The Role of Pricing in Finding Product-Market Fit
Pricing does more than influence how much money you make.
It also pushes you into different markets. Two businesses offering similar services can have entirely different customers based on how they price their services.
For example, if I opened a restaurant and the menu showed you a $5 hamburger and fries combo, you'd be ready to compare the quality to McDonald's. On the other hand, if I charge $20, you'll expect a totally different level of quality.
I spoke more about this on the Software Engineering Unlocked Podcast. Dr. Michaela Greiler and I had a wide ranging conversation about engineering, entrepreneurship, and managing teams, so I hope there's a little in this podcast for everyone.
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Technical Content for Software Startups
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Startups
Hacking is the opposite of marketing
"Building maximally general technology, and then adding a final layer of interface, marketing, and narrative that makes it all seem specific, is part of the challenge of making things people will buy."
The Highest Forms of Wealth
"To me, the highest form of wealth is controlling your time. Wealth can lead to time independence, but it’s never assured."
Topic Clusters and Keyword Research for Technical Content
By standardizing everything, we have been able to consistently deliver high-quality technical content to satisfied clients around the world, and now we're adding keyword research to our offerings.
Software Engineering
Building a developer tools business on a developer-focused cloud
"In the past decade or so, the developer tools and services business has exploded. Innovative developer teams have found new and more efficient ways to solve software development challenges, and many have also created new possibilities and scenarios...They accomplished this by focusing on the needs of underserved audiences and underserved scenarios, and by providing differentiated experiences to developers."
No code reviews by default
"Common wisdom tells you that pull requests are best practice in high-performing engineering teams. But we liked the trust, collaboration and speed of our "process" and decided to not require code reviews. Instead, every engineer has the right to push their changes to the main branch. They can request a review if they want somebody else to take another look at their code."
The 10 Most Valuable Lessons I Learned As A Developer
"It may seem tempting to try and learn it all, but it's a never-ending endeavor. There will always be another library or framework and another cool thing you could also learn."
Leadership
The Non-Engineer’s Guide to Software Technology
"Non-technical professionals are constantly told that the path to “technical fluency” is through learning to write code or some other kind of intense education. That’s terrible advice. It’s useful for people trying to switch careers, but not if your goals are different."
The Burnout Conversation Is A Corporate Tool
"Extra days off and mental health resources do not solve the [burnout] problem. If you’re slammed with work, you can’t take the days off because you need to get the work done. No amount of talking to a tele-therapist will finish those iMeet logs, Excel files and PowerPoint decks all on the same damn projects that you’re stressed out of your mind trying to get done by deadline."
24 Startup CTO Interview Questions
Hiring a Chief Technology Officer (CTO) is a difficult feat at the best of times. But for startups, a lot rides on choosing the right candidate.