025 : From Crash Bandicoot to a smarter inbox with Dave Baggett

Dave BaggettHow many unread emails do you have in your inbox? If you went all the way back to the very oldest unread email, do you think you’d actually need it? If not, why is it still there? When are you going to do something about it?

Email itself first came on the scene circa 1993, alongside Windows NT 3.1 and massive brick phones. Since then, our computers have evolved substantially — and just look at our smartphones — but our email inboxes remain mostly just a big dumb bucket.

Dave Baggett is using machine learning to bring your inbox up to speed. He’s the founder of Arcode, creator of Inky email client (iOS, OS X). Dave shares the interesting story of how Inky came to be, starting with working on the first two Crash Bandicoot games and then joining a travel startup that would end up taking over the industry (and eventually get acquired by Google).

He’s got an interesting story and a fresh take on email. It’ll make you think about your own projects differently.

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017 : Using apps to fund apps with Bobby Gill

Bobby GillI was really into zines when I was in high school. I spent almost all my time on alt.zines, spent way too much time hunting for old issues of Urban Hermitt, and constantly found myself browsing the fantastic zine section at Tower Records. Almost all my money went to Microcosm Publishing.

But whenever I’d browse Microcosm Publishing, one number always caught my eye: the wholesale pricing. It was so much less than the full price. I wanted to pay that price, not retail.

I launched my own zine distribution, Deranged Distro, and stocked only the zines that I wanted to read. Selling copies more than made up for the cost of the issues I bought myself. It was a perfect situation.

My guest today is Bobby Gill, founder of BlueLabel Labs. BlueLabel Labs doesn’t just build apps for other people, it spends half its time working on its own mobile applications. Bobby has a passion for apps and some fantastic business insights. He even shares the reason why his new iOS game is only available in Canada.

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015 : Podcasting for business and pleasure with Steve Young

Steve YoungThe Novice No Longer Podcast is getting meta. This week’s guest is the talented Steve Young, post of the Mobile App Chat podcast. I’m so excited to have another podcaster on the show because we get to talk about one of my favorite topics ever: podcasting. Steve walks you through, step-by-step, how to create your own podcast. He’s got so many tips and tricks that I’m now completely changing around my podcast processing process!

He also talks about his new membership site, App Masters, which has a ton of great courses to help you build a business around your apps. We also talk about mastermind groups, which have been instrumental to Steve’s success. I’m now totally inspired to start my own.

This episode was just plain fun to record. I’m sure you’ll be able to tell.

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How I built and promoted WorkBurst, my first OS X app

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My first OS X app, WorkBurst, is now available in the App Store! To celebrate, I want to share with you my entire process, from idea to app release. I did everything without writing a single line of code. The total cost? $304.

The most important lesson here is that you don’t need to learn how to code to make apps. You should learn to code if you want to know how to code. If you want to make apps, there are other, more direct paths to take.

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011 : Using Adwords for Rapid Business Growth with Brian Kaldenberg

Brian KaldenbergSuccessful entrepreneurs aren’t the people who come up with brilliant, unique ideas. Instead, they’re the ones who solve people’s problems. If you’re banging your head against your desk trying to think of a good idea, you’re doing it all wrong. Talk to people, find out where they’re struggling, and ask them about their ideal solution. BAM! They’re giving you real and proven ideas.

My guest today is neither a writer nor an editor, yet he’s the founder of ProofreadingPal. Brian Kaldenberg is a wildly successful problem solver. He found a specific need (proofreading services), did keyword research to investigate the market, and built a minimum viable product. Now his company is almost four years old and rapidly growing.

We discuss the early days of ProofreadingPal and how Brian grew his business to where it is today. He also shares his Adwords tactics — invaluable information for people trying to drive online traffic.

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