4 ms·

I'd love to hear "office hour"-style stuff. Somebody who's having a problem, you work on solving it together, then maybe in a month you do a retro on how it wor

I'd love to hear "office hour"-style stuff. Somebody who's having a problem, you work on solving it together, then maybe in a month you do a retro on how it worked. Might be cool to wait enough time that the episode has a "before and after" in the same episode.

craigcannon 10y ago
Cool. We can definitely do that. Any particular size or type of company that interests you?
- philip1209 10y ago
  I think the thing I'm looking for is relatability. There are many podcasts that idolize startups and founder life. The Dating Ring's podcast did the opposite and showed vulnerability. To me, that's why it was an interesting learning experience. But to be specific - I think that small companies in make-or-break times would be most interesting. Also, everything looks easier in retrospect, but understanding the thought process and how they are balancing different options would be interesting to me.
  - craigcannon 10y ago
    Got it. Thanks!
  - kartikkumar 10y ago
    This. As great as it is to hear about sensational founders that have turned the world upside down, it is at times hard to relate to. It would be great to show the ground truth of what small companies have to go through, and having office-hours that help elucidate the thought processes to follow to make steps forward would be invaluable. The best podcast episodes I've heard (and I specifically say episodes because I don't think any show that I've heard has consistently achieved it) on this subject have just been really good at being down-to-Earth and relatable.
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vdnkh 10y ago
Like NPR's car talk?
- craigcannon 10y ago
  Haha. Yeah, sort of. Just hours and hours about setting up development environments :)
ejsilva 10y ago
Agree, this is a fantastic idea.
qwertyuiop924 10y ago
So... Car Talk? You'ld need really good hosts, but it could be fun.
monk_e_boy 10y ago
A company I worked for hired some expert dude who came in and shaped the company into something that could be purchased. That was very interesting. That process that takes raw talent and startup chaos and turns it into something that will get acquired. It'd be great to hear about that process from both sides. There must be some sort of mentor approach, of giving advice that will work for that company.
- natdempk 10y ago
  What was the background of the expert? I am curious what skills and experience he had that led him to this line of work.
  - monk_e_boy 10y ago
    I'm not sure. It was a long time ago and I wasn't really involved in the process, I am a coder. I think he had tried to sell his business and failed, but the company that wanted to buy his told him where he was going wrong. Then once his business was restructured and sold he got a job buying and chopping up businesses, restructuring them and selling them on. He told us that we had a weird hierarchy and gave us some ballpark figures for new hires. So we needed 5 plebs to one middle manager, 4 or 5 middle managers to one senior manager and then a good board of directors. So we hired middle managers. Split the workforce between them. Hired some people to fill the board of directors, some were there in name only (people with PHDs) (cheap) and some with a lot of experience who actually advised and were more expensive to run. I seem to remember they were on the board of directors of a few local companies, so although they were expensive hires they did generate a lot of extra work. Like, good contracts with good margins. At the end of it they had a company that ticked the right boxes for an acquisition, n coders, n/5 middle managers, etc etc, shove all that in a fancy powerpoint... what happened next was a mystery to me. But they did get purchased and made the owner multi-millionaires. The rest of us? Not so much. We had the choice to move 200 miles to our new offices or quit. :(

craigcannon 10y ago

Cool. We can definitely do that. Any particular size or type of company that interests you?

philip1209 10y ago
I think the thing I'm looking for is relatability. There are many podcasts that idolize startups and founder life. The Dating Ring's podcast did the opposite and showed vulnerability. To me, that's why it was an interesting learning experience. But to be specific - I think that small companies in make-or-break times would be most interesting. Also, everything looks easier in retrospect, but understanding the thought process and how they are balancing different options would be interesting to me.
- craigcannon 10y ago
  Got it. Thanks!
- kartikkumar 10y ago
  This. As great as it is to hear about sensational founders that have turned the world upside down, it is at times hard to relate to. It would be great to show the ground truth of what small companies have to go through, and having office-hours that help elucidate the thought processes to follow to make steps forward would be invaluable. The best podcast episodes I've heard (and I specifically say episodes because I don't think any show that I've heard has consistently achieved it) on this subject have just been really good at being down-to-Earth and relatable.

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vdnkh 10y ago

Like NPR's car talk?

craigcannon 10y ago
Haha. Yeah, sort of. Just hours and hours about setting up development environments :)

ejsilva 10y ago

Agree, this is a fantastic idea.

qwertyuiop924 10y ago

So... Car Talk? You'ld need really good hosts, but it could be fun.

monk_e_boy 10y ago

A company I worked for hired some expert dude who came in and shaped the company into something that could be purchased. That was very interesting. That process that takes raw talent and startup chaos and turns it into something that will get acquired. It'd be great to hear about that process from both sides. There must be some sort of mentor approach, of giving advice that will work for that company.

natdempk 10y ago
What was the background of the expert? I am curious what skills and experience he had that led him to this line of work.
- monk_e_boy 10y ago
  I'm not sure. It was a long time ago and I wasn't really involved in the process, I am a coder. I think he had tried to sell his business and failed, but the company that wanted to buy his told him where he was going wrong. Then once his business was restructured and sold he got a job buying and chopping up businesses, restructuring them and selling them on. He told us that we had a weird hierarchy and gave us some ballpark figures for new hires. So we needed 5 plebs to one middle manager, 4 or 5 middle managers to one senior manager and then a good board of directors. So we hired middle managers. Split the workforce between them. Hired some people to fill the board of directors, some were there in name only (people with PHDs) (cheap) and some with a lot of experience who actually advised and were more expensive to run. I seem to remember they were on the board of directors of a few local companies, so although they were expensive hires they did generate a lot of extra work. Like, good contracts with good margins. At the end of it they had a company that ticked the right boxes for an acquisition, n coders, n/5 middle managers, etc etc, shove all that in a fancy powerpoint... what happened next was a mystery to me. But they did get purchased and made the owner multi-millionaires. The rest of us? Not so much. We had the choice to move 200 miles to our new offices or quit. :(