Episodes

Latest Episode
The Things We Shipped In 2019

The Things We Shipped In 2019

S2E10 · · 46:31

This week Josh, Ben, and Starr look back at all of the things that Honeybadger shipped in the last 12 months. They also give Apple some free management advice and provide their thoug...

Is It Time For The Big Rewrite?

Is It Time For The Big Rewrite?

S2E9 · · 32:04

This week on FounderQuest Josh, Starr, and Ben talk about the quandary of not knowing how to build something until after you’ve already built it. Therefore, once it's built it can be...

The 2019 Thanksgiving Freestyle Episode

The 2019 Thanksgiving Freestyle Episode

S2E8 · · 19:24

The guys throw the show notes out the window and kick it freestyle on this special Thanksgiving episode. All of today’s hard-hitting questions are answered: Dark meat or light meat? ...

Is Offering A Free Plan Worth The Hassle?

Is Offering A Free Plan Worth The Hassle?

S2E7 · · 31:33

This week on FounderQuest, the guys talk about their decision to offer a free plan alongside the paid plans for Honeybadger and how it impacted the overall business. Josh is also bac...

Is Marketing On Marketplaces Worth It?

Is Marketing On Marketplaces Worth It?

S2E6 · · 27:47

This week Ben and Starr talk about Honeybadger's efforts using marketplaces to get new business and whether it's worth the development time needed to set them up. They also discuss H...

Should You Comply With Compliance?

Should You Comply With Compliance?

S2E5 · · 33:16

On this week's episode of FounderQuest Josh, Ben, and Starr talk about their Soc 2 and GDPR compliance efforts. They go over the different strategies to handle compliance, the potent...

Should You Blow Up Your Backlog?

Should You Blow Up Your Backlog?

S2E4 · · 21:39

This week on FounderQuest the guys weigh in on a recent debate sparked by Jason Fried at Basecamp around the value of backlogs. In short, Fried proports that backlogs cause unnecessa...

How Honeybadger Creates Content

How Honeybadger Creates Content

S2E3 · · 22:13

The guys talk about creating content for Honeybadger and the difficulties switching back and forth from writing prose to writing code. Starr channels his inner Anna Wintour and descr...

Don't Let Customer Service Crush You

Don't Let Customer Service Crush You

S2E2 · · 34:51

The guys talk about how they are scaling up their awesome customer service without adding headcount and their journey from email customer support, to chat support, and back to email ...

You Know What We Did Last Summer - Season Two Begins!

You Know What We Did Last Summer - Season Two Begins!

S2E1 · · 27:52

Season Two of FounderQuest is upon you! The guys discuss what they did while on summer break, releasing breadcrumbs on Honeybadger and why they help when debugging, launching the new...

We're Going on Summer Vacation!

We're Going on Summer Vacation!

S1E20 · · 00:57

The guys are taking a few weeks off from podcasting to enjoy the fleeting Pacific northwest summer. They'll be back in late August or early September, fully rested and ready with hot...

To Be Or Not To Be Acquired - That Is The Question

To Be Or Not To Be Acquired - That Is The Question

S1E19 · · 37:11

The guys talk about their experiences with offers to acquire Honeybadger and go over some common structures of acquisition deals (hint - most don’t involve walking a wheelbarrow of m...

What Does The Ideal Remote Office Look Like?

What Does The Ideal Remote Office Look Like?

S1E18 · · 34:41

This week the guys talk about their office equipment and remote workspaces which range from working in a winery to building a standalone office in a backyard. They also go full old c...

How To Gauge Customer Success With An Introverted Customer Base

How To Gauge Customer Success With An Introverted Customer Base

S1E17 · · 38:08

The guys answer a listener question about how to ensure customers are happy with your product and how to be proactive in finding out if they aren't. This can be especially difficult ...

Are 3rd-party scripts out to get you? CSP to the rescue!

Are 3rd-party scripts out to get you? CSP to the rescue!

S1E16 · · 27:57

Do you know what the 3rd-party scripts on your website are up to? In this week’s episode of FounderQuest, the guys talk about CSP (Content Security Policy) and how it can enhance sec...

Why Do Developers Get Burned Out?

Why Do Developers Get Burned Out?

S1E15 · · 42:24

Running a lifestyle business is awesome, contrary to what the VC's say. Figure out your life goals and fit your business to achieve them rather than worrying about 10x-ing. The guys ...

If You Aren't Growing, Are You Dying?

If You Aren't Growing, Are You Dying?

S1E14 · · 29:42

The guys talk dissect the "If you're not growing you're dying" aphorism and debate if it has merits or if it should be discarded into the dustbin of history. Do entrepreneurs need to...

Chunky Bacon! Let's Geek Out About Early Ruby & Rails.

Chunky Bacon! Let's Geek Out About Early Ruby & Rails.

S1E13 · · 39:59

The guys chat about the early days of Ruby and Rails and discuss how the developer community has changed from a more individual hacking pursuit to more of a team sport. Ben also talk...

Document & Automate Your Way to a Vacation When Running a Startup

Document & Automate Your Way to a Vacation When Running a Startup

S1E12 · · 38:07

The guys talk about strategies for creating systems, documentation, and automation to separate yourself from your business so you can hire employees, get it ready for sale, or even t...

Siloing Together, How to Move a Company Forward While Working Independently

Siloing Together, How to Move a Company Forward While Working Independently

S1E11 · · 35:00

Two part special! In part one, the guys chat about decision making in a siloed company structure and the challenges of making sure everyone is on the same page. That's not all! More ...

How to Successfully Market to Software Developers

How to Successfully Market to Software Developers

S1E10 · · 43:10

Hey guys ladle out some secret sauce for successfully marketing and selling to software developers. Also discussed is their Facebook ad boycott, why you should never call a developer...

Is Marketing To People The Same As Robbing Them?

Is Marketing To People The Same As Robbing Them?

S1E9 · · 40:33

The guys discuss gorilla conference marketing and how they promoted Honeybadger back when they could barely afford to attend the conference, let alone a sponsorship. Also discussed i...

Twilayfunbootrucknes!!! VC vs. bootstrap funding, recent layoffs at NPM, and more!

Twilayfunbootrucknes!!! VC vs. bootstrap funding, recent layoffs at NPM, and more!

S1E8 · · 36:35

The gents look back with some hindsight on the debates around private equity, VC vs. bootstrapping Honeybadger, and how funding decisions may have affected recent layoffs at NPM and ...

MicroConf 2019 Recap, Confronting Ageism In Tech, And Badgercon 2020

MicroConf 2019 Recap, Confronting Ageism In Tech, And Badgercon 2020

S1E7 · · 31:14

The guys dish about their experiences at MicroConf. Ben talks about entrepreneurial ADD, Josh explains why the "good old days" at Honeybadger are now, and Starr challenges younger de...

Screw Dependencies! Learn How We Are Fighting Our Abandonware Problem.

Screw Dependencies! Learn How We Are Fighting Our Abandonware Problem.

S1E6 · · 26:32

We originally sat down to discuss distractions and Yak Shaving. What emerged was more like group therapy for a team struggling to cope with a spate of JS dependency upgrades. We also...

Personal Productivity - Dealing With Distractions While Getting Sh!t Done

Personal Productivity - Dealing With Distractions While Getting Sh!t Done

S1E5 · · 33:07

Faced with a punishing week of distractions, the crew discusses their own techniques for remaining personally productive.

Technical Debt - Our Approach to Building Cool Tech Profitably

Technical Debt - Our Approach to Building Cool Tech Profitably

S1E4 · · 25:04

This week Josh, Ben and Starr talk technical debt and how to cope with it. They also discuss "suits" vs "hackers" is a trope as old as tech itself. Suits want to make money and cut c...

Decisions & Events That Made Honeybadger What It Is Today

Decisions & Events That Made Honeybadger What It Is Today

S1E3 · · 37:38

Looking at the major events in our lives, we can often trace them back to turning points -- decisions big and small that had outsized effects. In this episode the dudes reflect on so...

How to hire great software developers when you can't compete on salary

How to hire great software developers when you can't compete on salary

S1E2 · · 26:29

How we attracted top quality software developer candidates without offering Facebook, Amazon, or Google salary levels. We talk about how to write the job description and reveal the f...

Programming in Elixir and Phoenix to build a proof-of-concept product during our hackathon

Programming in Elixir and Phoenix to build a proof-of-concept product during our hackathon

S1E1 · · 18:21

In their first episode, Starr, Josh and Ben talk about the company hack-week where they built a small proof-of-concept product with Elixir and Phoenix.