Giant Robots Smashing Into Other Giant Robots

Chad and Lindsey catch up with Alasdair McLean-Foreman, CEO & Founder of Teikametrics, as they head into the second half of the year discussing finding balance (especially when you love your work), examining 'what's our role' to make an impact in responding to national and global events, the importance of exercise in his life, and staying engaged with the product even as one's focus shifts more broadly in the company. This episode is brought to you by ScoutAPM. Give Scout a try for free today and Scout will donate $5 to the open source project of your choice when you deploy! Teikametrics The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else In Business- Patrick M. Lencioni Measure What Matters- John Doerr Alasdair on LinkedIn Become a Sponsor of Giant Robots!Special Guest: Teikametrics.

Lindsey and Chad discuss work-life flow, both in general and during quarantine, their schedules, hobbies, and methods to preserve personal time like time-boxing, prioritization, and calendar blocking. This episode is brought to you by ScoutAPM. Give Scout a try for free today and Scout will donate $5 to the open source project of your choice when you deploy! We need to stop striving for work-life balance. Here’s why Calendly AllTrails Dungeons & Dragons Online table.party Pivoting to Antiracism Become a Sponsor of Giant Robots!

Chad and Lindsey are joined by Michael Sheeley, founder & CEO of Nurse-1-1, to discuss prioritizing revenue, their revenue models, why sales at their stage is more like business development, and considering your first 'sales' hire. Nurse-1-1 Utilization Management White Paper Michael on Twitter Special Guest: Nurse-1-1.

Chad and Lindsey talk with Courtney & Tye Caldwell, Co-founders of ShearShare, about all the different forms that sales can take, their revenue model, the importance of personal outreach, and building trust through content marketing. ShearShare ShearShare - Build My Business ShearShare on Instagram Special Guest: ShearShare.

Chad and Lindsey talk with Alasdair McLean-Foreman, CEO & Founder of Teikametrics, about product-led direct-to-consumer as the future of sales, capturing multiple market segments, and sales structure within Teikametrics. Teikametrics Facebook Shops Alasdair on LinkedIn Become a Sponsor of Giant Robots!Special Guest: Teikametrics.

Chad and Lindsey discuss thoughtbot's ideology around sales, the sales process & cycle, identifying your ideal customers, and fostering real relationships with customers. GitHub is now free for all teams a16z Podcast Become a Sponsor of Giant Robots!

We’re pushing out our next episode in the Giant Robots startup series. We want to pause to acknowledge, reflect, and take action against injustices against the black community. thoughtbot stands with the black community. We’re outraged by the systematic racism and violence in the US. George Floyd, Tony McDade, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin, and too many other members of the black community have lost their lives due to racial injustice. It needs to end. We recognize we haven’t been doing enough to fight this injustice and need to be active in anti-racism. Our D&I council and many others on the thoughtbot team are discussing how we can do more and are working on new initiatives to better support our black colleagues, friends, and beyond - far into the future. We're looking to do things both large and small. For example, this week we changed our conference reimbursement benefit to only be applicable to conferences that have a diverse speaker lineup and a code of conduct. We hope our efforts will be useful to others as well, and plan to make them available to other companies to work from. In the meantime, we’re going to link to a reading list that we recommend. Today we’re resharing a past episode that features a black voice in the tech community that we look up to and you should know - Shelly Bell. Shelly is the founder of Black Girl Ventures, an organization that creates access to social and financial capital for Black and Brown women founders. She’s been named in the Top 100 Power Women by Entrepreneur Magazine and has a fantastic story you don’t want to miss. Stay safe and see you soon. 75 Things White People Can Do for Racial Justice How To Be An Antiracist- Ibram X. Kendi Behind By Design So You Want to Talk About Race- Ijeoma Oluo Save the Tears White Guyde To The Galaxy Black Tech for Black Lives Original Notes from Giant Robots Episode 354 Shelly Bell, CEO & Founder of Black Girl Ventures, discusses working to open up your messaging, what makes for a good pitch, and the current state of the investment landscape. Black Girl Ventures Ragbaby Exchange BEACON "Male and Female Entrepreneurs Get Asked Different Questions by VCs — and It Affects How Much Funding They Get"- Harvard Business Review SheRaise Shelly on Twitter

Chad and Lindsey are joined by Michael Sheeley, founder & CEO of Nurse-1-1, to discuss feeling disconnected from the team during quarantine, evaluating for communication skills during the interview process, how communication standards differ in the medical field, and avoiding AI & automation within patient conversations. Nurse-1-1 Michael on Twitter Become a Sponsor of Giant Robots!Special Guest: Nurse-1-1.

Chad and Lindsey talk with Courtney & Tye Caldwell, Co-founders of ShearShare, about being founded as remote company, their communication tools and methodologies, interview process, and messaging implementation. ShearShare Notion ShearShare Business Learning Portal ShearShare on Instagram Become a Sponsor of Giant Robots!Special Guest: ShearShare.

Chad and Lindsey talk with Alasdair McLean-Foreman, CEO & Founder of Teikametrics, about Teikametrics' guiding principles, Zoom fatigue, rethinking stances on remote work, the value of a peer group, and how retail is adapting during Covid-19. Teikametrics Coinbase planning and response to COVID-2019 Amazon '6 Pager' Methodology Trillion Dollar Coach: The Leadership Playbook of Silicon Valley's Bill Campbell- Eric Schmidt Good to Great- Jim Collins Alasdair on LinkedIn Become a Sponsor of Giant Robots!Special Guest: Teikametrics.

Chad and Lindsey discuss thoughtbot's methodology & tools for communication and collaboration, both in general and adapting them to a fully remote workplace, the pros and cons of this new environment, and approaching your work with optimism. This episode is brought to you by ExpressVPN. Click through to get three months for free. 37 Signals (Now Basecamp) thoughtbot Playbook Being Human in the Absence of Humans: A Q&A for Product Teams Become a Sponsor of Giant Robots!

Chad and Lindsey talk with Michael Sheeley, founder & CEO of Nurse-1-1, on learnings from their launch, challenges of building in the health-tech space, their approach to long-term planning, and the future of medicine in a post COVID-19 world. Nurse-1-1 Michael on Giant Robots Harvard Innovation Labs Zocdoc Partnership Net Promotor Score (NPS) Health-Related Google Searches Doubled in the Week Before Patients’ Emergency Department Visits- Penn Medicine Michael on Twitter Become a Sponsor of Giant Robots!Special Guest: Nurse-1-1.

Chad and Lindsey talk with Courtney & Tye Caldwell, Co-founders of ShearShare, about the history of the platform, how the beauty industry has been impacted by COVID-19, building yourself as a brand that people can trust, and how their product roadmap has adapted to the changing landscape. ShearShare ShearShare on Giant Robots Mentored by Failure- Tye Caldwell ShearShare Learning Portal Courtney on Twitter Tye on Twitter Become a Sponsor of Giant Robots!Special Guest: ShearShare.

Chad and Lindsey talk with Alasdair McLean-Foreman, CEO & Founder of Teikametrics, about the history of the platform, staying focused on the needs of your customers, shifting product requirements to meet your ideal buyer-personas, and their newly-minted formal product roadmap. This episode is brought to you by ExpressVPN. Click through to get three months for free. Teikametrics Aatish Salvi on Giant Robots The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company- Robert Iger The Everything Store- Brad Stone Retail optimization startup Teikametrics raises $15M as it expands beyond Amazon and beyond ads The Advantage- Patrick M. Lencioni Alasdair on LinkedIn Become a Sponsor of Giant Robots!Special Guest: Teikametrics.

Chad and Lindsey discuss their experiences around, and the pros and cons of, product road maps. Enroll in our free online-workshop on code audits How to supercharge your Rails application with a code audit Scott Miller on Giant Robots Quora Thread on companies with public product roadmaps AirPower is Dead. Here's What Happened Buffer’s Transparent Product Roadmap Slack Platform Roadmap GitHub Universe Conference Devon Zuegel on Giant Robots Wistia on Giant Robots Become a Sponsor of Giant Robots!

Chad and Lindsey announce Giant Robots' latest evolution as a long-form startup series, following three startups over the course of a year. Throughout the season we will celebrate the wins, learn from the setbacks, explore how they approach high-concept issues, and truly capture the arc of a year in the life of their startup! Enroll in our free online-workshop on going remote Being Human in the Absence of Humans: A Live Q&A for Product Teams Michael Sheeley on Giant Robots Nurse-1-1 Courtney & Tye Caldwell on Giant Robots ShearShare Aatish Salvi on Giant Robots Teikametrics Become a Sponsor of Giant Robots!

Anuj Adhiya, VP of Growth at Jamber, discusses 'growth' vs 'growth hacking', growing value through your north-star metric, A/B testing, and sustainability. This episode is brought to you by ExpressVPN. Click through to get three months for free. Jamber Growth Hacking For Dummies Karen Rubin on Giant Robots GrowthHackers AMA with Karen Rubin Pirate Metrics Anuj on Twitter Nerd-out about growth hacking w/ Anuj! See open positions at thoughtbot! Become a Sponsor of Giant Robots!

Scott Miller, CEO of Dragon Innovation and co-founder of Bolt, discusses building out manufacturing from a prototype, sustainability & environmentalism, and working with thoughtbot to validate a software idea. Dragon Innovation Bolt Dragon Standard BOM Halloween Robot v2 Adruino Bathroom Sensor Breakdown on Giant Robots Scott on LinkedIn See open positions at thoughtbot! Become a Sponsor of Giant Robots!

Maria Loughlin, VP of Engineering at Toast, discusses restaurants adaptation to new technology, her approach to building and supporting a team, and providing better business opportunities & education to their clients. Toast Toast.org Maria on Twitter See open positions at thoughtbot! Become a Sponsor of Giant Robots!

Shelly Bell, CEO & Founder of Black Girl Ventures, discusses working to open up your messaging, what makes for a good pitch, and the current state of the investment landscape. Black Girl Ventures Ragbaby Exchange BEACON "Male and Female Entrepreneurs Get Asked Different Questions by VCs — and It Affects How Much Funding They Get"- Harvard Business Review SheRaise Shelly on Twitter See open positions at thoughtbot! Become a Sponsor of Giant Robots!

Ashlee Ammons & Kerry Schrader, co-founders of Mixtroz, discuss the pain points in attending networking events, building an app from a non-technical / non-entrepreneurial background, and share some of their personal challenges along the way. Mixtroz The Third Wave- Steve Case Ashlee on Instagram Kerry on Instagram See open positions at thoughtbot! Become a Sponsor of Giant Robots!

Matt Daniels, journalist at The Pudding, discusses journalistic editorial funding models, translating ideas through visual communication, their content-creation processes, and measuring 'success' in creative work. The Pudding Polygraph Shape Up- Basecamp Shangri-La (recording studio) Holacracy Editorial Data Viz Lunch 'n Learn @ thoughtbot Matt on Twitter See open positions at thoughtbot! Become a Sponsor of Giant Robots!

Chad & Lindsey welcome in the new year at thoughtbot, discussing actually having a budget, setting corporate goals, and the rise and fall of 'Use Your Best Judgement' as thoughtbot's principle zero. OKR Framework OGSM Framework Health Tech Workshop: How to stay agile when building compliant health tech products Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business- Gino Wickman See open positions at thoughtbot! Become a Sponsor of Giant Robots!

Tiffany Chu, CEO of Remix, discusses the different entities involved in transportation initiatives, pivoting to service an unanticipated user-group, and utilizing open-source in civic tech.RemixOpenStreetMapTiffany on TwitterSee open positions at thoughtbot!Become a Sponsor of Giant Robots!

Lokesh Dani, founder of Xopolis, discusses researching the future of work, democratizing opportunity in the labor market, and focusing on the user experience.XopolisNSF Innovation CorpsLokesh on LinkedInSee open positions at thoughtbot!Become a Sponsor of Giant Robots!

Karen Rubin, CRO at Owl Labs, discusses embracing playful aspects of your product, tailoring their marketing focus, managing growth in a B2B e-commerce company, the landscape of remote work, the complexities of building and selling a physical product, lessons learned from launching products at Hubspot, and building a team with strong female leadership.Owl LabsOwl as a BatThe Company Culture CookbookKaren on TwitterSee open positions at thoughtbot!Become a Sponsor of Giant Robots!

Robin Carnahan, Director of State & Local Practice at 18F, discusses introducing tech into government as the Missouri Secretary of State, facilitating tech-education within the federal government, and the types of needs to which 18F responds.18Flogin.govcloud.govLaunchCodeRobin on TwitterSee open positions at thoughtbot!Become a Sponsor of Giant Robots!

Geoff DiMasi, founder of Punk Ave. & Apostrophe, discusses his drive to build a CMS, balancing maintaining a service company while building a product (as well as the thought-process of spinning out a product into its own company), the Philadelphia tech-scene, and transitioning to a remote company.ApostropheCMSApostrophe Open SourceOpen Source at thoughtbotUpcaseObjectives and Key Results(OKR) SystemIndy Hall Coworking SpaceJAMstackHeadless CMSGeoff on TwitterSee open positions at thoughtbot!Become a Sponsor of Giant Robots!

Alex Cornell, co-founder of Cocoon, discusses opportunity cost, prototyping methodology, having design skills as a founder, designing for intuition, and being invested in the problem you want to solve.CocoonNotionOrigami PrototypingApply to Y CombinatorAlex on TwitterSee open positions at thoughtbot!Become a Sponsor of Giant Robots!

Heather Ames, co-founder and COO of Neurala, discusses automated visual-inspection, balancing research with deployment, the challenges of productizing AI, and finding the right product/customer fit.NeuralaBrain BuilderHeather on TwitterSee open positions at thoughtbot!Become a Sponsor of Giant Robots!

Pariss Athena, Hiring & Product Team Member at G2i, creator of #BlackTechTwitter, and founder of Black Tech Pipeline, shares her journey from never hearing about code to viral awareness campaign creator, as well as discusses visibility, finding value on twitter, and life online with thousands of followers.Resilient CodersThe Tweet that started #BlackTechTwitter"Hannibal Buress Is Building An Arts And Technology Center For The Future Masterminds Of The West Side"Black Tech PipelinePariss on TwitterSee open positions at thoughtbot!Become a Sponsor of Giant Robots!

Jennifer Dary, founder of Plucky, rejoins the podcast to discuss the rarity of listening, what it feels like to have a six year-old company, and conducts a 1:1 for managers with Lindsey & Chad.PluckyJennifer on Giant Robots ep 270Executive Coach or Therapist?1:1 Manager Pack'So Now You're a Manager' TrainingD&D OnlinePlucky NewsletterJennifer on TwitterSee open positions at thoughtbot!Become a Sponsor of Giant Robots!

David Kaplan, head of engineering at Policygenius, discusses joining an established company in a leadership role, factors for long-term success, choosing Flutter over React Native, and challenging assumptions when building out an MVP.PolicygeniusFlutter vs. React NativeDavid on LinkedInSee open positions at thoughtbot!Become a Sponsor of Giant Robots!

Cat Noone, CEO of Stark, shares an overview of accessible design, dreams for shaping a more accessible future, helming custom support with a small team, and her motivation to create.StarkWeb Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)LyraA Stark Difference in Design NewletterCat on TwitterSee open positions at thoughtbot!Become a Sponsor of Giant Robots!

Andrew Steele, Olympic Medalist & Head of Product at DNAfit, discusses providing actionable wellness utility from DNA data, goal setting, "blame culture", localization, and his time at the Beijing Olympics.DNAfitBeijing 4x400m Relay Men's FinalIcarus (2017)20% off Health Fit for Giant Robots Listenersin $USDIn £GBP Andrew on TwitterSee open positions at thoughtbot!Become a Sponsor of Giant Robots!

Bryan Helmig, cofounder & CTO of Zapier, discusses extending tooling to small businesses through API integration, scaling, early marketing successes, and the future of automation. ZapierContact BryanSee open positions at thoughtbot!Become a Sponsor of Giant Robots!

Adam Scroggin, CEO of CardBoard, discusses user story mapping, consulting vs product work, the importance of goal setting, product market fit, and his favorite tools & services for building web apps.CardBoardHeroku Private SpacesContact AdamSee open positions at thoughtbot!Become a Sponsor of Giant Robots!

Chris Coyier, cofounder of CodePen, creator of CSS-Tricks, & host of Shop Talk Show, candidly shares how a weekend project turned into a full-time business, aspirations for the future, and areas for improvement.CodePenCSS-TricksShop Talk Show PodcastTechTVChrisCoyier.netChris on TwitterSee open positions at thoughtbot!Become a Sponsor of Giant Robots!

Jonathan Cutrell, host of Developer Tea and Senior Engineer at Clearbit, discusses the history of the podcast, motivation for creation, learning to say 'no', and what it means to truly be 'remote-friendly'. Clearbit Developer Tea Podcast Spec Tea Break Challenge Jonathan on Twitter See open positions at thoughtbot! Become a Sponsor of Giant Robots!

Devon Zuegel, Product Manager at GitHub, discusses her transition from researcher to product manager, and shepherding the funding, communication, and tooling of open source sustainability. GitHub Devon on The Bike Shed GitHub Sponsors Let’s talk about open source sustainability GitHub Satellite 2019 thoughtbot open source projects Devon on Twitter Learn more about open source at thoughtbot. See open positions at thoughtbot! Become a Sponsor of Giant Robots!

Matt Massicotte, creator of Chime, discusses the landscape of text editors, the complexities of writing your own parsers, building a new product while building a new family, and alternative app platform & pricing models. Chime Matt on Twitter See open positions at thoughtbot! Become a Sponsor of Giant Robots!

Jordan Berke, CEO & founder of RepOne Strength, discusses finding your customers, working in the world of open source hardware, sourcing materials, relentless work pace, and bootstrapping. RepOne Strength Open Source NYC "Bill Gates says startup founders should not take weekends or vacations in the early days of building a company"- Business Insider Jordan on LinkedIn See open positions at thoughtbot! Become a Sponsor of Giant Robots!

Courtney & Tye Caldwell, Co-founders of ShearShare, discuss their journey from salon owners to startup founders, defining an MVP and maintaining a narrow focus for your product. ShearShare Mentored by Failure- Tye Caldwell ShearShare Simplifying Financials Tech.Co Startup of the Year 2016 Courtney on Twitter Tye on Twitter See open positions at thoughtbot! Become a Sponsor of Giant Robots!Special Guest: ShearShare.

Tess Posner, CEO of AI4ALL, gives an overview of the field of AI and discusses representation in AI careers, the ramifications of not having diversity in tech, the role of allies, and the future of work. AI4ALL AI4ALL Summer Programs "Decoding Diversity"- Intel study on the financial and economic returns to diversity in tech "Tech Leavers Study"- from Kapor Center for Social Impact "There is a diversity crisis in AI, but together we can fix it."- Tess Posner Algorithms of Oppression- Safiya Umoja Noble Automating Inequality- Virginia Eubanks The Gender Shades Project AOC on Automation (SxSW 2019) Opportunity@Work Open Learning Tess on Twitter See open positions at thoughtbot! Become a Sponsor of Giant Robots!

Jon Werner, CEO & Co-Founder of KOYA Innovations, discusses running a startup with his family, protecting one's intellectual property, the importance of forethought, and developing a platform for kindness. This episode of Giant Robots is sponsored by: ISL Online Indeed Prime Links & Show Notes Koya Jon on LinkedIn See open positions at thoughtbot! Become a Sponsor of Giant Robots!

Rob Zuber, CTO of CircleCI, discusses prioritizing product direction, scaling, slow iteration to introduce major changes, and what's next for the platform. CircleCI Chaos Engineering Orbs Rob on Twitter See open positions at thoughtbot! Become a Sponsor of Giant Robots!

Kate Brigham, VP of Product, Design, & Research at ezCater, discusses organizational design, roadmaps, user-research, designing to solve the needs of several groups at once, and, as a leader, empowering others to solve problems. This episode of Giant Robots is sponsored by: ISL Online Indeed Prime Links & Show Notes ezCater Stefania Mallett on Giant Robots PatientsLikeMe Kate on Twitter Kate on LinkedIn See open positions at thoughtbot! Become a Sponsor of Giant Robots!

Morgan Evans, organizational designer and CEO & Founder of Business Casual, discusses developing systems to holistically design a company, building a culture that is receptive to feedback, conflict mediation, acknowledging emotions while at work, and early days at Etsy. Business Casual Morgan on Twitter See open positions at thoughtbot! Become a Sponsor of Giant Robots!

Vanessa Bruce, co-founder of Dough, discusses affecting change through individual purchase-power, how she handles context-switching, choosing a platform to optimize for content creation, the challenge of visibility, and the decision to launch nationally. This episode of Giant Robots is sponsored by: ISL Online Indeed Prime Links & Show Notes Dough Dough Membership Open Salaries at Buffer Vanessa on LinkedIn See open positions at thoughtbot! Become a Sponsor of Giant Robots!

Karyl Fowler, CEO & Co-founder of Transmute, discusses utilizing block chain for decentralized identity-management, exploring finding the right customer profile fits, education around data-security, her time at Techstars, and the startup community in Austin. Transmute Transmute ID Techstars Transmute News Blog Karyl on Twitter See open positions at thoughtbot! Become a Sponsor of Giant Robots!