Ben and Josh catch up after a few weeks of heads-down product work, and they have lots to talk about—including a new Discord server for FounderQuest listeners! Plus, hear Josh’s thesis on why it’s a huge problem if you’re not using your product to the max. Shape Up Seth Godin Blue Ridge Ruby Monitorama Join the Honeybadger Discord! https://discord.…

Longtime friend of the pod Adam McCrea joins Josh and Ben to catch up and chat about his journey building Judoscale—an autoscaling service for Heroku, Render, and AWS! Blue Ridge Ruby Josh’s Blue Ridge Ruby recap Kyle Shold Printfection JudoScale SignWell Heroku Add-ons Router blog post: https://judoscale.com/blog/heroku-router-post-mortem…

John Nunemaker returns to FounderQuest to discuss his writing process—after the guys debate code linters and formatters, of course. It's important to start with the essentials. Links: Standardrb Josh’s 2013 Ruby Style Guide GitHub Copilot Copilot Chat for Neovim Seth Godin Amy Hoy My Life in Advertising by Claude Hopkins This book will teach you ho…

Josh and Ben are joined by John Nunemaker to discuss their recent trip to Detroit for RailsConf, as well as the announcement from RubyCentral that 2025 will mark the final RailsConf (though not the last Rails conference!). Later in the episode, Josh and Ben reveal the outcome of their Honeybadger Insights launch goal and discuss the team's last dev…

This week, Josh and Ben dive deep into the marketing strategy for their new product, Insights, in response to a listener question. They talk about what groups they are targeting first, some of the planned marketing tactics for reaching each group, and how they are building awareness within the Honeybadger app without annoying existing users. Links:…

This week Josh and Ben discuss shipping Insights, what's next for the product, and their strategies to get people to actually use it. Plus Ben shares the results from his latest performance science projects. Grab your safety glasses and headphones! Links: Lab Tech Yabeda Yabeda for Insights Vector Fluentd Evil Martians blog Scientist Meet the badge…

This week Josh and Ben discuss shipping a Clickhouse migration and Honeybadger's new look. They also talk about Exceptional Creatures hitting number one on Hacker News and being featured at the top of Ruby Weekly. Plus, did Ben get interviewed by a rubber duck? Links: Exceptional Creatures Kamal Daily Lex Clickhouse Activerecord Scientist RealGeeks…

Today Josh and Ben are talking about UI changes in order to lay the foundation to launch and integrate Insights into Honeybadger as well as steps they are taking to avoid some rollout mistakes they've made in the past. They also reveal how testers are liking Insights so far! Links: Derek Sivers Flipper Meet the badgers FounderQuest Mastodon - @Foun…

GOOAAALLL!!! This week Ben and Josh discuss how to get Honeybadger's growth back on track by setting a company-wide goal. They also talk about how to promote new features in your product without annoying your users and what Santa brought them for Christmas! Links: BHAG Meet the badgers FounderQuest Mastodon - @FounderQuest@honeybadger.social Twitte…

This week Josh and Ben discuss Honeybadger's recent revenue struggles, how they got to this point, and the steps they're taking to weather the storm. They also explain why 2024 could be the company's best year ever! Links: Steve Jobs - "Saying No" Meet the badgers FounderQuest Mastodon - @FounderQuest@honeybadger.social Twitter - @honeybadgerapp Ho…

Kevin joins Josh and Ben again this week as the trio discusses Honeybadger's hack week, processes for making bold UI/UX changes, what to do/not do if your customers hate said UI/UX changes, plus the latest trends in Crocs fashion! Links Crocs Joel on Software - Things you should never do DHH Business of Software Everyday Information Architecture Me…

It's a trifecta of badgers this week as Honeybadger's own Kevin Webster takes us on a deep dive into the genesis of his baby/our new product, Insights. There is also a discussion around the challenges of dealing with burnout plus the Holy Hand Grenade! Links Meet the badgers ClickHouse - hosted by DoubleCloud FounderQuest Mastodon - @FounderQuest@h…

This week Josh and Ben give further insights into Insights and discuss challenges around shoehorning a new product into an existing one. They also talk about marketing strategies, a Las Vegas trip, and disaster recovery! All this and more in this week's episode! Links Ahoy Heya ClickHouse - hosted by DoubleCloud Michele Hansen - "When done well, ma…

FounderQuest is back for episode 100! Learn why FounderQuest is down to two hosts. Listen to tales of hosting lavish RailsConf parties. Plus, don't miss the details of the secret upcoming product release that has been a year in the making! Links: Mastodon - @FounderQuest@honeybadger.social Twitter - @honeybadgerapp Website…

Show notes: Links: Garrett Dimon Minitest Heat Heat Map Reporter for Minitest Review Starting & Sustaining Sifter App Automated transcript (only about 70% accurate) Ben Welcome to FounderQuest, this has been Today, I'm interviewing Garrett Diamond Star and josh are taking the day off and I get a chat with Garrett, who's a longtime friend of mine an…

Show notes: Links: Sweaty Startup Hook Relay Spider season Write for Honeybadger Automated transcript (only about 75% accurate) Ben So I've been, I've been using Hook Relay over the past week and I got to say, there's nothing as useful as using your own product to make you see places where the product can be improved. So I've, I've opened a couple …

Show notes: Links: Hook Relay SSL Server Test Second brand marketing tips Twitter thread Xhtmlchop Hook Relay Twitter announcement Hook Relay blog announcement Derrick Reimer & Corey Haines Product Hunt launch Startup Director List Indie Hackers launch repeatedly Not very accurate auto-generated transcript: Ben - you know, last week I recorded a qu…

Show notes: Links: Umm...here's a picture of a Honeybadger sleeping on our 404 page. He's definitely sleeping. Transcription: *Note, transcription is paraphrased with 1.3% accuracy Ben "Expired certificates, yada yada yada, internet broke...no episode. Bada-boom-bada-bing, have a good weekend."By The Honeybadger Crew

Show notes: Links: Felix Livni Schedulista Transcript: *This is an unedited, automated transcript, with only about 80% accuracy* Ben All right, so, uh welcome the founder quest today, you have me, Ben, because Star and josh are taking the day off and we have Felix of me who is with us or with me chatting about uh founder related stuff. It's just on…

Show notes: Links: Saasler Koombea Hook Relay Transcript: *note - this is an unedited, automatically generated, transcript with only about 80% accuracy* Ben So I say we we just had a new customer signed up just like minutes ago and said that the reason they signed up was our podcast. So awesome. Good stuff. Good stuff. So pro tip for you says opera…

Show notes: Links: Bold Badgers NFT Mantis scooter Ridwell Write for Honeybadger Transcript: *note - this is an unedited automatically generated transcript with about 80% accuracy* Josh: So we really are we doing this, uh, super quick. Do we need to like speed up our voices? Artificially Ben: The chipmonk episode. Starr: There you go. No, we should…

Show notes Links: Hey Dumpster Fire Goatse.cx Full transcript: *This is an unedited automated transcript which is only about 80% accurate* Starr Yeah, well, sad news. Um I did not see my printing press last weekend because I I came down with a cold, it wasn't it wasn't covid, so don't worry, it's okay. Um But we're waiting for the test to come back…

Show Notes: Links: Micromort Noblesse oblige Josh's dotfiles GitHub Code Spaces Full Transcript: Ben: Yeah. I've been holding out for the new MacBook Pros. The M1 is pretty tempting, but I want whatever comes next. I want the 16-inch new hotness that's apparently supposed to be launching in November, but I've been waiting for it so patiently for so…

Show notes: Links: Snohomish Centennial trail Indie Hackers AMA Intro CRM Full transcript: Starr: All right. Welcome back. Welcome back, everybody. So we took a little break. We're going to have her hot vax summer, but that- Josh: Hot vax summer. Starr: It turns out that was the mirage. It turns out that was a mirage. Josh: Well, it did reach 112 d…

Show notes: Seriously, this is just an announcement to let ya'll know we are taking a summer break. We'll be back, pinky swear!By The Honeybadger Crew

Show notes: Links: Write for us Maybe Josh Pigford Flu data Full transcript: Ben: And today we don't have Starr, because Starr is on vacation this week, fireside chat. Josh: I will be on vacation next week, and the week after. Ben: Nice. Josh: I don't know if you saw, I extended my vacation. Ben: I didn't see this. Josh: Yeah. So, surprise! Ben: Tw…

Show notes: Links: Twist Hook Relay Ben Orenstein Tuple Write for Honeybadger Full transcript: Starr: So Ben is joining us today from his car. It's bringing back fun memories. I recorded, I think the voiceover for our very first demo video in my car. Ben: Oh yeah? Nice. So as you may recall, I have a two story building that I lease one of the rooms…

Show notes: Links: Mike Mondragon CRDT Ship of Theseus Exceptional Creatures Shiba Inu Full Transcript: Ben: I'm just gonna dive on in there. I'm so eager. I'm so excited. It's actually weird because Starr is the one that typically starts us off. Josh: Yeah. I thought we were just going to start with our just general banter, and then not introduce …

Show notes: Links: Threads.com Bluey Vogmask Twist It’s a Southern Thing If I had a front porch Full transcript: Josh: How y'all doing? Ben: I'm doing. Starr: Yeah, about the same. Ben: I've been riding my scooter to work all week. Starr: Oh, how's that? Ben: It's a lot of fun. Got a little electric kick scooter and top speed about 25 miles per hou…

Show notes: Links: Write for Honeybadger Fluffy Arnold Schwarzenegger impression Changes at Basecamp Coinbase is a mission focused company Faker Full transcript: I've been like texting with Zoomer person. And their emoji game is so deep and subtle that I just don't even know how to respond to these. I'm just like a thumbs up and they're just like e…

Show notes: Links: Lego space shuttle Challenger disaster Challenger: The Final Flight Roam xkcd Footage of Josh two weeks after final Pfizer shot The Final Countdown The Beach Boys Full transcript: Starr: All right. So now you're going to joke about how, since I've been vaccinated... Josh: Are you saying you are vacc'ed? Starr: In vacc'ed. I'm chi…

Show notes: Links: Tailscale Ubiquity hack Front Write for Honeybadger Full transcript: Ben: The struggle is real when it comes to WiFi here. Because until two weeks ago you could've said, "Yeah, use Ubiquiti, it's all great." Now, there's this big disruption that they're having this attack that they didn't want to admit to. Josh: Yeah. I didn't he…

Show notes: Links: Exceptional Creatures TradingView Duke Cannon - Thick Beer Ruben Gamez MicroConf AppSumo Community Marketplace Full transcript: Ben: You know, today is April second, as we record this. And I am so excited because I survived April Fools' Day without falling for anything online. All the dumb stuff that happens on April Fools' Day. …

Show Notes Links: Gather Roblox Vs. Second Life Docsketch Ruben Gamez AppSumo Intro CRM Full Transcript: Ben: Yeah, the party doesn't start until you show up, Josh. Josh: I'm a party animal. Starr: Yeah, that's true. How's everybody doing? Josh: Good. Ben: I had a good last week. How are you, Starr? Starr: I'm doing pretty good. I got to dive a lit…

Show notes: Links: Intro CRM Ahoy Andrew Kane Full transcript: Ben: So I am feeling great this morning. Starr: Oh Good. Why are you feeling great? Ben: So over the past couple weeks, I've been working on cleaning up the low level noise, errors that are happening, that aren't really severe and that get corrected because of retries and things like th…

Show notes: Links: Sidekiq-cron TextExpander Alfred Sondors Metacycle Full transcript: Ben: So, you may not be surprised to hear this, but I've been doing a lot of shopping for electric vehicles this past week. Starr: Oh yeah? Josh: Oh. Ben: And there are some new electric motorcycles and scooters coming out that are very, very tempting. There's on…

Show notes: Links: Loom Telestream Recut Lovesac Comfy Sacks Flipper Full transcript: Ben: You know how we had that recent episode with John Nunemaker about Flipper and feature flags and that sort of thing. Starr: Oh, a podcast episode. Ben: Yeah. Yeah. Starr: I thought you meant a dramatic episode. Josh: It's just another episode with John. Starr:…

Show notes: Links: Printfection Swag.com Full transcript: Josh: How's it going? Ben: I'm working on this Printfection migration and I've been thinking about what to do here. So we got this outreach from Printfection about our pricing going up, in our case, dramatically. We decided we just don't want to pay that much for what we're getting. So I'm g…

Show Notes: Links: John Nunemaker Website John Nunemaker Twitter Flipper Cloud Speaker Deck Scientist Full Transcript: Ben: So today we have a special episode of FounderQuest. We have John Nunemaker with us, instead of Starr. Starr was taking a break today. And Josh and I are going to be chatting with John, and talking about the fun things that Joh…

Show Notes: Links: The Boys in The Boat Founding Sales All your base are belong to us Write for us Full Transcript: Starr: I loved Beavis and Butthead so much in the 90s. Ben: Yeah, it was awesome. Starr: I was prepared not to like it because all I heard was everybody talking about how stupid it was. And then I watched it. I was like, this is amazi…

Show Notes: Links: Heya Ben Curtis’ Mad Money DreamHost Affiliate Link Write for us Full Transcript: Ben: Thanks to Starr, we are now linked on the Honeybadger site. Josh: Nice. Starr: Oh, yeah. It only took two years to do that. Josh: I saw that on the "about" page. Ben: What made me think about it, I'm just, I don't know, surfing the site for som…

Show Notes: Links: Amy Hoy - Wall Street Bets Bloomberg - How Will the GameStop Game Stop Clayton Christensen - Theory of Disruptive Innovation Art of The Product Podcast - Does Tuple Ever Crash? Jobs@honeybadger.io Write for Honeybadger Full Transcript: Ben: Did y'all buy any GameStop this week? Josh: I thought about it yesterday while Robinhood w…

Show Notes: Links: Cobol On Cogs Square Hole TikTok Video Hook Relay Universal Honeybadger.js FounderQuest Accounts Episode Write for Honeybadger's Blog Full Transcript: Ben: Did you see that tweet I posted in the channel, the TikTok video about the shape sorter? Josh: It was so good. Starr: So good. Josh: Laughed really hard. Ben: So good. I just …

Show Notes: Links: Dithering Stratechery Promised Land Shape Up National Treasure Full Transcript: Ben: I was looking through our accounts this morning and just doing some database checking and looking at some accounts that had been in our database for like seven years. Like, "Oh yeah. I remember them." And they're like old friends basically. It's …

Show Notes: Links: How Cheap a Product Can You Have And Still Have Salespeople? Profitwell Retain New Relic Full Transcript: Starr: Okay, so you are listening to FounderQuest. We're a bunch of founders, we're on a quest. Thank you for listening, we are back after a rather long absence. Basically, people were gone different days during the holidays,…

Show notes: Links: Rollerblade Chair Wheels Kung Fu Panda The Emperor’s New Groove Justin Jackson "The Fear" - Build Your SaaS podcast Write For Honeybadger FounderQuest Twitter Full transcript: Ben: So, I just moved back into my office after being away for six months, because COVID. Starr: I see that. Ben: And in the meantime, though, I had all my…

Show notes: Links: Cameo Sarah Cooper StiumulusReflex Video Jumpstart Whirly Board Full Transcript: Ben: So we had a bit of an interesting COVID related thing in our household, so we have this grocery store that we love near us, it's called Haggen, it's a Northwest brand. So a lot of our listeners won't be familiar with it, but we love this place, …

Show notes: Links: The B-52's - Roam The Intelligent Investor - Benjamin Graham Roam Research TiddlyWiki Art of The Product Podcast - Networking Thoughts Scrivener Josh's Blog Write for Honeybadger Full transcript: Ben: So I had the first session of a conference that's happening online next week. It's the Business of Software conference. Josh: Mm-h…

Show notes: Links: San Francisco Looking Like Blade Runner The Federalist: A Commentary on the Constitution of the United States Major Problems in the Era of the American Revolution, 1760-1791 The Radicalism of the American Revolution A People's History of the United States Hitler: 1889-1936 Hubris The Dispossessed I, Robot The Murderbot Diaries Fo…

Show Notes: Links: Horrorstör Tiny MBA Great Nuts AntiRSI MotivAider Pomodoro Technique Full Transcript: Starr: So, I've got to say, this is kind of a brag. It's completely off topic but I've got to tell somebody. I'm very proud of myself. You know how in any... I don't know. Whenever you watch movies or TV about prison, or weird situations, there'…