Open Threads

Mike McAllister is a designer of brands, websites, products, and WordPress goodness... Here in part 2 of our conversation, we dive into Mike's current work on OllieWP, a new product that brings great design to the WordPress ecosystem.We also talked about the balance of working on products with taking on selective design consulting partnerships with clients.This conversation was recorded on March 6th, 2024Brian's update was recorded on May 6th, 2024. Brian's Product StudioMy product studio, Instrumental Products, is where I partner with SaaS companies to provide UI, UX and custom-built pages and components to give your SaaS a modern user experience.Brian's YouTube channelSubscribe to my YouTube channel where I'm building products and showing the process.Brian's NewsletterSubscribe to my newsletter where I send my best ideas and stories from working on products.This Podcast on YouTubeThis podcast is on YouTube!  You can watch full episodes on video by subscribing to the FSF Podcast Channel on YouTube.

Mike McAllister has an incredible track record as a designer of brands, websites, products, and WordPress goodness... In part 1, we talked about Mike's experience building a successful WordPress products business that was acquired by WPEngine, and what he learned from the transition between indie product founder to acquihired in a large organization.In part 2, we'll dive into Mike's current work on OllieWP, a new product for designing in blocks in WordPress.This conversation was recorded on March 6th, 2024

Here's my conversation with Shawn Adrian, co-founder of Input Logic, a product design and development agency.  They're also launching their own product in 2024 in the AI journaling space, called Stilo.ai.This conversation was recorded on March 5th, 2024.{{ campaign_start }}

Brian's update was recorded on May 6th, 2024.Daniel Coulbourne is the cofounder of Thunk.dev and the co-host of the Talking Businessly podcast.  We had a great conversation about the "80/20 model" in software development consulting, striking a balance between working with clients and building your own products and projects. This conversation was recorded on February 27th, 2024.{{ campaign_start }} Brian's Product StudioMy product studio, Instrumental Products, is where I partner with SaaS companies to provide UI, UX and custom-built pages and components to give your SaaS a modern user experience.Brian's YouTube channelSubscribe to my YouTube channel where I'm building products and showing the process.Brian's NewsletterSubscribe to my newsletter where I send my best ideas and stories from working on products.This Podcast on YouTubeThis podcast is on YouTube!  You can watch full episodes on video by subscribing to the FSF Podcast Channel on YouTube.

Jack McDade is the creator of the new course, Radical Design. He's also the founder of Statamic CMS.  In this contuation of our conversation, we talked about Jack's unique approach to designing things and how he strikes a balance between fun refreshing projects like this, and running a successful product company.Brian and Jack's conversation was recorded on February 20th, 2024.Brian's update was recorded on May 6th, 2024. Brian's Product StudioMy product studio, Instrumental Products, is where I partner with SaaS companies to provide UI, UX and custom-built pages and components to give your SaaS a modern user experience.Brian's YouTube channelSubscribe to my YouTube channel where I'm building products and showing the process.Brian's NewsletterSubscribe to my newsletter where I send my best ideas and stories from working on products.This Podcast on YouTubeThis podcast is on YouTube!  You can watch full episodes on video by subscribing to the FSF Podcast Channel on YouTube.

Jack McDade is the founder of Statamic CMS and the creator of the new course, Radical Design.  In this conversation, Jack shared his story of going from film maker to full stack designer and developer to building a website CMS product.Brian and Jack's conversation was recorded on February 20th, 2024.Brian's update was recorded on May 6th, 2024. Brian's Product StudioMy product studio, Instrumental Products, is where I partner with SaaS companies to provide UI, UX and custom-built pages and components to give your SaaS a modern user experience.Brian's YouTube channelSubscribe to my YouTube channel where I'm building products and showing the process.Brian's NewsletterSubscribe to my newsletter where I send my best ideas and stories from working on products.This Podcast on YouTubeThis podcast is on YouTube!  You can watch full episodes on video by subscribing to the FSF Podcast Channel on YouTube.

Sam Selikoff, cofounder of BuildUI, returns to the show and we talk all about NYC! New York City, one of my favorite places.  Brian and Sam’s conversation was recorded on December 15th, 2023.Brian's update was recorded on May 6th, 2024.(00:00) - Software founder life in NYC with Sam Selikoff (04:47) - What is the crowd like? (06:56) - New York's downfall - sports teams (08:44) - Working remotely in NYC (13:18) - City life vs. Suburb life (15:10) - NY energy (crazy and all!) (16:58) - Cost of living   Brian's Product StudioMy product studio, Instrumental Products, is where I partner with SaaS companies to provide UI, UX and custom-built pages and components to give your SaaS a modern user experience.Brian's YouTube channelSubscribe to my YouTube channel where I'm building products and showing the process.Brian's NewsletterSubscribe to my newsletter where I send my best ideas and stories from working on products.This Podcast on YouTubeThis podcast is on YouTube!  You can watch full episodes on video by subscribing to the FSF Podcast Channel on YouTube.

Kevin Powell returns to the show where we talk about the business side of his work as a YouTuber and teacher of front-end development and CSS.  Brian and Kevin’s conversation was recorded on December 7th, 2023.Brian's update was recorded on May 6th, 2024.(00:00) - Building a Courses Business with a YouTube audience with Kevin Powell (03:22) - Kevin's ideal customer journey (05:06) - Using call-to-action cards on YouTube (07:23) - Kevin's channels of revenue (11:11) - Running a Discord community (14:15) - Pricing and course organization (19:24) - Once off vs Memberships (21:25) - Deciding what to create next (23:16) - Kevin's 2024 resolutions Brian's Product StudioMy product studio, Instrumental Products, is where I partner with SaaS companies to provide UI, UX and custom-built pages and components to give your SaaS a modern user experience.Brian's YouTube channelSubscribe to my YouTube channel where I'm building products and showing the process.Brian's NewsletterSubscribe to my newsletter where I send my best ideas and stories from working on products.This Podcast on YouTubeThis podcast is on YouTube!  You can watch full episodes on video by subscribing to the FSF Podcast Channel on YouTube.

Lianna Patch wasn’t thrilled with the work she was doing, who she was doing it for, and the lack of fun she was having as a professional copywriter. So she changed everything and relaunched her Punchline Copy business with a focus on comedic copy. Brian and Lianna’s conversation was recorded on  December 13th, 2023.Brian's update was recorded on May 6th, 2024.(00:00) - How Lianna Patch Reinvented Her Copywriting Business (03:36) - The evolution of Pubchline copy (08:50) - Lianna's main client base (10:14) - How to be an ideal client (12:51) - How Lianna structures her business (17:32) - Offering productized services (21:33) - ..And larger projects? (22:37) - 2024's roadmap (26:36) - Moving from consulting to "passive" revenue Brian's Product StudioMy product studio, Instrumental Products, is where I partner with SaaS companies to provide UI, UX and custom-built pages and components to give your SaaS a modern user experience.Brian's YouTube channelSubscribe to my YouTube channel where I'm building products and showing the process.Brian's NewsletterSubscribe to my newsletter where I send my best ideas and stories from working on products.This Podcast on YouTubeThis podcast is on YouTube!  You can watch full episodes on video by subscribing to the FSF Podcast Channel on YouTube.

I invited James Lewis on to help understand the idea of a “fractional product manager” (and we covered that) but it turned into James’ story of how we transitioned from that into cofounder of a new SaaS, Lemon, in the payments space.  Brian and James’ conversation was recorded on December 8th, 2023.Brian's update was recorded on May 6th, 2024.(00:00) - Fractional Product Management to SaaS Cofounder with James Lewis (04:01) - James' current day to day (06:52) - Transitioning from dev to project management (09:58) - The first big move and early learnings (15:38) - Working as a fractional product manager for lemon (17:58) - How James landed the lemon role (20:33) - Dusting off the dev hat (23:36) - What is lemon? (25:26) - ...And how does it work? (28:46) - lemon's current roadmap Brian's Product StudioMy product studio, Instrumental Products, is where I partner with SaaS companies to provide UI, UX and custom-built pages and components to give your SaaS a modern user experience.Brian's YouTube channelSubscribe to my YouTube channel where I'm building products and showing the process.Brian's NewsletterSubscribe to my newsletter where I send my best ideas and stories from working on products.This Podcast on YouTubeThis podcast is on YouTube!  You can watch full episodes on video by subscribing to the FSF Podcast Channel on YouTube.