
IndieRails
Jeremy and Jess interview indie developers who have a passion for the Rails framework and bring their hustle and creativity to building a business. They strive to understand the challenges these developers face and how they are overcoming them to create successful businesses.
Latest episodes

Oct 4, 2023 • 53min
Managing Yourself - Tips and advice for managing being indie longterm
Jeremy just recently gave a talk at friendly.rb titled "Making it as an Indie Developer". Part of the talk was about managing yourself and we wanted to do a deeper dive into that topic. As an indie developer (or could be applied to other categories like business owners or founders) , how do you manage the business, your career, motivation, goals, health, pipeline, workflow, etc??They don't have all the answers, but Jeremy and Jess bring their nearly 30 combined years of experience to share how they make it as indie developers.

6 snips
Sep 19, 2023 • 60min
Robby Russell - Maintaining Planet Argon
Robby Russell is founder and CEO of Planet Argon, one of the oldest Rails development agencies, now in it's 21st year. Robby shares how he got started in Rails and how he grew Planet Argon to the organization it is today. Some listeners might remember him as "Robby on Rails" from the early Rails era; Robby is also the creator of the popular dev tool, Oh My Zsh. In addition to these, Robby hosts the Maintainable Software Podcast, where he speaks with seasoned practitioners and shares valuable insights into navigating legacy code and technical debt. His passion isn't limited to tech, though. He's also the guitarist for The Mighty Missoula, an instrumental art rock band from Portland, Oregon. From coding to music, Robby truly encompasses a diverse spectrum of interests.Relevant LinksPlanet Argon's Ruby on Rails consulting servicesMaintainable Software PodcastRobby on Rails (old Rails blog)@robbyrussell@ruby.social@robbyrussell

4 snips
Sep 5, 2023 • 42min
Adam McCrea - Scaling Up an Autoscaling SaaS
In this episode, Adam McCrea joins us to talk about building and growing Judoscale (previously, Rails Autoscale) an autoscaler originally released in the Heroku Marketplace, and now available for Render, with other platforms to come. Adam shares about building a product on the side, launching on the Heroku platform, the process of a rebrand, and making the transition to full-time indie business owner.Adam McCrea:TwitterJudoscale:WebsiteMentioned in the episode:HerokuRenderFly.ioNate BerkopecTinySeed

Aug 22, 2023 • 51min
Matt Gordon - Going from Consulting to Products
Matt Gordon, former software engineer turned entrepreneur, discusses his journey from consulting to product development. Topics include team structure at Expected Behavior, challenges of running a small company, early experiences with technology and entrepreneurship, and transitioning from consulting to product development.

Aug 8, 2023 • 47min
Nadia Odunayo - Building The StoryGraph
Get ready for an electrifying episode that will leave you in awe of the incredible Nadia Odunayo! 🎉 Join us as we unravel the remarkable journey behind The StoryGraph's meteoric rise to one million users as a one-woman dev. This conversation is full of inspiration, motivation, and pure fun and a goldmine for aspiring entrepreneurs and tech enthusiasts.Nadia OdunayoWebsiteTwitterMastodonThe StoryGraphRob Frelow (Co-founder)WebsiteTwitterMastodonInstagramTikTokMentionedGetting to One Million Users as a One-Woman Dev (RailsSaas)The Case Of The Vanished Variable - A Ruby Mystery Story (RubyConf Mini)PivotalTrackerThe Mom TestYNABFIRE movementSaron Yitbarek

Jul 25, 2023 • 1h 15min
Khash Sajadi - The Journey to the Cloud(66)
Join us as we listen in to Khash as he shares his story of startup failures & successes, consulting and employment in between and navigating political, economic and geographical constraints. Khash Sajadi - Founder & CEO www.cloud66.com** 3 Months Free Coupon for New Users **Cloud66 has offered IndieRails listeners a special offering. The coupon is for new users only and includes 3 months for free on the developer plan.Coupon name: IndieRails

Jul 11, 2023 • 41min
Blue Ridge Ruby Recap - What It Takes To Start a Conference
In this episode Jess walks Jeremy through a retro of Blue Ridge Ruby, a first ever ruby conference put on by a first time ever promotor. Jeremy gets personal as he breaks down the business of putting on a conference. Listen in to see what it takes, how much it costs, was it worth it and will there be an 2nd edition???https://twitter.com/blueridgerubyhttps://ruby.social/@blueridgeruby

Jun 27, 2023 • 49min
Michael Buckbee - Balancing Marketing & Development While Building Wafris
In this episode, we dive deep into the world of web application security, marketing, building a company and the delicate art of balancing it all. Our special guest is the remarkable Michael Buckbee, co-founder of Wafris, a new open source web application firewall that helps developers secure their web applications. But Michael isn't just an expert in cybersecurity; he also brings a unique perspective to the table with his extensive background in marketing...something all indie developers and bootstrappers need to tap into. Join us as we explore the journey of Mike and Wafris!Links:https://wafris.org/https://twitter.com/mbuckbeehttps://expeditedsecurity.com/https://elements.heroku.com/addons/expeditedsslhttps://elements.heroku.com/addons/expeditedwafhttps://elements.heroku.com/addons/ipinvestigatorhttps://elements.heroku.com/addons/expeditedcdnMentioned:https://justinjackson.ca/https://github.com/sidekiq/sidekiqhttps://www.foragoodstrftime.com/https://app.harmonizely.com/expedited/wafrishttps://businessofsoftware.org/talk/how-to-negotiate-the-long-slow-saas-ramp-of-death/Deploy Empathy

Jun 13, 2023 • 34min
Small Bets, Big Impact: An Adventure with Jeremy & Jess
Jeremy & Jess were in cohort 23 of Daniel Vassallo's course, A Portfolio of Small Bets. After a few weeks of letting it all sink in, they share some of the things they learned, key take-aways, and more.

Jun 2, 2023 • 46min
Ernesto Tagwerker - Building an agency & productized services
In this episode, Ernesto shares his journey from freelancing to building an agency, managing a remote and international team, creating productized services, and technical sales and marketing.Find ErnestoTwitterMastodonMore about OmbuLabsOmbuLabsFastRuby.ioUpgrade JSTune ReportMentioned in the PodBrennan Dunn RoadmappingBureau of DigitalDonutKnow Your TeamNate BerkopecKent Beck tweetChatGPTGitHub Copilot