluesky

Send us a text

The hosts welcome back Jason Swett to the podcast. He discusses the recent Sin City Ruby conference, including notable highlights such as having Dave Thomas as the keynote speaker. Jason provides insights into the conference's history, the challenges of organizing events in Las Vegas and the financial factors leading to the decision to discontinue Sin City Ruby. Other topics covered include Jason's personal perspective on balancing multiple professional commitments, and some Docker debugging.

00:00 Welcome Back, Jason!
00:09 Sin City Ruby Recap
01:22 Dave Thomas: The Keynote Surprise
03:08 Conference Highlights and Extracurriculars
04:34 Challenges and Future of the Conference
11:13 New Beginnings: Jason's Career Shift
18:36 Improving Developer Onboarding
22:08 Challenges with Docker and Testing
24:12 Exploring Docker Configuration Issues
29:22 Balancing Multiple Projects and Burnout
32:26 Deciding What to Cut
35:48 The Value of Podcasting and Networking
37:16 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Links:

- Jason's Website

- Jason's Podcast

- Jason's Book

- Ryan's Website

- Brendan's X/Twitter

- Brendan's Bluesky

Send us a text

In this episode, Colleen Schnettler, co-founder of the SaaS Marketing Gym, shares the challenges and successes of building SaaS businesses, and her current work coaching technical founders on effective marketing strategies. The conversation also covers various other topics like AI role in marketing content, Rails Upgrades and more.

00:00 Introduction to Colleen Schneller
00:14 Colleen's Journey into Programming
02:49 The Birth of SaaS Marketing Gym
05:32 Challenges and Insights in Marketing
08:44 Tailoring Marketing Strategies for Founders
17:43 The Role of AI in Marketing
19:41 AI Struggles with Nuance
19:56 AI in Cold Emailing: A Disaster Story
20:48 Using AI for Research
22:48 Rails Upgrade Challenges
23:29 Active Storage Encryption Issues
29:07 Front-End Framework Dilemmas
32:25 Maintaining Software vs. Rewriting
33:40 Conclusion and Contact Information

Notes

- Colleen's LinkedIn

- Colleen's X/Twitter

- Colleen's Bluesky

- Ryan's Website

- Brendan's X/Twitter

- Brendan's Bluesky

Send us a text

In this episode, the hosts explore the challenges of technical debt (tech debt) and delve deeply into effective project management strategies. They highlight the importance of categorizing tasks using a backlog system and explain how they utilize tools like Trello for tracking. Additionally, they explore the PARA method for organizing digital life and managing projects effectively.

00:00 Introduction to Tech Debt
00:11 Defining Tech Debt
00:20 Performance Issues as Tech Debt
02:36 Bugs vs. Design Defects
03:27 Prioritizing and Managing Tech Debt
06:20 Organizing the Backlog
07:05 Using Trello for Project Management
15:19 The PARA Method
19:09 Daily Workflow and Prioritization
23:01 Final Thoughts on Tech Debt

Send us a text

In this episode, Brendan and Ryan welcome John Nunemaker. John is a prominent figure in the Ruby community and, shares his journey into Ruby on Rails, his career evolution, and his unique approach to managing multiple projects simultaneously. There's also discussion around how John and the hosts use AI for their development work. Enjoy!

00:00 Introduction to John Nunemaker

00:19 John's Journey into Ruby and Rails

02:31 Current Projects and Ruby Usage

04:17 The Role of AI in Development

10:51 Balancing Multiple Projects

17:48 Balancing Responsibilities and Focus

19:04 Tracking Time for Productivity

20:06 Daily Huddle and Remote Team Management

20:38 Using Timers and Breaks for Efficiency

23:53 The Beauty and Productivity of Ruby on Rails

26:46 Consistency Across Front-End Frameworks

28:35 The Origin and Success of Box Out

32:56 Future Plans and API Development

34:41 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Notes

- John's X/Twitter

- John's Bluesky

- John's Website

- Ryan's Website

- Brendan's Bluesky

Send us a text

In this episode, Brendan is joined by Ryan Castillo, co-founder of Knowatoa, a platform dedicated to optimizing business visibility and accuracy across AI-driven search engines. Ryan shares insights on his background in software development, and how his journey led to the creation of Knowatoa. They discuss the origins of Knowatoa, and Ryan also shares experiences with AI tools like ChatGPT and Cursor that have been integral in their development processes.

00:00 Introduction and Guest Welcome

01:18 Ryan's Background and Journey with Rails

04:00 Technical Insights: Ruby, Rails, and Redis

09:37 Scaling Challenges and Solutions

12:45 Networking and Community Impact

16:15 Development Cycles and Marketing Strategies

19:00 AI Integration in Development

22:47 Origins and Evolution of Knowatoa

25:32 Conclusion and Contact Information

Links:

- Knowatoa

- Ryan Castillo's Blue Sky

- Ryan Castillo's LinkedIn

- Wafris SQLite Blog Post

- Ryan's Website

- Brendan's Bluesky

Send us a text

In this episode, Adam McCrea, owner of Judoscale, shares his journey from corporate IT to starting his own Platform as a Service (PaaS) business. Adam discusses his preference for Rails due to its productivity and developer happiness. The discussion also touches on the company's small team dynamics, marketing approaches, and the role of AI tools for development and business operations.

00:00 Introduction to Adam McCrea and Judoscale
00:22 Adam's Journey with Rails
04:59 Transition to Judoscale
05:17 Building and Scaling Judoscale
08:42 Technical Challenges and Solutions
13:05 Marketing and Growth Strategies
21:40 Future Plans and Final Thoughts

Links:

- Judoscale

- Adam's LinkedIn

- Adam's Bluesky

- Adam's Twitter/X

- Ryan's Website

- Brendan's Bluesky

Send us a text

In this episode, the hosts discuss the complexities of app development, particularly focusing on integrating third-party data feeds and maintaining data synchronization within a Rails application. They explore issues like managing incomplete or variable data, updating data based on third-party changes, and the broader challenges of integration. The conversation also delves into the prioritization of feature requests, handling customer feedback, and the balance between building in-house solutions and leveraging external tools. They reflect on their experiences with specific integrations like HubSpot and emphasize the significance of clear product vision and efficient management of development priorities.

00:40 Dealing with Incomplete Data in Event Feeds
01:16 Syncing and Updating Event Data
02:13 Integration Challenges with HubSpot
02:37 Source of Truth Dilemma
04:22 Sales and Marketing Integration Issues
06:51 Product-Led Growth and HubSpot Integration Goals
09:15 The Complexity of Building Custom Integrations
21:09 Balancing Customer Requests and Product Vision
24:37 Conclusion: Reflecting on Integration Requests

Links:

- Ryan's Website

- Brendan's Bluesky

Send us a text