Hacker Practice: GROWTH, SYSTEMS, and RISK for Startups and SMB Justus Eapen

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“When asking for help, appeal to self interest over mercy or gratitude”
I met Chris Schelzi in early 2015. He was working at Black Rock at the time. Then we poached him to work with us on a startup.
Chris helped that startup raise more than a quarter of a million dollars in a crowdfunding campaign.
Now, he's working at AppSumo, bringing you great deals on cool tools for your company.
In our conversation, Chris and I dive deep into:
Coffee Hedonism Diet and Exercise Ideas for the next great health tech startup How AppSumo is empowering entrepreneurs Please enjoy this episode of Hacker Practice with my good friend Chris Schelzi
Notes [02:00] French Press vs Chemex
French Press = Full immersion, full body Chemex filters do a lot of heavy lifting [06:00] Justus's favorite cup of coffee
French Press + Heavy Cream @ 4 AM Tchaikovsky's 4th Symphony [07:20] BOOKS
How books and can be an indulgence Owning books vs going to the library Aristotle's Golden Mean Plutarch's How to Profit by One's Enemies Histories by Herodotus The Autobiography of Malcolm X as told to Alex Haley "The non-fiction, black Catcher in the Rye" Recidivism - noun the tendency of a convicted criminal to reoffend.
[16:00] Coffee as a vice. How to best enjoy vices in general.
[17:30] Why you shouldn't be afraid to return things to the store
[18:30] Zen Roaster. Roasting your own coffee. Moving meditation. Coffee rituals. Chris built himself a side-table.
Designing and building things by hand is zen af. [23:30] We talk about axes and camping for a bit
Twenty inch Wetterling Axe Joshua tree Skyline Drive [26:30] Our mutual interest in health and physiology
Diet - How to get shredded like Chris? Low carb, high fat. Exercise recommendations? Frozen Fatty Coffee Drink
Chameleon Cold Brew
[39:00] How to teach anti-science people a better way.
"Show them a cleaner glass of water".
Bullet Proof Coffee gets mentioned about a hundred times.
[43:00] Intermittent fasting. Strength training + Tabata Sprints
Diet scheduling. Fasting from protein can improve protein utilization. Lift heavy things and sprint. Keep it simple.
Michael Pollan's Food Rules
Eat a lot of vegetables. Mostly vegetables.
[46:00] Isometrics workouts to build strength without putting stress on joints. On grass or in the pool. "Jack your heart rate up".
[49:00] Chris's $10,000 offer for a health technology product for monitoring various biological markers
The state of health monitoring is abysmal for the average or even extraordinary consumer Idea - Implant that continually measures important biomarkers. Measure in real time. Dutch testing for cortisol and other hormones This idea could change the way we interact with dieting and health in general What would a version one of this tech look like? Measuring the following: Sex Hormones Stress Hormones Cholesterol Fat Soluble Vitamins (A, E, D, K) Glucose and Ketones [1:02:30] What is Chris working on now?
AppSumo - Groupon for Geeks DesignBold - Design made easy SerpStat - All in one SEO tooling The cult of the "Sumoling" [1:05:30] What kind of company works with App Sumo
GREAT tools for small businesses Validated by some users Startups that have Product Market Fit and are looking to scale to the next level [1:10:00] Chris's role at Appsumo
Operations and Marketing Focusing on retention in 2017 [1:13:00] Final requests
Build that health monitoring @chrisschelzi on instagram Read The Righteous Mind by Johnathan Haidt and Everything by Robert Greene Landmark Series of Herodotus Conclusion This conversation could have easily been three times as long. I'll certainly have Chris on the show again.
If you enjoyed today's episode please subscribe to the show and leave a review on iTunes.

You know those people that everybody seems to like? They have charisma. They're affable. Like Jeff Daniels on the Newsroom.
That's Matt Javitch.
Matt has been taking a barbell-approach to investing in Boston real estate and startups. He's my go-to resource for investment advice because, unlike some advisors who try to sell me their advice, he makes a living off his investment thesis. Also, he's never tried to sell me a thing.
I invited Matt on the show to give me a deep dive into real estate investing fundamentals, quitting corporate life for startup investing and more.
We talk about
The networking scene in Boston How to quit your job and start a business The real estate investment market How real estate investing is different and complementary to startup investing How to get started in real estate investing How to be successful in real estate investing Pleas enjoy this episode of Hacker Practice with Matt Javitch:
Notes [00:00] How Justus and Matt met
[01:00] Networking in Boston
Events are becoming more and more niche-specific You know what you’re getting when the event is very specific [5:00] Matt’s background in finance
Financial advising and real estate investment [7:00] Why small networking events can be super valuable
Most events are really hit or miss Networking is a numbers game [10:00] What Matt did to prepare to leave
Saved capital Built a network Honed a valuable skill set as a real estate investment analyst [14:45] Specific numbers around how to leave your job and get into real estate investing
Matt had 3-4 months of living expenses saved $300-400k pledged from investment partners [16:30] To be successful in real estate investing
Have a long term vision Understand the financial risks Have a safety net or “plan B” [19:00] What would Matt do different if he started over
Would have been more aggressive buying properties while at his job [20:30] What is Matt doing to mitigate risk of negative macro economic conditions
Invest in “primary” markets (cities etc.) Some factors can’t be controlled but should be understood [23:45] The dumbbell strategy and Matt’s investment in startups
Real estate is somewhat predictable compared to startups [27:00] Angel investing in Boston vs. Silicon Valley
Boston has a conservative social and financial culture [30:00] How to get started real estate investing without any debt
It’s challenging. Usually you make more money when you favor debt over equity Start with as little as $150-250k Start in a secondary, suburban market. Matt gets specific in greater Boston area Renovate, then rent or sell Can also experiment in other markets like San Antonio, Texas Southern markets are usually less expensive [34:00] Different geographic regions have different risk factors
[37:00] Have $250k, bought a property, need to renovate, where do I start?
Everything is quantified on a per foot basis Market research is critical. Different locations have different /sq ft costs. Understand the local housing market Look at last 6 months and what prices local homes have sold at vs. your prospective investment Brokers and legal costs often add up to around 5%+ of the cost [42:30] How much money do you budget for renovation?
Again: focus on cost per square foot P = initial cost / sq ft R = cost of renovation / sq ft C = P + R F = price you sell the property at / sq ft PROFIT = F - C [46:00] Working with many contractors and sub-contractors
[47:15] Selling the property
Matt often lists and sells the house himself if it’s local (saves 2.5% commission) Real estate agents have less incentive to negotiate on your behalf than you (Freakonomics) [50:00] The most challenging part of real estate investing for Matt
Inspectors vs contractor drama Local politics often play a role in inspection [56:00] A big part of Matt’s success can be attributed to his likability and how he incentivizes contractors to do quality work
EQ is valuable in this re

Sometimes you start a conversation with one intention, and digress into something completely different.
This happened to me recently, in a conversation with an old friend and mentor, Johnny Boursiquot.
Johnny and I were supposed to do a deep dive into Go Lang and Ruby in this hour long conversation. Instead we spent half an hour talking about Johnny's experience building a technology agency from scratch.
Then we got around to talking tech XD.
Johnny is well-known as one of the pillars of BostonRB. He also helped to organize the Boston GoLang meetup before moving to Maryland where he founded Baltimore's GoLang Meetup.
He was listed on New Relic's list of 18 Go Experts to Follow Online. 
In the episode we talk about:
Johnny’s lessons learned from founding and building a tech agency, lots of juicy business advice for consulting companies and agencies in the first half of this talk The relative pros and cons of using ruby vs go in different domains How to get started using a new language
A quick primer in serverless application architectures
How intermediate devs can 10x their workflow
And a lot more
Enjoy
Notes [00:00] What brings Johnny to Maryland after living more than a decade in Boston
What brought him to Boston in the first place [02:30] Major lessons learned from time in Boston running a technology company
Running a company means that you’re responsible for other people’s income Many unexpected challenges: biz dev, legal, etc [05:15] How did Johnny get started in technology business.
Started with entrepreneurship in high school [08:00] Learning how to do business
Dealing with clients Managing expectation Touching on the difference between hacking and building a product [11:00] #1 Lesson? The difference between a service business and product business
Agencies do not scale the same way a product scales Most agencies do not end up producing a lot of reusable technology or internal products It’s hard to do internal product development because your staff is busy with revenue generating service activities It’s risky to invest in product development [20:00] What would Johnny do differently if he could start over?
Start a product company: raise money. [23:00] What about the reverse situation? Making a profitable, successful agency.
Protect your margins Be flexible with workflow; Agile doesn’t always work smoothly in an agency environment “They want warez” Your job is to tease out the specifics of what the client actually wants “You’re not in control of your own product roadmap” [27:30] How to mitigate risk of scope creep
Establish a relationship; a partnership to guarantee future work Get a Master Services Agreement [32:00] Segue to technical discussion. What is Ruby good for vs Golang?
Ruby for developing something fast. “Getting a web app out there as fast as possible” GoLang is better for heavy lifting, whenever performance is a consideration [37:45] What are Johnny’s tips for learning Go (or any language)
“Leave baggage at the door...appreciate the differences of Go” There is a “Go Way” of doing things [41:15] What kind of project should I try using GO in
Anything with heavy duty network requirements Microservices (“Something you can throw away”) “Gnarly, performance-critical jobs” Concurrency in Go is super-awesome [45:00] AWS Lambda and Serverless 101
Not actually “serverless”. That’s a marketing term. There is always a server somewhere. Monolithic App > Microservices > Lambda functions Everything is a discrete functional unit Very cost-effective because the server only runs when you call the function [51:30] What can an intermediate Rails developer to 10-20x their workflow
Look past the magic of the language (Ruby) or framework (Rails) Learn the underlying properties of the WYSIWYG Understand how SQL, HTTP, Databases, and CURL -- fundamentals of the web -- work Learning the underlying complexity enables you to

Do you know somebody who loves to argue?
I'm one of those people. So is Julia Kelly.
We're great together.
Julia is the most renowned caricature artist west of the Mississippi. She built her business from scratch and is currently starting business #2.
I guess I caught her at a good time.
When I asked her to do an interview with me. She made an interesting request: "Let's wing it!"
She's been on some pretty awesome podcasts including: Entrepreneur on Fire, Double your Freelancing, and Afford Anything. She says: the less scripted the show, the more fun the interview.
My old college buddies would agree: Justus loves "doing it live". So I agreed to do the episode with ZERO PREPARATION.
Typically I prepare for interviews with rigorous research and outline a list of topics to talk about. In this case I did no such thing. Shoot, I didn't even take notes until after we recorded the conversation.
The result was a fascinating conversations that covers art, business and everything in between. Enjoy :D
[00:00] This is an unconventional episode. Julia explains why.
[01:55] How Julia introduces herself as
A Bookkeeper A Caricature Artist [4:30] How to be a success without trying very hard
Morning rituals and meditation are for the birds How to be successful without them: Show up, do good work, and keep your word. Sine qua non noun
an essential condition; a thing that is absolutely necessary. [07:00] Some ways Julia and Justus are different
[10:00] Why Julia is moving into the bookkeeping business
Recurring revenue, predictability, stability Partnership [13:30] Julia shoots down the concept of “following your passion”
It’s a fleeting feeling [16:00] How Julia developed the craft of caricature art
Time on task is the most important aspect of developing artistic ability Got a job at LEGO Land The job had a 6-hour training program where everything was done in a marker No erasing Don’t be a perfectionist (“If it’s 80% good, ship it!”) [24:00] Julia’s and Justus’ artistic influences
Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell fantasy art Tom Richmond caricatures Court Jones “ridiculously amazing” Philippe Faraut contemporary sc Justus mentions Barry McCann Rondanini Pieta by Michelangelo The Sforza Castle of Milan The Last Supper The Statue of David in Florence Julia Kelly’s Bust of JRR Tolkien
[32:30] The story of the Captain’s hat and lessons Justus learned from an experiment in fame
Fame is cheap Anonymity is priceless [37:30] Julia’s struggles with identifying her strengths
Jonathan Haidt’s The Happiness Hypothesis Haidt’s The Righteous Mind Haidt’s Strengths Assessment [40:30] Julia’s friend who knows Tom Cruise
Confidence is extremely valuable. Fake it ‘til you make it [42:30] Julia’s story getting started freelancing
Market focus made all the difference [45:30] Selling to trade show marketers
Tracking ROI is important “Connect what you do to the outcomes they want.” Attract traffic Create follow-up opportunities Create the right marketing language and identify with their needs Get one customer and drill them for what sold them Get feedback to improve (Peter Dunbar echoed this in episode 8) [53:30] What lessons from caricature art transfer to bookkeeping
Pricing for bookkeeping is more custom, so don’t advertise fixed prices Longer sales cycle for bookkeeping [56:30] Successes and failures in bookkeeping
3 client since August Cold email works! [57:30] How to cold email effectively using LinkedIn
Julia sends 70 canned emails a day The 556th email hit! [1:00:00] Justus tells a story about canned cold emails that worked on him
Follow up 4 times! Follow up again! Yet Another Mail Merge Google Sheets Extension
[1:04:00] Julia’ Bookkeeping goals and differentiating factors
7 figure business Totally remote Flat monthly fees [1:05:45] Julia’s ideal client is hands-off, casual, comfortable with remote bookkeeping, and wears plaid
Ra

Building products from scratch is hard. Building a business is at least as difficult. A lot of young founders and entrepreneurs lose their minds trying to grapple with the interwoven complexities of these disciplines.
Chris Michaud has figured them both out.
Chris is a rising phenom in the world of industrial design and manufacturing. In 2015 he left a full-time gig and started First Summit Design, a product consulting group with a focus on industrial design for cool products. He's since become involved with a number of other design-focused companies that we discuss in some depth.
We had a great conversation about hardware design and manufacturing, serial entrepreneurship and work/life balance. 
I hope you enjoy this episode of Hacker Practice with Chris Michaud
Notes [01:30] Justus and Chris met when they came together to work on an IoT project for a somewhat obscure sport.
[04:30] What is industrial design?
[06:15] Why Chris focuses on the ideas behind design rather than influential design figures.
[07:30] How Chris designed his fiancee’s engagement ring.
Research first: materials then user Sketching [09:15] Is design easier for one person or for a group?
[11:00] How did Chris develop the skill of sketching products
Education helped [12:30] Chris’s first big product and how he went about designing it
[14:00] Good barbells vs GREAT barbells
[16:40] Why kettlebells might be an easier place to start designing for fitness equipment than a barbell
[17:45] Where is materials research important?
[18:45] Discussion on steel quality and impacting variables
Tensile strength Yield strength The weight at which steel will permanently Percent elongation [23:12] Why it’s important to think about manufacturing and assembly concerns during the design phase of a product
Design for Manufacturing Design for Assembly [27:30] Domestic vs international manufacturing
It depends on the thing you’re manufacturing Chris likes to design where he manufactures [31:10] Chris goes to a wedding in China
[33:00] Different regions in China do different kinds of manufacturing
[35:00] How does Chris vet new manufacturing relationships
Start with ten vendors Rate each vendor on various aspects (price, social responsibility, etc) [36:00] How Chris got a local Chinese government to shut down a chrome plating facility for unsafe labor practices
[38:45] Chris is a partner in four businesses
First Summit Design Pragmatc Blue Sky design Cove Manufacturing Interior Design for Retail Working on the NBA Store on 5th Ave in New York Hash Product Development Medical marijuana product development [46:00] How does Chris get big clients
Know your stuff Always be meeting people. “Word of mouth should be good enough, if you’re good enough.” [50:00] Chris describes his sales process
Get to know them, ask invasive questions Never tell them what you’re gonna do for them, tell them what you’re about [52:00] Chris tells a horror story from a pitch that went wrong
[57:30] The future of the cannabis industry in Massachusetts
Focus on auxilary market [1:00:00] Chris reveals a cannabis product idea
[1:01:00] What does serial entrepreneurship mean to Chris
Chris has a financial interest in 14 companies Diversity is fun and freeing Learn something new every day [1:02:00] How does Chris prioritize?
Stay organized Have a strong support team. What does that team look like? [1:03:50] What does Chris’s next hire look like?
A controller With culture fit Humility [1:07:30] What’s the biggest challenge Chris deals with on a daily basis
Working too long How the fiancee deals with Chris working late [1:09:00] Chris’s biggest lesson learned in the last two years building several companies
What he does in his free time [1:11:00] Last requests and contact information
chris@hashpd.com “Don’t be afraid to do exactly what you want”  

Peter Dunbar is a master conversationalist. I’ve seen him strike up engaging discussions with everyone from valets to Fortune 500 CEOs. That alone would make him impressive, but our guest today is also a hard-core hacker. I first knew him as the head of hardware at a start-up we both worked at. He graduated high school at 16 to pursue a life of engineering and entrepreneurship. His hacking experience is extremely diverse.
Links:
known.creative
Core dna
Reach out to Peter:
Email: peter@knowncreative.co
Cell: +1 (207) 649-5037 – only if you want to have a conversation!
Notes [3.30] Peter describes how he has been able to get work through the art of conversation (without presenting a resume)
Peter uses conversation as a problem solving tool to “hack” an outcome or a goal [4.45] What hacking means to Peter
Hacking is a “lifestyle” [9.30] Peter describes how an unforgettable conversation with his thesis advisor changed the course of his career
[11.15] Peter describes the relationship between software and hardware when developing the Pavlok wearable
[15.45] Why resourcing is the biggest challenge in building a new hardware product
[17.30] Why running a crowdfunding campaign to launch a new product without any traction is a big mistake
[18.45] How the art of conversation has allowed Peter to transition from engineering to sales
[21.30] Why it’s important to adopt a sales mindset of helping the customer succeed along with you.
How a conversation with a support engineer was the catalyst for Peter being able to close a sales deal for one of the world’s largest e-commerce consumer brands Peter was able to engage the CXO level by pointing out that their marketing strategy was being stonewalled by poor website architecture, preventing them from being able to develop a best practice ecommerce platform. [27.50] How Peter called into a radio station to pitch to the GM of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) while he was being interviewed on air.
This opportunity bias helps Peter take advantage of such situations [31.30] Why the feedback loop is so important in improving your sales process, especially in the face of rejection
[35.00] Peter discusses known.creative, a digital agency in Boston, Massachusetts where he now heads up sales.
How partnering with Core dna – an all-in-one SAAS Digital Platform has allowed known.creative to scale and offer global enterprise offerings to companies, at drastically reduced development and implementation costs [37.50] Peter shares his thoughts on the marketing agency model
Why it is most important to be able to show how your solution will drive a positive ROI for your client. E.g. There is no point “selling” a $50k website if it won’t turn a positive ROI for your client The importance of being frank about business relationships and focusing on making money. Building and sustaining a long term relationship is critical in enabling both parties to make more money [41.40] Why many ecommerce companies are naive about threats to their online platforms and IP
[46.30] Peter explains why security for the SMB/SME market is going to be a huge growth market
[48.40] How the legalisation of marijuana in Massachusetts is going to drive a new wave of tech/digital opportunities in the commercial landscape (outside of recreation)
[51.00] Why updating your website and making the effort to have a great digital presence, is so important, in building trust and engaging your customer base
[52.00] Why known.creative uses its own brand and website as a testing ground for solutions before engaging customers
[54.50] Reach out to Peter:
Email: peter@knowncreative.co
Cell: +1 (207) 649-5037 – only if you want to have a conversation!