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CEO Tom Spaniol chats with Tim Bornholdt about running a software company without a technical background, building a web app over a mobile app, and wanting others in his space to succeed.
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Paul Johansen, CTO at Edmentum, joins the show to talk about the role emerging technologies are playing in the world of education, how feedback and stakeholder buy in fuel innovation, and the challenges and benefits of dispersed technical teams.
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Get to know the people and business behind Constant Variables as the mic gets flipped on show host, Tim Bornholdt.
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Ryan Estes, co-founder of Kitcaster, joins Tim Bornholdt of The Jed Mahonis Group to chat about why podcasting is the Trojan horse of marketing for startups.
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Eri O’Diah of SIID Technologies chats with Tim Bornholdt of The Jed Mahonis Group about harnessing the intuitive power of machine learning to build tools that facilitate better understanding of all groups.
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Nick Tietz, Founder of ILT Academy, joins the show to chat about building up communities of underestimated entrepreneurs, embracing failure as a way to learn, and getting deliverables to customers early and often at the lowest fidelity possible.
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Software engineer turned developer advocate, Joe Karlsson of SingleStore, chats with Tim Bornholdt of The Jed Mahonis Group about why it’s challenging for junior developers to land that first job after bootcamp, where entry-level developers have the most value within organizations, and what others in the industry can do to support juniors.
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Prismatic's Michael Zuercher joins the show to chat about the growing iPaaS space, scaling a startup during a pandemic, rewriting code versus starting from scratch, and making acquisitions work.
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Eric Caron, Senior Director of Digital Experience at Caribou Coffee, breaks down how startup mentality works in corporate settings, why non-technical people should care about APIs, and how there’s value, not shame, in retiring legacy apps.
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Trent Sorbe joins the show to chat about why banks should become more like utility companies who focus on enabling experiences. He shares how his company’s accelerator is helping early-stage fintech startups, why they created a banking-as-a-service open API, and how mature banks and fintechs can best partner to build better customer experiences.
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Director of Innovation and Technology at the City of Sioux Falls, Mike Grigsby, joins the show to talk about why technology *isn’t* part of his definition of a smart city and explains why cities need someone internally to champion innovation.
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Get ready to rumble with Austin Betzer of Strides Development and a native app, hybrid app, progressive web app battle royale. This episode will leave you with a clear (maybe biased) understanding of the tech options available for building your mobile product.
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Krunam CEO, Chris Wexler, joins the show to talk about how technologies like computer vision and deep learning are aiding content moderators in identifying and removing CSAM from the internet, how social algorithms incent the distribution of harsh content, and why it’s also important we don’t create an Internet that’s entirely encrypted.
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Infrastructure Engineer, Solomon Anderson, joins the show to chat about how data operates, balancing new features with supporting existing infrastructure, and the environmental impact of something as miniscule as open browser tabs on our laptops.
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Director of Project Management, Renae Livingston, joins the show to talk about how to effectively manage large technical projects, and how cost, bandwidth, and capabilities factor into hiring a development team.
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Yash Khandor He joins the show to talk about the intangible traits of great developers, how *not* to hire developers, how to keep up with tech changes, and how to find software jobs that are less obvious.
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J.C. Granger of Infinity Marketing Group joins the show to talk about where software companies struggle the most when it comes to B2B marketing and how to break into new markets.
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Sam Lerdahl of Pikup joins the show to talk openly about being a young entrepreneur, when *not* to build an app, how to change user behavior, and why the era of “We’ll make money later” is coming to an end.
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TurnSignl's Jazz Hampton joins the show to chat about building the bike as they were riding it, and how investors, individuals, companies, media, and police officers are responding to their app-based service.
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Justin Grammens is an expert on IoT, AI, and where the two meet. He joins the show to chat about how and why businesses should start exploring these emerging technologies and where they’re making the most impact.
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Howard Tiersky, founder of digital transformation agency FROM, joins the show to chat about the rapid evolution of technological innovations and how organizations can shift their mindset to the “new normal.”
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Casey Gordon, CIO at the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University, joins the show to chat about balancing IT priorities, gaining cooperation amongst diverse stakeholders, preventing social engineering attacks, and how an IT department can support the mission of the organization.
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Tim Frick of Mightybytes joins the show to talk about how the growing B Corp movement is touching every industry and how companies around the world are coming together to make the Internet more sustainable.
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Anand Safi of Mark43 joins the show to chat about career path options for engineers who don't want to be managers. He also shares how Toastmasters helped him become a more empathetic speaker, how to deal with non-technical bosses, and how companies can keep their metaphorical plates spinning while adding more.
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Diane Rucker, Executive Director of University Enterprise Laboratories, joins the show to chat about redefining entrepreneurship, the soft skills needed to be a well-rounded developer, the criticality of business partners who look at things differently than you, and the state of startups in Minnesota compared to the coasts.
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Mickeli Bedore, Co-Founder and Chief Revenue Officer of Closers Media, joins the show to talk about sales-informed marketing and how to incorporate user feedback into your product.
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Scott Brown, Chief Technology Officer at Revealix, joins the show to share how AI is transforming the healthcare space, the importance of testing for failure, the privacy concerns around AI, and the ease and difficulty of working with new technologies.
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Nelly Yusupova, CTO, Startup Tech Advisor, and Creator of TechSpeak for Entrepreneurs, joins the show to discuss how to build tech teams when you aren’t a technical person, from understanding lean and agile methodologies, to deciding what tools to use, to earning a CTO, to not impeding progress with NDA’s.
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Tom Greenwood, Managing Director at Wholegrain Digital and author of Sustainable Web Design, joins the show to chat about the issues of web sustainability. He shares techniques and processes for making digital products more sustainable, as well as gives advice on how to be a champion for sustainable tech within your company and with your clients.
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Tim chats about the impact our digital world has on our physical world using an Uber thought experiment.
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Adopt A Classroom’s Ryan Jordan and Ann Pifer join the show to chat about how to make a massive transition from a legacy platform over to Salesforce, how to adjust an organization’s mindset to be agile, and how to work with users to make sure you are continuing to invest in features that provide the best return on investment.
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Senior Engineering Manager at Target, Kate Wardin, joins the show to chat about how her experience transitioning from developer to manager resulted in her founding Developer First Leadership. She shares tips on how engineering managers can embrace the human side of software development, suggestions for companies struggling to fill open technical roles, and best practices for retaining tech talent within an organization.
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Design Center’s Director of Strategy Chris Cornejo joins the show to chat about how design thinking has shifted from “how it looks” to “how it works”, the advantages of an outcome mindset over a solutions mindset, how COVID has impacted strategy and design processes, and how to prepare for a project’s initial strategy session.
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What got you your first customers won't get you the next ones. Jordan Ambra of Serenity Software joins the show to talk about the challenges of going from a startup to a “real” business, transitioning from a people-oriented business to a process-oriented one, and preparing for growth by focusing on fundamentals.
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SalesReach Founder & CEO Josh Fedie chats with Tim on a number of topics, including how to protect your idea from getting stolen, the ups and downs of being an entrepreneur, why it’s important for companies to have a CEO who is publicly visible and vulnerable, and the future of Clubhouse.
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Dr. Michael Allen of Allen Interactions joins the show to chat about how his company builds interactive learning programs around organizations’ best practices that leave people asking for more and shares his advice for designing impactful user experiences.
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Dan Burcaw, founder of Nami ML, joins the show to share his insights on the plight of a subscription-fatigued economy, how data collection and user privacy don’t have to be enemies, and how the app landscape has changed since the launch of the App Store in 2008.
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Software engineer, consultant, and tech startup founder Shawn Livermore is dispelling the myth of the tech genius with his best-selling book, Average Joe: Be the Silicon Valley Tech Genius. Shawn joins the show to breakdown how the idolization of tech geniuses has shaped the tech industry, how communicating complexity can be more powerful than writing code, and how anyone can become a “tech genius”, but it may not be what you think it is.
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Emmy Award winner and owner of Puke Rainbows Creative Erica Hanna joins the show to chat about the power of video for a business, and the role it can play in getting people to adopt a product or new way of working.
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Clifton Manneh joins the show to chat about how his mom’s cooking influenced his passion for community-based learning, the lessons he learned as a solo-entrepreneur, and the impact he hopes Konduct Coach Learning will have on the community.
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Tim chats about the tangible assets you should expect to receive at each development stage, along with a fair pace for completing each stage.
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Tim reviews the benefits and challenges of low code/no code apps to help businesses determine if this development approach is the right solution for their project.
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Founder & CEO of Matriarch Digital Media Twila Dang is no stranger to the power of audio, and she joins the show to share how simple it is to get started with podcasting, with just a cellphone and a plan. Twila gets into the weeds of how businesses can be successful with podcasting and the doors that open when you make something you’re proud of.
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Big tech email providers use your data as a way to get rich. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Fastmail CEO Bron Gondwana joins the show from the Land Down Under to chat about why “free” email isn’t free.
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Rob and Tim come together for their annual chat about technology trends for the coming year, from the breakup of tech giants, the next stage of autonomous vehicles, and machine learning in healthcare, to ultimately where companies will be investing when it comes to tech in 2021.
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Mike Jackson, founder of The Premium Experience, joins the show to discuss his experience building a tech based business as a solo, non-technical founder and how it prepared him for the launch of his next company, Black Tech Talent.
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There’s many risks associated with any development project, from communication breakdowns to changes in scope and timeline to a developer moving on. But there's also many ways to mitigate these risks when you start working with a tech team.
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Serial tech entrepreneur Eric Martell joins the show to chat about building his recent venture Pear Commerce, marrying product philosophy with business philosophy, hiring people who buy into your mission, investing in repeat customers over acquiring new ones, and using tech to scale.
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One of the first development decisions you’ll make when building an app is whether to build on a native platform or a hybrid platform. In this episode, Tim gets into best use cases for hybrid and native apps, along with each platform’s limitations, so you can decide the best approach for your project.
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Founder & CEO George Brooks of digital product agency Crema joins the show to discuss how to find the passion and posture of a digital agency, the no-win situation that is RFPs, and how his digital agency vets clients in return.
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Apps collect, store, and use data in ways that are both purposeful and nefarious. In this episode, Rob and Tim chat about why apps collect data, how that data is used, how app owners can be intentional with user data, and how app users can protect their information.
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Building an app isn’t just about the technology but about the lives it makes easier. Ashley Bennett, Sook Jin Ong, and Pamela McCauley share the inspiring story behind the development of the Minnesota Family Investment Program’s pilot app, its powerful role as a communication tool, along with the unexpected questions around social equity it brought to the table.
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Rob and Tim chat about the nuances of seemingly easy features like data sync, search, push notifications, in-app purchasing, and messaging to help you understand where to get the most value with the least amount of effort when building your product.
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Rob and Tim chat about their experience building a delivery app for a Midwest pizza chain, and how a stellar user experience when ordering from a restaurant’s app can be a differentiator in this competitive industry.
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When we put humans first, we can learn a lot. Stephanie Hammes-Betti, Senior Vice President of Innovation Design at US Bank, joins the show to chat about how innovation happens within a large organization, how to go about listening to customers, and the benefits of teaching an innovative mindset to employees.
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Tim and Rob discuss the ongoing controversies surrounding Apple and the App Store and their thoughts on how it might play out.
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Parrot.MD’s CEO and co-founder Tim Steele joins the show to talk about the creation of the Parrot.MD app, the role social equity plays in fundraising, and the essentiality of focus groups.
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Digital consultant Jen Swanson breaks down how digital transformation is not just a technology integration, but a people and process integration, that ultimately delivers a more valuable customer and employee experience in every part of a business.
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Tim and Rob share their tips for building Android apps so you can successfully navigate Google’s unique requirements.
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Tim and Rob share their tricks of the trade for building apps specifically for iOS, so you can learn from our mistakes and successfully navigate Apple’s unique roadblocks.
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Minnesotans love to talk about Minnesota, and nothing proves that more than PodMN’s collection of over 760 Minnesota-focused shows. Jeremy Sinon and William White of PodMN join the show to discuss the custom podcast platform they built to help Minnesotans discover all the great audio entertainment Minnesota has to offer.
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Sean Casto of app marketing agency PreApps joins the show to discuss how your app’s initial success doesn’t rely on its unique features, but on how you market it and present it.
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Amber Christian of Wonderly Software Solutions joins the show to discuss a design process few people are talking about and even less are doing: Human Centered Design.
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Adam Gordon of Andamio Games joins the show to discuss the unique infrastructure challenges educational game developers face, from funding to design to feedback.
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Spoiler alert: automating workflow processes doesn't start with software. Virtual CFO and software expert Susan Boles joins Tim to discuss the evolution of standardizing workflow processes and how virtual C-level persons can help you along the way.
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Building a successful app requires both art and science work in harmony. CTO Brad Ash joins the podcast to discuss the development of Fruitful, a fertility mentorship service he co-founded with his wife. Brad chats with Tim about the personal story that led to the creation of Fruitful, how difficult it is to supervise yourself when you’re building out the software, the importance of user feedback and focusing heavily on the user’s experience, and how to give users a reason to be excited to use your app.
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Accelerator programs can have measurable impact on your business’s growth, but when is your business ready to join one? Tim interviews Kate Evinger of gener8tor Minnesota, and she breaks down what accelerator programs can do for your business and your community, along with how to vet the right program for your business.
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Business owners often wear multiple hats, but to scale a business, you need to take off some hats, so to speak, in order to focus on growth. Tim chats with Stephanie Scheller of Grow Disrupt on the first steps to take when thinking about growing your business, how to decide what parts of the business to focus on, and how to properly use outsourcing to scale.
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Social engineering is a catch-all phrase to describe the various ways criminals trick you into giving them access to your system or confidential information. Because humans are prone to relying on their cognitive biases when making decisions, social engineering can be very effective.
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Clare's history and passion for education led her on an unexpected app development and entrepreneurial journey. In this episode, Clare shares why you're doing yourself a disservice by not getting out there, and why you should start building your audience before building your app.
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Automating your business processes can save you a ton of time and money in the long run. Rhamy Alejeal joins us on this episode to discuss how you can get started with automation in your company (specifically around your HR process).
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In this episode, we chat with Adam Stone of Secure Digital Solutions. Adam is a Data Privacy and Security Executive with more than 20 years of experience implementing and developing data privacy and security innovations. We talk about the California Consumer Privacy Act and why you should care about user privacy, the principles behind the Privacy by Design framework and how you can incorporate that into your app, managing third party dependencies within your mobile app, and the battle between the FBI and Apple around end-to-end encryption.
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Tim chats with Savon Sampson, former senior marketing director for McKesson, to find out how one of the largest companies in the world built their mobile app. She shares how the idea for the app came about, the steps she took to find a technology partner, the struggles the organization faced in getting the software adopted, and the things she would change if she had to do it all over again.
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Tim talks about all things accessibility with Jonathan Hassell of Hassell Inclusion. They discuss the importance of inclusive design, how to shift your organization’s mindset to think about accessibility in everything you do, and what you can do to make your app usable by the 20% of the world with a disability.
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Tim chats with Dr. Courtney Hill and Adam Choe of Yonder, an app for helping young children prepare to visit the dentist. They discuss the history of Yonder, how important it is to find the right fit for a development team, the brutally honest feedback that comes from having a target audience of 3-5 year olds, the joys of bootstrapping a business, and some tips for working together as a team.
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How can you, as a budding app owner, decide which app development team to hire? Tim provides a list of questions you can use to interview potential developers, as well as what answers you should be looking for.
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Predicting what will change in technology in the coming year is always a fruitless experiment... but let’s do it anyway! Tim and Rob chat about 9 technology trends and where they see the industry moving in the new year.
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Tim and Jenny take popular apps and break down what they would look like as a Mininum Viable Product (MVP), along with the pros and cons to releasing an MVP.
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Security is a never ending game of cat and mouse, and it is important to do the fundamentals correctly to reduce your chances of a breach. Tim chats about all things related to making sure your mobile app system is secure.
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There are many different types of teams you can choose to build out your mobile app. Tim goes over 5 possible setups, complete with the pros and cons for each setup.
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In Part 4 of our App Development Lifecycle Series, Tim breaks down the final stage of development: deployment. We share our process for shipping production-ready code to the App and Play Stores, what to expect during the review process, and how this phase loops back to the strategy phase.
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In Part 3 of our App Development Lifecycle Series, Tim breaks down the Development and Testing Phases. We share how we work with our clients to develop custom mobile app systems, as well as how we test them to make sure they work how you (and your customers) expect it.
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In Part 2 of our App Development Lifecycle Series, Tim breaks down the Design phase. Design is not only how your app looks, but also how it works. In this episode, we share how we work with our clients to design a valuable and easy-to-use mobile app experience for their users.
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In Part 1 of our App Development Lifecycle Series, Tim breaks down the Strategy Phase. A well-considered strategy is critically important to the success of any project, especially a complex mobile app project. In this episode, we share how we work with our clients to build a plan for delivering an app that meets their business goals and provides value to their users.
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Tim chats with Trinity Wiles, an entrepreneur and Global Coordinator at WatchPitch, about how to use your resources to your advantage when creating a mobile app.
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Tim sits down with Amanda Brooks, creator of the FASTZach routing app, to discuss the lessons she learned in building a mobile app from the ground up.
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Tim interviews Kurt Schmidt, President of Foundry and former Director of Project Management at The Nerdery, who takes him to school on how to effectively strategize and manage the development of a mobile app.
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Tim interviews Chris Ruff of Glympse who explains how location-tracking works in a mobile app and how you can securely & accurately provide a service provider's location to your customers.
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Tim interviews "Hot Lou" Abramowski of Evergreen, who gives practical advice for both running a business on Facebook and marketing your mobile app with Facebook Ads.
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Tim interviews Tom of Kindu, who shares how he was able to build a mobile app which attracted hundreds of thousands of users with no previous development or marketing experience.
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Tim interviews Jonathan Richter of Winnona Partners, a mobile app consultancy, who shares the lessons he's learned around the business of app development which you can apply to your own iOS and Android projects.
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Tim interviews Pedram Nastaean and Yomiyu Hirpa of Kwikly, an on-demand dental staffing agency, who share how they were able to launch a mobile-based company with minimal technical experience.
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Mobile app developers throw around a lot of jargon and buzzwords, but you don't need to fear them! In this episode, Tim and Rob explain several common acronyms and terms you'll hear when working with a development team.
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Validating an app idea requires objectivity, introspection, and a bit of blind faith. Tim and Rob discuss three metrics they use when approached to determine whether or not it would make a good mobile app.
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Even though we get paid to release apps for our clients, it has been a while since we've built and released one of our own. In this episode, Tim and Rob discuss the recent release of mncraft.beer.
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Most mobile applications (especially on-demand apps) require a server to keep everything running smoothly. In this episode, Tim and Rob explain what a server is and the role it plays in your mobile software system.
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When building an on-demand app, who do you try to get on your platform first: customers or service providers? In this episode, Tim and Rob suggest 7 techniques you can use to sustainably grow your on-demand app.
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On-demand apps like Uber and Postmates are among the more technically complex apps you can build. In this episode, Tim and Rob explain how these apps work in an easy-to-understand way.
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A common way to cut down on mobile app development costs is to only build out one platform at a time. Tim and Rob explain the advantages to building on either iOS or Android, and provide tips for choosing which platform is right for your product.
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Tim and Rob discuss the pros and cons of 5 popular revenue models for mobile apps.
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Tim and Rob discuss how 10 mobile-related technologies will evolve in the year 2018.
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Tim and Rob take a shot at answering the oldest question in software development: how long does it take to get an app shipped from scratch?
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