On this episode Abadesi talks to Elias Torres, co-founder and CTO of Drift. He co-founded the company with David Cancel, a longtime collaborator. They have achieved smashing success so far, and Elias’s personal story of moving to the United States from Nicaragua and working at McDonald’s while simultaneously finishing high school and learning English is one you don’t want to miss. In this episode they talk about... * Elias’s longtime partnership with David Cancel. * What it was like...

On this episode Abadesi talks to Delane Parnell, founder and CEO of PlayVS. PlayVS is *the* community for amateur high school esports. He was previously the youngest black venture capitalist in the US and built and sold his own esports team prior to founding PlayVS. He also has an incredible story of overcoming adversity to get to where he is today. In this episode they discuss... * His incredible “origin story.” * How he learned to set his sights high. * How he became comfortable with...

Abadesi is joined on this episode by Sarah Paiji Yoo. She is the founder of Blueland, a direct-to-consumer company that sells environmentally-friendly cleaning supplies. She formerly founded and sold Snapette, a mobile platform for local platform shopping. In this episode they talk about... * Her extensive entrepreneurial journey. * How she convinced investors of the promise of Blueland. * The future of sustainable direct-to-consumer products and companies. * Managing a fast-growing team...

On this episode Abadesi talks to Sharmadean Reid, founder of Beautystack. She’s one of Aba’s favorite people of all time, and is an inspiration to women and people of color everywhere. She recently raised a whopping seed round to grow and scale Beautystack. In this episode they talk about... * How she’s helping women start businesses. * What fashion means to her. * Her fundraising journey. * The founder mindset and personal development. * The future of work and scaling a team. Of...

In this special edition of Product Hunt Radio, the community is the guest. Ryan chats with the members of the Product Hunt community about the apps that they love and why they’re so great. People from all around the world called in to let us know what’s on their home screens. This was an experiment, so let us know what you think! If you want to be part of the next session and potentially be featured in the podcast, make sure to follow us on social media. We’ll be back next week so be sure...

On this episode Abadesi talks to Ryan Singer, head of Product Strategy at Basecamp, where he’s worked for 16 years, ever since 2003. He is the author of Shape Up: Stop Running in Circles and Ship Work That Matters. You can read the book for free online. In this episode they talk about... * How Basecamp cultivates their unique company culture. * Why wireframes and documents are overrated. * Why betting is better than planning. * How to find balance at work, and why Basecamp doesn’t think...

On this episode Ryan is joined by a friend, writer, and student of human psychology, Nir Eyal. He has an incredible ability to synthesize complex ideas and studies into actionable steps people can use to build more engaging products and a healthier life. Ryan actually helped him with his first bestselling book, Hooked: How to Build Habit Forming Products, back in 2012, before Product Hunt started. This week he published his second book, Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and...

On this episode Abadesi talks to Nic Brisbourne, managing partner at Forward Partners, and creator of the popular email newsletter, The Equity Kicker. In this episode they talk about... * The future of venture capital and the concept of “applied venture.” * The culture at Forward Partners. * Nic’s introduction to mindfulness. * The benefits of mindfulness for founders. * What he’s most excited about in the tech ecosystem. We’ll be back next week so be sure to subscribe on Apple...

On this episode Abadesi talks to Gina Bianchini, a serial entrepreneur and an investor. She is founder and CEO of Mighty Networks, a platform for building communities. She also co-founded Ning and has been an entrepreneur in residence at Andreessen Horowitz. In this episode they talk about... * The emerging trend of community-powered businesses. * Why it’s important to stay laser-focused on the results your customers want. * How a community helps build your brand. * Why it’s okay (and...

On this episode Abadesi talks to Courtland Allen. He is a super talented designer and developer. In 2016 he founded Indie Hackers, an awesome community of bootstrappers and makers sharing their stories. Nine months later, Stripe acquired the company. Courtland is also a Y Combinator alumnus and an MIT graduate with a degree in Computer Science. In this episode they talk about how to avoid making the most common maker mistakes. They discuss... * How and why Courtland became an Indie...

On this episode Abadesi talks to Cassidy Williams. Cassidy is a great follow on social media and is a software engineer at CodePen. Prior to CodePen, she worked for Venmo, Amazon, Clarify and others. She is a true maker and a huge mechanical keyboard nerd (which you hear a bit about on the show). In this episode they discuss... * How she got to where she is today, including lessons learned from working at big and small companies. * Her personal definition of success as a software...

On this episode Abadesi talks to Justin Jackson. Justin is a founder, author, and podcaster. He is co-founder of Transistor, a platform for podcasters, and runs his own podcast called Build your SaaS. He is also the creator of the MegaMaker community for developers. In this episode they discuss... * Going from side hustle to full-time founder. * His candid recounting of his experience with depression. * How to take care of your mental health. * The future of podcasting and “mindful...

Abadesi is joined by Sarah Cooper on this episode. She’s an author and comedian from New York, and has published two books: 100 Tricks To Appear Smart In Meetings, and How To Be Successful Without Hurting Men’s Feelings. She was also an executive at Yahoo! and Google. In this episode they discuss: * How she got started in comedy and her advice for following your passion. * The inside scoop on working at Google. * What she’s excited about and how tech can do better at helping the world. *...

On this episode Abadesi talks to Alex Konrad, Senior Associate Editor at Forbes. He’s one of today’s top tech journalists and has interviewed some of the biggest tech titans around. He also plays a pivotal role in the lists that Forbes publishes, including The Midas List, The Cloud 100, and 30 Under 30. In this episode they discuss... * Why the financial crisis was a flourishing moment in tech. * How to handle a crisis as a founder or CEO. * The best ways to establish rapport with someone...

On this episode Abadesi talks to April Wensel, founder of Compassionate Coding, and one of Aba’s favorite follows on Twitter. She’s a veteran software engineer who has worked in healthcare, entertainment, research and education. In this episode they discuss... * How to make your interviews more inclusive. * Why we need to change the way we think about the tech industry. * Why telling someone you’re non-technical is nonsensical, and why she says, "if you can use a fork, you’re...

Ryan recently visited Grove HQ in SOMA in San Francisco to chat with two founders who know a ton about fintech. Chris Hutchins was our gracious host and is CEO of Grove, a startup that uses people and technology to help you with your financial goals. Ryan actually met Chris in the early days of Product Hunt when he was an investor at Google Ventures. Before that, he started a company called Milk that was acquired by Google. All his life he's been a self-acknowledged financial nerd, often...

On this episode Abadesi sits down with Reshma Sohoni, co-founder and managing partner of Seedcamp. She co-founded the firm in 2007 and works with the Seedcamp team and their portfolio companies to help push early stage companies from difficult times to household names. In this episode they discuss... * How Seedcamp discovers, attracts (and retains!) hidden talent. * How they’ve built a strong culture at Seedcamp. * Her advice for people who want to work in VC. * Why founder mental health...

Abadesi talks to Veni Kunche, founder and CEO of Code with Veni, a newsletter for women in tech, and Diversify Tech, an awesome online resource for underrepresented groups trying to break into the industry. In this episode they discuss... * How she got into tech and her advice for people trying to break into the industry. * How companies can make their recruiting process more suitable for women and underrepresented candidates. * How she invests in her career capital and keeps up with new...

Abadesi talks to Sahil Lavingia, founder and CEO of Gumroad, an online platform that enables creators to sell directly to their customers. Sahil is a very authentic founder who is not afraid to speak uncomfortable truths, as you’ll see in the interview. They talk about... * His journey starting Gumroad and what happened when they realized the company wasn’t going to be as successful as they had hoped. * Why relationships in Silicon Valley are so transactional. * Dealing with the...

Abadesi is back to host this episode with Saron Yitbarek, founder and CEO of CodeNewbie and the Codeland conference. Saron is a former journalist who started working in the tech industry and then pivoted to a technical role after learning to code from scratch. Aba and Saron talk about... * What inspired her to get into tech, and the story of going from journalist to software engineer. * Her journey learning to code, including what she learned from the failed attempts. * How to get the...

Scott Kupor joins Ryan on this episode to talk about his new book, Secrets of Sand Hill Road. Scott is Managing Partner at Andreessen Horowitz and has been at the firm since it was founded. He has a long history with Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, including working alongside them at Opsware in the early 2000s. Ryan and Scott talk about... * How venture capital has changed over the past decade. * Advice for founders in the new investment landscape. * The future of venture capital. *...

Ryan and Wade Foster have known each other through the internet for years before recently meeting in person in Mountain View. Ryan learned so much from the coffee chat that he asked if Wade would join the podcast to share some of his stories scaling Zapier. Like Product Hunt, Zapier is a fully distributed team, although they're much bigger with 200 people in over 20 countries. They're helping makers create no-code apps and helping everyone get work done more efficiently. Ryan and Wade talk...

On this episode Ryan is joined by Joel Gascoigne, CEO of Buffer, a simple tool manage all your social media accounts. We've been avid users, big fans, and paying customers for years. In this episode Ryan and Joel talk about... Joel's roundabout journey from the UK to the US via Hong Kong and Israel. What it's like to manage an 85-person completely distributed team. Buffer's extreme transparency and how that endears the company to its customers. Why (in a very unorthodox move) Buffer bought...

Web Smith has a long history working in direct-to-consumer and e-commerce. He managed marketing spend for Rogue, a leading sports goods manufacturer back in 2011 before co-founding Mizzen + Main and later joining Gear Patrol. In 2015 he founded 2PM, a B2B media company for the commerce industry and advises leading executives in the space. Through 2PM Web also invests in early-stage DTC brands and platforms that support the consumer ecosystem. If you've ever thought about starting your own...

AJ is mysterious. He's a maker who goes by his initials only and is the creator of Carrd, an awesome tool for creating one-page websites without any code. AJ lives in Nashville and built Carrd entirely himself. He's a bootstrapped, solo entrepreneur and maker who's been able to make a great living building a product people love and pay for. Luckily, he agreed to be recorded without voice masking, as Startup L Jackson requested, when Park— er, Startup L Jackson came on in the first...