Hammerstone - Bootstrapping a Software Company
Aaron Francis & Colleen Schnettler
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Three bootstrappers talking weekly about building a software business together.
Available episodes
Newest first
Oldest first
Jun 1, 2023
Colleen is pumped
HelloQuery: https://helloquery.com
Aaron: https://twitter.com/aarondfrancis
Colleen: https://twitter.com/leenyburger
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May 12, 2023
We're HelloQuery now 👀
HelloQuery: https://helloquery.com
Aaron: https://twitter.com/aarondfrancis
Colleen: https://twitter.com/leenyburger
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May 4, 2023
We didn't break up!
Refine: https://hammerstone.dev/
Aaron: https://twitter.com/aarondfrancis
Colleen: https://twitter.com/leenyburger
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May 1, 2023
MicroConf Recap
Refine: https://hammerstone.dev/
Aaron: https://twitter.com/aarondfrancis
Colleen: https://twitter.com/leenyburger
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Apr 5, 2023
Customer interviews lead to a new hypothesis
Refine: https://hammerstone.dev/
Aaron: https://twitter.com/aarondfrancis
Colleen: https://twitter.com/leenyburger
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Mar 22, 2023
Two Separate Businesses
Refine: https://hammerstone.dev/
Aaron: https://twitter.com/aarondfrancis
Colleen: https://twitter.com/leenyburger
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Mar 9, 2023
Plans for March (Subject to change)
Refine: https://hammerstone.dev/
Aaron: https://twitter.com/aarondfrancis
Colleen: https://twitter.com/leenyburger
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Feb 19, 2023
Hi Sinclair! (and recapping Laracon EU)
Back from Laracon EU, and it went well.
Refine: https://hammerstone.dev/
Aaron: https://twitter.com/aarondfrancis
Colleen: https://twitter.com/leenyburger
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Jan 18, 2023
The Nova launch and a (small) pivot
Kind of a pivot, but not really.
Refine: https://hammerstone.dev/
Aaron: https://twitter.com/aarondfrancis
Colleen: https://twitter.com/leenyburger
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Jan 12, 2023
New year, new energy
We're off to a good start for 2023.
Refine: https://hammerstone.dev/
Aaron: https://twitter.com/aarondfrancis
Colleen: https://twitter.com/leenyburger
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Dec 23, 2022
Looking back, looking forward
Colleen and Aaron recap 2022 and look forward to 2023.
Refine: https://hammerstone.dev/
Aaron: https://twitter.com/aarondfrancis
Colleen: https://twitter.com/leenyburger
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Nov 18, 2022
We're back baby!
Colleen and Aaron are back from a hiatus.
Refine: https://hammerstone.dev/
Aaron: https://twitter.com/aarondfrancis
Colleen: https://twitter.com/leenyburger
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Aug 2, 2022
Use Cases
Colleen and Aaron talk through use cases for Refine that may actually get people excited.
Refine: https://hammerstone.dev/refine/laravel/docs/main
Torchlight: https://torchlight.dev
Aaron: https://twitter.com/aarondfrancis
Colleen: https://twitter.com/leenyburger
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Jul 11, 2022
Back from Vacation
Aaron and Colleen are both back from vacation with a lot of updates to share.
Refine: https://hammerstone.dev/refine/laravel/docs/main
Torchlight: https://torchlight.dev
Aaron: https://twitter.com/aarondfrancis
Colleen: https://twitter.com/leenyburger
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Jun 15, 2022
Email Outreach, GitHub Actions, and a Demo Site
Aaron got stranded in Dallas thanks to two cancelled AA flights. We're sending outreach emails and doing a bunch of ancillary product work.
Refine: https://hammerstone.dev/refine/laravel/docs/main
Torchlight: https://torchlight.dev
Aaron: https://twitter.com/aarondfrancis
Colleen: https://twitter.com/leenyburger
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Jun 9, 2022
The Calls are Happening
We're starting to have calls with customers!
Refine: https://hammerstone.dev/refine/laravel/docs/main
Torchlight: https://torchlight.dev
Aaron: https://twitter.com/aarondfrancis
Colleen: https://twitter.com/leenyburger
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Jun 2, 2022
Glimmers of Hope
Things are starting to look up!
Refine: https://hammerstone.dev/refine/laravel/docs/main
Torchlight: https://torchlight.dev
Aaron: https://twitter.com/aarondfrancis
Colleen: https://twitter.com/leenyburger
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May 23, 2022
We Sent the Email! And Made No Sales!
We sent the Nova email! And it didn't go quite as planned.
Refine: https://hammerstone.dev/refine/laravel/docs/main
Refine Nova: https://github.com/hammerstonedev/refine-nova
Torchlight: https://torchlight.dev
Aaron: https://twitter.com/aarondfrancis
Colleen: https://twitter.com/leenyburger
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Apr 27, 2022
It's Time to Business
Tech time is over, it's time to business.
Refine: https://hammerstone.dev/refine/laravel/docs/main
Refine Nova: https://github.com/hammerstonedev/refine-nova
Torchlight: https://torchlight.dev
Aaron: https://twitter.com/aarondfrancis
Colleen: https://twitter.com/leenyburger
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Apr 18, 2022
The Landing Page Lives!
The Nova landing page (with a buy now button!) is live.
Refine: https://hammerstone.dev/refine/laravel/docs/main
Refine Nova: https://github.com/hammerstonedev/refine-nova
Torchlight: https://torchlight.dev
Aaron: https://twitter.com/aarondfrancis
Colleen: https://twitter.com/leenyburger
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Apr 13, 2022
Some Big Changes
Some big changes happening at Hammerstone.
* Refine: https://hammerstone.dev/refine/laravel/docs/main
* Refine Nova: https://github.com/hammerstonedev/refine-nova
* Torchlight: https://torchlight.dev
* Aaron: https://twitter.com/aarondfrancis
* Colleen: https://twitter.com/leenyburger
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Mar 16, 2022
Aaron's New Job, Balancing Client vs Product Work
Aaron got a new job! We're trying to figure out how to balance client work and product work.
* Refine: https://hammerstone.dev/refine/laravel/docs/main
* Refine Nova: https://github.com/hammerstonedev/refine-nova
* Torchlight: https://torchlight.dev
* Aaron: https://twitter.com/aarondfrancis
* Colleen: https://twitter.com/leenyburger
* Sean: https://twitter.com/sfioritto
* Tuple: https://tuple.app
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Mar 2, 2022
Is Rails Over? Aaron Goes Full Hipster
We talk about the future of Rails and how it differs from Laravel. Aaron has been experimenting with Cloudflare, Edge Workers, and Fly.io.
* Refine: https://hammerstone.dev/refine/laravel/docs/main
* Refine Nova: https://github.com/hammerstonedev/refine-nova
* Torchlight: https://torchlight.dev
* Aaron: https://twitter.com/aarondfrancis
* Colleen: https://twitter.com/leenyburger
* Sean: https://twitter.com/sfioritto
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Feb 15, 2022
Conferences and First Revenue 💸
Laracon is over, Colleen is speaking at a conference in March. We got paid!
* Refine: https://hammerstone.dev/refine/laravel/docs/main
* Refine Nova: https://github.com/hammerstonedev/refine-nova
* Torchlight: https://torchlight.dev
* Aaron: https://twitter.com/aarondfrancis
* Colleen: https://twitter.com/leenyburger
* Sean: https://twitter.com/sfioritto
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Feb 11, 2022
Bonus: Talking Twitter with Matt Swanson
In a long bonus episode, Matt Swanson (https://twitter.com/_swanson) joins Aaron to talk about Twitter.
* Aaron: https://twitter.com/aarondfrancis
* Matt: https://twitter.com/_swanson
* Boring Rails: https://boringrails.com/
* ShowCode: https://showcode.app
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Feb 8, 2022
Laracon is Tomorrow 😬
Aaron is practicing for Laracon, a lot.
* Laracon: https://laracon.net/
* Refine: https://hammerstone.dev/refine/laravel/docs/main
* Refine Nova: https://github.com/hammerstonedev/refine-nova
* Torchlight: https://torchlight.dev
* Aaron: https://twitter.com/aarondfrancis
* Colleen: https://twitter.com/leenyburger
* Sean: https://twitter.com/sfioritto
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Feb 1, 2022
First Nova Install 🎉 and Prepping for Laracon
Our first Nova user has it installed and is trying it out. Aaron is prepping for Laracon and running out of steam.
* Refine: https://hammerstone.dev/refine/laravel/docs/main
* Refine Nova: https://github.com/hammerstonedev/refine-nova
* Torchlight: https://torchlight.dev
* Aaron: https://twitter.com/aarondfrancis
* Colleen: https://twitter.com/leenyburger
* Sean: https://twitter.com/sfioritto
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Jan 27, 2022
All the Frontends, Onboarding Nova, and MySQL Stuff
We're wrangling multiple frontends all at once, trying to onboard Nova users, and Aaron did some fun MySQL stuff.
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Jan 18, 2022
Sean Has Known All Along
It's starting to work, but Sean always knew it was going to.
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Jan 6, 2022
Back in the Saddle
The team is back from Christmas break, with a lot to talk about.
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Dec 23, 2021
Work and Family, with Matt Wensing
Matt Wensing (https://twitter.com/mattwensing) joins Aaron to talk about sacrificing time early on in hopes of having more freedom later.
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Dec 15, 2021
Optimizing Time-to-UI and Next Steps for Livewire
Talking through a few Vue changes, making a call on a Livewire frontend.
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Dec 8, 2021
(Finally) Exiting the Trough of Despair
Aaron and Colleen talk about the trough of despair and also numeric range optimizations, of course.
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Nov 30, 2021
React, Vue, Laravel, Rails, and Hotwire. Oh my!
Back from Thanksgiving, we talk about finding an amazing React contractor, integrating the Vue and Laravel libraries, and more.
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Nov 17, 2021
Launch Day is in Sight
It's finally here.
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Nov 10, 2021
Coffee, Renderless Components, and Confidence
We talk about our coffee habits, new computers, renderless components, databases, and confidence.
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Nov 2, 2021
Colleen Reaches Enlightenment
Lots of exciting updates from Founder's Summit, and Aaron reports back on the first Laravel client.
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Oct 22, 2021
Back in the Saddle
After a short break, we're back!
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Oct 1, 2021
Pheasants, Live Coding, Filters-in-a-filter
Sean went pheasant "hunting", Aaron gave a live coding presentation, Colleen is building out nested filters
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Sep 24, 2021
Who _Are_ You?
Colleen listened to Aaron's solo episodes and it... raised some questions
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Sep 17, 2021
Hammerstone, a History
Aaron comin atcha from the kitchen table. A solo show.
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Sep 10, 2021
2 Jobs, Stabilizers, and Torchlight Clients
Sean is feeling the weight of his many jobs, Aaron tries to say "stabilizers" as much as possible in one episode, and we talk about new Torchlight clients.
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Sep 3, 2021
Foreign Keys and Calvin & Hobbes
We're kind of all over the place today! Sleep, foreign keys, CommandBar, Calvin & Hobbes somehow, Vue, and so on.
Command Bar - "CommandBar gives your users onboarding nudges, quick actions [...] in one personalized [...] widget."
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Sep 2, 2021
Bonus Episode: A Deep Dive into Sidecar with Greg Skerman
Greg Skerman (https://twitter.com/GregSkerman) is the OG Sidecar user, and he stops by to teach Aaron a thing or two.
* Greg's Twitter: https://twitter.com/GregSkerman
* Greg's company: https://www.iseekplant.com.au
* That one LinkedIn article Greg wrote: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/always-deploying-greg-skerman/
* Laravel Brisbane: https://www.meetup.com/bne-laravel-meetup/
* Sidecar: https://github.com/hammerstonedev/sidecar
* InertiaJS
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Aug 27, 2021
Colleen's First Week, Refine Pricing, and Acquiring a Product
Colleen is a week into working with the client. Sean can't sleep, Aaron is having surgery. We talk about Refine + Laravel launch date, and Hammerstone acquiring a product!
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Aug 13, 2021
Billions with a "B"
Aaron can barely move, Colleen is working with billions of records. Sean is on vacation! Lucky Sean.
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Aug 6, 2021
Hammerstone is Growing 👀
Hammerstone adds a new partner.
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Jul 23, 2021
Railsifying Refine, Torchlight, and the Myth of the MVP
Refine is getting more and more Rails-y, Aaron talks about Torchlight and the Hammerstone thesis, and we debate the merits of the "launch immediately" trope.
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Jul 16, 2021
Updates, Updates, Updates
So many updates! Aaron has twins now, which is a lot of babies. Sean talks about his job changes. We talk about Sidecar, Torchlight, the Laravel ecosystem, and much more.
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Apr 9, 2021
YNAB For Business? Progress in Rails, Demand for Laravel.
Sean pitches Aaron on using YNAB for our business. We're making good progress in Rails and people want the Laravel version already.
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Apr 7, 2021
Sales Safari for Torchlight.dev & Wanting to Give Up
Sean and Aaron attempt a "Sales Safari" for Torchlight.dev. It gets a little painful because there aren't many results, and Aaron kind of feels like giving up.
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Apr 2, 2021
Rough Week, Good Friday
Sean has had an extremely busy week with work, other work, and house stuff. Aaron has torchlight.dev up and running and ready to start selling.
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Mar 19, 2021
Healing Back Pain, Twitter Coincidences, and Torchlight.dev
Aaron has a bunch of mystery pain, Sean has a fix that's kind of "out there". Aaron runs into the owner of hammerstone.com in a Twitter thread. Launching torchlight.dev.
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Mar 10, 2021
Rails Integration and Laravel Admin Panels
Colleen and Sean have the Rails integration working, and Aaron talks about Laravel admin panels as a potential marketing channel.
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Feb 26, 2021
Shedquarters, Refine Refinements, and Laravel Airdrop
Aaron has moved into the shedquarters, Sean can't sleep. We talk Airdrop, Full Stack Panic, and Refine refinements.
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Feb 22, 2021
Texas Weather, Hotwire Success, and Refinements
Aaron gets pushed out of his house for a week thanks to the freak storm. Sean makes some great progress on Hotwire.
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Feb 12, 2021
Sean's Birthday, Mental Health, and Hotwire
We talk about being old, and tired. And hotwire!
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Feb 9, 2021
Andrew from Bullet Train Stops By
Andrew from https://bullettrain.co stops by.
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Jan 29, 2021
Too Many Open Loops
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Jan 29, 2021
Making Progress
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Jan 29, 2021
Getting Too Technical
We talk (in great detail) about our product. Too much detail.
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Jan 29, 2021
What's Your Name?
Figuring it out as we go
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