4 ms·

Ask HN: What do you want to learn from current technical founders?

I recently started a podcast on Spotify and Apple called the Technical Founder (https://www.the-tf.com/), where I chat with other engineering founders and explore the technical challenges inside growing startups. Together we unpack the tactics and strategies being used to build modern solutions. I am looking for feedback from founders and potential founders on how to get the most value from these chats. Specifically I would love to know: - What issues are top of mind for you as a technical founder? Fundraising? Stack selection? CI/CD tooling? Hiring? - If you listen to an episode, do you listen to the full thing? If not, where did you drop off? - If you enjoyed an episode, what stood out to you? What would you want more of? I’m always looking for potential candidates for the podcast, so if you have a great founder in mind (including yourself) please let me know! Thanks so much, Ryan

RyanRosztoczy 4y ago
For anyone interested, I just released the first episode of the year! https://www.the-tf.com/podcast/mike-carter-yc-winter-2023/ https://www.the-tf.com/podcast/mike-carter-yc-winter-2023/
coscon 4y ago
"Do you really think your product or service is going to change the world, or are you just bullshitting us?"
- actually_a_dog 4y ago
  That's kind of a silly question. Every product launch changes the world in some ways. The question is whether it's in a positive direction, and what the magnitude of the change is. Very few products will have a large, positive impact on the world at large, but there are a lot of things that can have a smaller positive impact.
superdeeda 4y ago
How to come up with product ideas and how to test their viability quickly.
- RyanRosztoczy 4y ago
  Love this. Early on, I think engineering teams should have a really strong hand here.
actually_a_dog 4y ago
I'd want to hear about hiring and handling organizational issues as the team grows. I couldn't care less about stack selection, CI/CD and pure technical issues if I'm talking to a technical cofounder, TBH.
- RyanRosztoczy 4y ago
  Love it, will include for sure!
ccvannorman 4y ago
"How can we balance the need to produce code right now and publish something, vs investment in the road map/broader vision?" We don't want to focus too much on the current product / code; We don't want to not focus enough on the current product / code; So, what's the least difficult MVP (or next technical milestone) that will advance our company, and what's a reasonable scope / expectations for this? I tend to favor the smaller over the larger; spending years on a monolith has bitten me in the butt before, in terms of feature creep, code debt, and a poor balance between sales and engineering.
- RyanRosztoczy 4y ago
  Great concepts, will definitely include, I totally agree with you on smaller over larger personally (at least, early on), and letting the roadmap be highly flexible and informed by what you learn from each release.
JimmyRuska 4y ago
Down the line, how do you see this integrating the latest advances: blockchain, chatGPT, and dwarf fortress.
frob 4y ago
This sounds like something worth giving a shot. I'd love to see how other companies grew through the same technical challenges I'm seeing now. That said, I didn't see a way to easily subscribe to it without first signing up for an account. I looked for an rss button or feed, but no luck. Searching for it in Podcast Addict does not return it. Is it available outside of Spotify?
- RyanRosztoczy 4y ago
  Great feedback! It is available on Apple and Spotify currently via rss, I will look at Podcast Addict! I will also embed widget on the homepage. Thanks!

RyanRosztoczy 4y ago

For anyone interested, I just released the first episode of the year! https://www.the-tf.com/podcast/mike-carter-yc-winter-2023/ https://www.the-tf.com/podcast/mike-carter-yc-winter-2023/

coscon 4y ago

"Do you really think your product or service is going to change the world, or are you just bullshitting us?"

actually_a_dog 4y ago
That's kind of a silly question. Every product launch changes the world in some ways. The question is whether it's in a positive direction, and what the magnitude of the change is. Very few products will have a large, positive impact on the world at large, but there are a lot of things that can have a smaller positive impact.

superdeeda 4y ago

How to come up with product ideas and how to test their viability quickly.

RyanRosztoczy 4y ago
Love this. Early on, I think engineering teams should have a really strong hand here.

actually_a_dog 4y ago

I'd want to hear about hiring and handling organizational issues as the team grows. I couldn't care less about stack selection, CI/CD and pure technical issues if I'm talking to a technical cofounder, TBH.

RyanRosztoczy 4y ago
Love it, will include for sure!

ccvannorman 4y ago

"How can we balance the need to produce code right now and publish something, vs investment in the road map/broader vision?" We don't want to focus too much on the current product / code; We don't want to not focus enough on the current product / code; So, what's the least difficult MVP (or next technical milestone) that will advance our company, and what's a reasonable scope / expectations for this? I tend to favor the smaller over the larger; spending years on a monolith has bitten me in the butt before, in terms of feature creep, code debt, and a poor balance between sales and engineering.

RyanRosztoczy 4y ago
Great concepts, will definitely include, I totally agree with you on smaller over larger personally (at least, early on), and letting the roadmap be highly flexible and informed by what you learn from each release.

JimmyRuska 4y ago

Down the line, how do you see this integrating the latest advances: blockchain, chatGPT, and dwarf fortress.

frob 4y ago

This sounds like something worth giving a shot. I'd love to see how other companies grew through the same technical challenges I'm seeing now. That said, I didn't see a way to easily subscribe to it without first signing up for an account. I looked for an rss button or feed, but no luck. Searching for it in Podcast Addict does not return it. Is it available outside of Spotify?

RyanRosztoczy 4y ago
Great feedback! It is available on Apple and Spotify currently via rss, I will look at Podcast Addict! I will also embed widget on the homepage. Thanks!