All Episodes
69: We'd be richer if we lied more
We discuss the Beatles. Daniel reviewed John's code on the Social Game. Finally, we lost a proposal for a big contract. We wonder if the entire RFP process is antithet...
68: The pitch to the "lower middle market"
Daniel and Chris are nearly done with Verbs 1.0. We settle into our new roles. John prepares another talk directed at non-tech companies. Finally, we think through wha...
67: We fire Daniel (from project management)
We played the Social Game a lot, and it's so cool. Daniel is not going to do project management at Thunk anymore, and we brainstorm how we backfill for him. Finally, w...
66: Empaneling Erin Antcliffe
Erin is an outstanding product manager who is fairly new to the agency world. She shares her feedback on our process. We brainstorm how to position and sell our produc...
65: Being uncomfortably explicit
Daniel got a 3D printer. John got a new iPhone that he feels meh about. We are feeling out how to consult when there are issues way outside of our control. Getting unc...
64: Kapow!
We hung out in Philly and had a little role reversal. Chill clients abound. The sales funnel is decent. We talk about who Kapow is really for, and brainstorm what feat...
63: We sent invoices from the client app
Spring is here, and the boys are out frolicking. We sent our first invoices from the client app. The Laracon game is going to be its own company. Clothing sizes are a ...
62: Useful anxiety
We watched a lot of movies, and gambled a little. We are deep into silly season, and talk about our relationship with anxiety. Finally, we talk about politics and urba...
61: Empaneling Ian Landsman
We are now a professional podcast. Ian Landsman gives us some feedback on our goals, and our new client app. He is smart. And we don't talk about poker even once!
60: Our biggest client yet
John got star struck on Easter. Daniel got a new couch. We got a big new client. John is working nights and weekends on the Laracon game, and it's awesome. Daniel is w...
59: We lost a client for good reasons
John is locked in, and made a playlist so you can lock in too. We are in silly season, but we have an excellent new PM who will get us through. We lost a client, but f...
58: Finding the real decision maker
John's Macbook air is having problems. We made a bonus episode. We have a new trick for finding the decision maker at a prospective client. Always negotiate. We LOVE A...
Bonus Episode: PHP × NYC Chaos-Cast™
At a PHP x NYC event, we realized we had a critical mass of Laravel podcasters. Apologies for the audio problems.
57: Sunsetting Papercuts
Spring is here. John was on the Over Engineered podcast to discuss running product processes on small teams. We are sunsetting Papercuts. We do a quick retro about why...
56: Chunks of work
John got married. We got paid by a delinquent client. John spoke at PHP x Philly. The client management app is getting really good, which can now invoice clients. Fina...
55: Vertical Slices
You need to build vertically, not horizontally.Also: Point Break is a good movie (Broey Deschanel's analysis). We helped a client dismiss a scammy wordpress agency. Sq...
54: Building without a blueprint
Why do old special effects look good? Pennsylvania needs better websites. John wants to speak a lot more. We are building our PM business, but don't have an obvious bl...
53: Be a great place to work (empaneling Bossman Chris)
We empanel Bossman Chris. Daniel and Chris survived Philly's Super Bowl celebration. We recap Laracon EU, and give high praise to Amsterdam. Chris counsels us on how t...
52: Coaching clients to have more urgency
We talk retro video games. Daniel is wiring up his whole home. John preps for his Laracon talk. We recap what we learned from an uncomfortable client moment. We finali...
51: John built the client management app 🤫
John built the MVP client app! Daniel watched Survivor. We brainstorm what we want out of our 2025 OKRs.
50: Growing our product team
We talk about how it will work to have another PM around, the paradox of project scoping, good interview questions, and the power of learning from retros. On a less bu...
49: What does success look like in 2025?
We do a little vision casting for what a great year would look like. We have some disagreements about sales, plan to remove ourselves as individual contributors from m...
48: Holiday party
Daniel is moving, and we have some business logistics to figure out. We want to hire a junior PM. We do a roundup of our OKR results. We also talk game of the year, Jo...
47: Killing Harvest
John saw Hamilton. Daniel is moving. We are finally building the client management app that we've long resisted. We talk through the requirements and speak ill of Harv...
46: We want to buy your business (maybe)
We watched good movies this weekend. We re-learn that good management is mostly about un-blocking people. John's journey into React led him back to Livewire and Alpine...
45: The client onboarding checklist
Daniel played Colossi. We make a checklist of all the things that have to happen when we bring on a new client. Thunk wants to buy a small business??
44: Clarifying roles for Silly Season v2
John went jet skiing at the Statue of Liberty. We love Bluesky. Tech bros keep getting one-shot by psychedelics. Business is great right now. We clarify our roles, hea...
43: Getting personal about working styles
John used to be a choir boy. We remember being terrible at college, and wish we could have a second try. We talk working styles, and where we could do better. John bri...