
Giant Robots Smashing Into Other Giant Robots
A podcast about the design, development, and business of great software. Each week thoughtbot is joined by the people who build and nurture the products we love.
Latest episodes

Sep 2, 2019 • 41min
334: Preserve and Extend (Devon Zuegel)
Devon Zuegel, Product Manager at GitHub, discusses her transition from researcher to product manager, and shepherding the funding, communication, and tooling of open source sustainability.
GitHub
Devon on The Bike Shed
GitHub Sponsors
Let’s talk about open source sustainability
GitHub Satellite 2019
thoughtbot open source projects
Devon on Twitter
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Aug 26, 2019 • 38min
333: Do Fewer Things Better (Matt Massicotte)
Matt Massicotte, creator of Chime, discusses the landscape of text editors, the complexities of writing your own parsers, building a new product while building a new family, and alternative app platform & pricing models.
Chime
Matt on Twitter
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Aug 19, 2019 • 33min
332: Grow to Accommodate (Jordan Berke)
Jordan Berke, CEO & founder of RepOne Strength, discusses finding your customers, working in the world of open source hardware, sourcing materials, relentless work pace, and bootstrapping.
RepOne Strength
Open Source NYC
"Bill Gates says startup founders should not take weekends or vacations in the early days of building a company"- Business Insider
Jordan on LinkedIn
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Aug 12, 2019 • 51min
331: Deep Industry Expertise (Courtney & Tye Caldwell)
Courtney & Tye Caldwell, Co-founders of ShearShare, discuss their journey from salon owners to startup founders, defining an MVP and maintaining a narrow focus for your product.
ShearShare
Mentored by Failure- Tye Caldwell
ShearShare Simplifying Financials
Tech.Co Startup of the Year 2016
Courtney on Twitter
Tye on Twitter
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Aug 5, 2019 • 41min
330: There's So Much Potential (Tess Posner)
Tess Posner, CEO of AI4ALL, gives an overview of the field of AI and discusses representation in AI careers, the ramifications of not having diversity in tech, the role of allies, and the future of work.
AI4ALL
AI4ALL Summer Programs
"Decoding Diversity"- Intel study on the financial and economic returns to diversity in tech
"Tech Leavers Study"- from Kapor Center for Social Impact
"There is a diversity crisis in AI, but together we can fix it."- Tess Posner
Algorithms of Oppression- Safiya Umoja Noble
Automating Inequality- Virginia Eubanks
The Gender Shades Project
AOC on Automation (SxSW 2019)
Opportunity@Work
Open Learning
Tess on Twitter
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Jul 29, 2019 • 53min
329: The Detail Stuff (Jon Werner)
Jon Werner, CEO & Co-Founder of KOYA Innovations, discusses running a startup with his family, protecting one's intellectual property, the importance of forethought, and developing a platform for kindness.
This episode of Giant Robots is sponsored by:
ISL Online
Indeed Prime
Links & Show Notes
Koya
Jon on LinkedIn
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Jul 22, 2019 • 42min
328: Reliability First (Rob Zuber)
Rob Zuber, CTO of CircleCI, discusses prioritizing product direction, scaling, slow iteration to introduce major changes, and what's next for the platform.
CircleCI
Chaos Engineering
Orbs
Rob on Twitter
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Jul 8, 2019 • 45min
327: Lead By Listening (Kate Brigham)
Kate Brigham, VP of Product, Design, & Research at ezCater, discusses organizational design, roadmaps, user-research, designing to solve the needs of several groups at once, and, as a leader, empowering others to solve problems.
This episode of Giant Robots is sponsored by:
ISL Online
Indeed Prime
Links & Show Notes
ezCater
Stefania Mallett on Giant Robots
PatientsLikeMe
Kate on Twitter
Kate on LinkedIn
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Jul 1, 2019 • 43min
326: Building the Whole Landscape (Morgan Evans)
Morgan Evans, organizational designer and CEO & Founder of Business Casual, discusses developing systems to holistically design a company, building a culture that is receptive to feedback, conflict mediation, acknowledging emotions while at work, and early days at Etsy.
Business Casual
Morgan on Twitter
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Jun 24, 2019 • 41min
325: Wallet-Power (Vanessa Bruce)
Vanessa Bruce, co-founder of Dough, discusses affecting change through individual purchase-power, how she handles context-switching, choosing a platform to optimize for content creation, the challenge of visibility, and the decision to launch nationally.
This episode of Giant Robots is sponsored by:
ISL Online
Indeed Prime
Links & Show Notes
Dough
Dough Membership
Open Salaries at Buffer
Vanessa on LinkedIn
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