Alan: Hey, you have a new background.

Mario: Yeah, same area.

It's just a

different position of my camera.

Alan: I see.

It makes you look like you're.

Yeah.

you've moved.

Mario: Yeah.

Right.

Different surroundings.

No, it's same area.

I just have a different setup.

Cause I have now,

a different work

computer and then my computer.

And so I had to move stuff around and,

This is the best I was able to set it up.

So I have my laptop in the center.

So now it's just like a plain boring wall

in the

back.

Alan: No.

It's yeah,

you'd need to, it's like a
was it John Oliver, like when

the void there that, right.

You just in void room.

Mario: Yeah, my plan is to put up some,
some of those, sound absorbing, you know,

Alan: Yeah.

foam things.

Mario: Yeah.

I'm going to put some of that
because I can still hear a little

bit of echo

Alan: A little bit.

Mario: On my recordings.

So.

Alan: I say, I, I really

I, I mentioned before, but you know, when
I listened to the audio and doing the edit

and things, this I'm really
impressed with this little microphone

Mario: Yeah, it's true.

Alan: considering this room.

I say I've I've got a fan

on all the time

because it's like baking here.

And the in front of me is
the there's a road, there's

a main road and this constant

traffic

noise.

And it can just can't hear it on this.

So whatever it's doing,
it's doing a good job of it.

So

Mario: Yeah.

Is that, is that a Blue?

A Blue microphone?

Alan: Yes, it's a blue snowball.

Hmm.

Mario: Yeah.

Nice.

Alan: Yeah, it's a

Mario: Yeah, this one is the Rode

Podcaster.

it's a pretty good microphone, but.

Alan: It's kind of like the
recommended by everybody one, right?

Yeah.

Mario: Yeah.

It's like a beginner, podcasting mic,

Mike

Alan: this,

Mario: it's pretty good.

but I think the echo really

comes from

Alan: yeah, I think it's your room

Mario: room that I'm in is not, it

doesn't have too much

stuff.

and especially this back wall here

is completely empty, so

Alan: Nice reflections.

Mario: it's.

Yeah.

I

need to add some of those foams.

Alan: I don't know if it makes
a difference, but so this room,

Obviously we're in a Japanese apartment.

I claimed the the tatami room.

So virtually all Japanese
apartments houses we'll have one

room that has a tatami floor.

And, since, you know, we were not a no.

We, we weren't using it for anything else.

I'm like, well, I'm just going
to kind of take over that.

Although it's become the
Alan's work and piling

up crap room.

But I don't know if having the floor
is like a, you know, a tatami makes

any difference, but it does seem
to do a reasonable job of absorbing

here reflections audio reflection.

so

Mario: Nice.

Yeah, that's good.

Alan: that.

Mario: So have you been what's new?

Alan: Ah, So yeah.

I know it's a

time just,

I it's just terrifying how
fast this year has gone.

Mario: Yeah.

Alan: absolutely.

I just don't know what's going on at all.

It's Yeah,

it's been just disappeared.

Yeah, It's been actually, I've
got some interesting news.

So I think I mentioned briefly to you
a few, maybe a month or so ago that 500

startups are doing a thing with Kobe city.

And for it's what is 500 Kobe founders
academy it's called and it's designed

for reasonably new founders with like
either seed or pre-seed or kind of

early stages of company founding.

And it's hoping to anybody all over
the world in previous years it was,

you go to Kobe for six weeks and
you do kind of the program there.

Obviously with the way things
are right now, it's virtual.

So they said it's, you
can apply from anywhere.

Obviously Japanese startups are
preferred, but it's, I'm open

to anybody all over the world.

So I Made a one evening pitch
deck of like cause literally the

form is you know, who are you?

What's your company attach a, a your deck.

And I'm like,

Mario: Yeah.

Alan: okay.

So I made a very quick one evening
attempt to T a, a pitch deck which

was kind of rushed, but And it
seemed to get across the main points.

And so I got a message last
week that I've been accepted.

Mario: Oh, nice.

Congrats.

Alan: Thank you so it's interesting cause
it's a four week program and it's all

done online virtually, so it's mostly
like, you know, video lectures, but then

they do two sessions one-to-one per week
with like mentors and so it's, it's.

Organized by Kobe city, but it's
kind of run by 500 startups.

And I say, I don't know
too much about it yet.

I just got the links this morning for
like some of the stuff to, to sign up.

So it starts next week and Yeah.

it's a four week lecture series plus say
one-to-one and community stuff and ongoing

stuff after that as well, apparently.

Yeah.

And it's designed for.

Basically early stage founders.

So she'll be interesting.

So,

Mario: Nice, that's awesome

Alan: I mean, I don't know what
to expect from it right now.

Because I've never done a program like
this before, and also, you know, this

is it's not a you know, designed for

like funding VC kind of growth.

It's, it's

definitely, you know early stage founders.

Aimed at.

So I'm like, yeah, just give me the info.

I'm I'm ready to soak it all up.

And I say hopefully
the, the networking and

community

side of things should be
interesting in as well.

Mario: More to go to cover business
apps, aspects, or business side of

Alan: it's actually, let me
pull up the page so I can

give, I can give you the spiel.

Mario: Is it virtual or in person?

Alan: it's a virtual,

Mario: Okay.

Alan: oh, say in previous years,

Mario: of things in, in Japan with COVID.

Yeah,

Alan: I say

it's, it's all virtual this year.

So it's a virtual four week program

aimed at helping startups
accelerate their business.

It's custom designed to support
startups in an independent

manner while explore scaling in,
Culebra and beyond gain access

to weekly AMA sessions to clarify

lessons on growth, fundamentals,

sales, capital growth, and more.

Yeah.

so it's basically

like

grow.

Mario: Yeah.

Alan: So Yeah.

Designed for early stage global

startups with global solutions,

Mario: Oh, nice.

So even though you're not in Kobe,

you can participate.

Obviously they accepted you.

Alan: Yes.

Mario: Yeah.

Alan: So yeah, it

should be quite an interesting as I just,
the, these sessions that I've had with for

local, I mentioned that I've done these,
these mentoring sessions that our startup

thing, and they were You know, Japanese
either investors or exited founders that

are now doing advising and investing.

But just the whole process of.

you, know, as, as much as I know, you
know, the same, we've all read the books.

We've kind of, we, we know all of
the theory right behind doing this.

As, you know, putting it into practice
is not as straightforward as just,

oh, well you just do this, right.

Especially you've got this internal fight
with, you know, what you should be doing.

Part of you is like, nah,
I don't want to do that.

And it's, you know, there's
loads of things which I'm

doing and have done, which.

I know better.

But you.

still do it.

Right.

But just talking through it with
somebody or explaining yourself to

somebody and having them point out
the stuff that's directly in front

of your face has been really helpful.

So I'm kind of, I'm hoping for,
for more of that, it's just.

As we've mentioned before doing
this on your own is just, is hard.

Right?

You don't have that constant dynamic
of somebody questioning or I'm

just talking through this stuff.

Right.

I think it's one of the reasons these
sessions are helpful as well, just

to by, by bringing that stuff into
the open makes you realize some of

the stupid things you're doing or

not doing as the case may be.

So.

Mario: And just, and just talking about
things helps, sometimes, even if it's

just, just talking right, and just saying
things out loud and in the process of

doing that, thoughts come up, you know,

Alan: but that's the one of the strangest.

Yeah.

That is one of the strange things
about these mentoring sessions is that,

you know, I'm talking about it and

trying to do it in Japanese
as well, which is challenging.

And as I'm saying things, I'm
like, huh, I should be doing that.

And he's really good.

He's like, why didn't
I think of that before?

And I, you know, I've been doing a bit of
reading about, you know, this, this kind

of thing of just you know, I've talked
before about how we did a business plan.

You know, early, when we set up the
company just to get, to be able to

get a bank account here, we needed
to have a business plan and having.

Effectively like a written map, stated
goal plan of what you're going to do and

why you're doing and how you're going

to try and achieve it.

It, it it's when things are
internally in your head, you just

miss the obvious things sometimes.

And really helps just to
get out into the open.

Mario: Yeah.

Well, that's awesome.

that's really cool.

So when is that?

When is that again?

Alan: Starts on Monday starts

next week.

So I been said, I can't announce it

publicly, but

since this goes out in
a few weeks, we'll be

okay.

Mario: yeah,

Alan: I can announce it publicly
after it started, but they want to

do some

PR thing or something.

So

which again?

you know, it's just that the 500 startups
network is just so big and so powerful

that you know, the, hopefully there's

some, some good people in
that I can learn from too.

So, I mean, even just joining,
you know MegaMaker has been.

Really interesting.

And I've learned a lot just

through, you

know, reading and you know, discussions
on there and topics that come up there.

So,

I think it should

just be really interesting.

Hopefully.

I hope, I think.

Mario: Just by being there, you can absorb
information and learn things that, even if

it's not something that you necessarily.

Need sometimes you don't
need something right now.

You don't need to know
something, but other people

are discussing something
that you recognize that you

might need in the future.

So you make a mental note or, you
know, anything like, take some notes

down and yeah, I

can become useful in the.

Alan: Yeah.

I know part of this is

they there's lectures and sections on
like raising capital and stuff like, that.

And, you know, we've said before,
it's like, that's not really in

my immediate plans, but it's helpful to
know about until when, when it's discussed

to know some of the, the pros and cons and
to know what's involved a bit more rather

than.

Just dismissing out of hand.

It's like, well, no, I know

it's, it's a more educated decision.

Right.

So even if it's not in my immediate
plans, it's helpful to know.

Right.

Mario: Right.

Alan: So she'd be interesting

Mario: Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, looking forward to see you,
your report on how that went.

Alan: at the.

interest and the helpful thing
for me as well as it's all

in English with a Japanese subtitles.

So

that's good because obviously
most of the mentors are from

Non Japanese.

Right.

So that's helpful

Mario: Cool.

How about your product?

Alan: product world.

So I've been working on the
subscription, the paddle integration

which is going reasonably easily.

So I think I mentioned before,
you know, I chose Paddle.

So I don't have to think about it.

Don't have to worry about everything else,
especially with, you know, from day one,

I'll be taking international payments.

Well, hopefully.

Right.

So one of the differences, we know pedal
has all of this, it deals with a lot more

stuff in, terms of the tax filing and
reporting and paying payments and stuff.

But one of the things they don't
really provide is your actual.

Interface stuff.

It's his, there's a, an API there's,
there's some JavaScript stuff

to pop in, in our payment thing.

But as far as, especially with doing
a subscription service, we still

need to manage that subscription.

Right.

That is all API based.

So the API is is pretty straightforward.

You know, it's not, not really drastically
more difficult than Stripe's or anything.

One of the reasons, of course, there
isn't an SDK for Elixir, right.

Because why would there be, this is one of
the downsides of using Elixir is you're in

this like a lot of the time, you're like,
no, it's telling you you're on your own.

There's not quite the ecosystem of
like Laravel or Rails or something.

So but it's easy.

I mean, it's just literally you've got
to verify signatures and bounce that

back with it and things like that.

So it's a straightforward
API is not difficult at all.

But you've got this missing API that
you need to build, which is okay.

I want to downgrade or
upgrade my subscription.

I want to change my payment
things, stuff like that.

So I started.

Working on that.

But I found this rather neat little

service called Kanuu, K A N U U dot IO.

Which is interesting because it provides
all of that subscription management stuff

for Paddle for a, very low monthly cost.

So it's it was such a price it's like

$15 a month for unlimited.

So zero for up to 10 subscribes.

So once you got 10 subscribers,
it's up to them, zero, then

it's $15 a month unlimited.

You get custom domain and,
and it basically manages.

So I still have to, you know, I
know which customers are on which a

subscription plan, but when they choose
to upgrade downgrade, cancel whatever.

I basically bounced them up to their,
they send web hooks, but well Paddle sends

web books back to me for any changes.

So as long as I'm dealing with them,
I can bounce them out to a canoe for

all of the, you know, changing their
credit card information, and then

just, you know, if they change
their plan, I get to know about

it.

And I act on

that.

So it just, it's one
less thing to develop.

Right.

So I scrapped my code.

I was writing there and I'm
just going to use this instead.

So that's quite nice.

That's one less thing to write,

right?

Mario: Yeah.

Yeah, for sure.

That's awesome.

What was the name again?

K a.

Alan: K A N U U dot IO.

Mario: Got it.

Cool

so it works with Paddle oh, it is

specifically built to work with

Alan: for Paddle.

Yes, exactly.

So obviously the, again, the

Paddle ecosystem is, is not quite
as massive as the Stripe ecosystem.

But the fact that this exists
was I say, oh, thank you.

I

don't need to write this.

I mean, just silly stuff, like, you know,
changing the credit card information.

It's like, well, yeah,

Either use the JavaScript like form
that's embedded on for paddle and

then, oh, I could just bounce them out
to this and they take care of It all.

So it's nice.

I don't have to worry about any of that.

Now.

I just literally have to deal
with the web hooks coming in from

puddle which is just event changes.

They, they just send a series
of, so there's two, you

can either or you can both.

Request a history of the
events that they've sent you.

And then you just receive events for
pretty much anything that happens,

you know, changing the name, credit
card upgrading downgrading, canceling,

and all of the requests that happen.

You just get Webhooks through that.

And they're very good about retrying
and all the rest of the problem.

So Yeah.

that's, that's Nice,
and easy to deal with.

So.

Mario: Nice,

Alan: So that's what I'm looking at at the

moment.

So is, I think I mentioned before that
I'm trying to I was about to enter,

to add a bunch of people and then I'm
like, you know, I should, if billing

is there, then I could still introduce
them and they have the option of paying.

Mario: Right,

Alan: really want to get this in there.

Just so it's done.

I

can, then I feel you know, I don't
mind, I, I, I don't mind, you know,

giving out beta accounts until the cows go
home, but it'd be nice having the option

for people to talk grade.

Right.

Mario: yeah.

Yeah, for sure.

Alan: So that's pretty

cool.

That's a Nice.

discovery.

Mario: Nice.

Yeah, that's really cool you're
making me rethink and reevaluate

my decision to go with Outseta.

Alan: It's the reason I didn't go
without setter was the complications

around my account stuff.

Are the,

the user account stuff.

Cause you said you're
not using that either.

Right?

I mean, I was set to seems really
nice and it just, it's a great

one-stop shop for everything.

Right.

You know, billing, user accounts
help system just everything right.

But the, it seems best from my
understanding when you start,

when you use The whole system.

Mario: The whole thing.

Yeah,

Alan: I mean, that's kind
of what it's designed for.

It's like, yeah,

you've got a CRM built that relies
upon you having your user accounts

within that

system,

So they have to sign up via that.

Otherwise you've, you've then
got an additional API to manage

of,

well, someone's created an account here.

I've got to create a
countdown outset or with

them.

Right.

So,

Mario: yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, exactly.

it's not the best if you are not using
the whole system, you have to kind

of what's the word I'm looking for?

fill in the

gaps, right?

Because you're not using everything.

anything that's missing
there, you have to fill it in.

And so it ends up being quite a bit of

work to.

Make it work with just this
one section of Outseta, right?

Alan: I mean that, that was the
recent cause I started looking

into it and then know I've got an
account there and I'm like, hold on.

I want to use that.

But to get to that, I have
to do all this other stuff.

I've got to create a user account.

I've got to create this for them.

And then they have to, I have to
authenticate them on outset or when

they log into my thing as well.

right?

And it's like,

Mario: yeah.

Alan: this actually, this is
more work than I wanted to do.

Mario: Yeah.

Alan: Again, if you, if you're building
something that is either membership-based

using another service or it's no
code based, I think it's perfect.

But for something that you already
have a user account system, it's seems

a little plus they, that didn't work
well for me for multiple, currencies.

I could have multiple currencies,
but it meant I had to have

different subscription plans.

I don't know if that's
changed now, but when.

I raised it with support And were like,
it just have a Japanese subscription

plan and a dollar subscription plan.

And if you want to.

you know, a pound sterling a

payment plan as well.

And then they subscribe to that

and it's like, can I
not just have one plan?

And it's different currencies
depending on where they are

no, you have different.

So I'm like, I, I don't that
it didn't really fit my,

I needed.

Mario: Yeah.

I mean, with a SaaS business and the
global nature of it, you really need all

this, flexibility and, all these options.

So I don't know.

I'm yeah, I think I'm going to have
to rethink, because I still haven't

integrated anything with them.

other than just a little widget

for, contact us kind of thing, but I
could get that from somewhere else.

And then they have a nice sort of,
help kind of, system, you know, that

Alan: based type

thing.

Yeah.

Mm Hmm.

Mario: Yeah.

Where you can, write articles and, help.

articles and so on.

So, I kind of use that because it

doesn't really require
a deep integration is

Alan: right.

It's I need to set up one of those two.

Mario: it's just a link
that you send the user to.

and yeah,

that's all I've done.

I

haven't really done anything with
the billing, or anything else.

So,

Alan: I don't want to dismiss.

I said, cause I think it's a
really good solution, but for

what you're doing, I, it might

be

just not the best

fit.

Mario: Yeah.

it is.

Yeah.

I agree.

And that's why in part,
that's why I've been kind of.

Postponing working in
on that, in that area.

Cause I still, I'm still not fully
convinced and fully committed to it.

So

Alan: Yeah.

Mario: will

look into Paddle again.

Alan: One of the things that, did have to
do with paddle was you have to there's,

there's multiple like approval stages
you have to go through, they have to

review a product that it's, it's not a,

Like a service based product.

It's just a subscription
or or a sold product.

They then also, if you create subscription
plans you have to then get approved

for it, say SaaS subscription plans.

So that has different tax implications
than if it was a delivery thing

or, so there's, so there's
different levels of approval.

Each one is like, you know, it's
a few days or it's a week or more.

So there is there's definitely a process,
but the, they seem very responsive to

support queries and they've been helpful,
you know, for any things I've asked for.

And I say is just, seems, you know, very
comprehensive from a dealing with global

sales and not having to worry about.

The implications of tax
and things like that.

And obviously with this,
something like Kanuu makes it,

Just one little bit easier as well.

So

Mario: Well, I might have to copy that.

Alan: you're okay.

Cause everything's got Laravel APIs

for both the Paddle
and for Kanuu had that.

So yeah, you got it easy.

Mario: Nice.

Oh even, better.

So

what was I gonna ask you?

Oh, there was one thing

that I remember you mentioned
about Paddle when you were

going through the approval
process where you answered

something that you thought was

the right answer.

And they were

like, oh, then you're not approved.

And then you're like, no,

no,

Alan: Yeah.

They said something about it's
the human interaction required.

And I'm like, well, yeah, because the
people use the product and they're

like, oh, you can't use it the time.

What, What,

did you mean by that?

And they're like, does it require

a human in order to deliver the service?

No.

Mario: Oh, why didn't you ask that?

Alan: So when they
rephrase it, I'm I don't

definitely know that.

And they'll okay.

Then that

case it's fine.

So yeah, it's a slightly
confusing wording that.

So just be wary of

that.

I was just, just make sure
you understand what it is.

They're asking again, it's
from a tax and because they act

as a was it seller of record?

I forget the legal term, but basically
that they're selling your product.

So and, and, you know, your credit
card receipt comes as sold by Paddle.

So they're effectively have to And
again, because of the tax implications,

if they're selling a physical service.

Oh, so say it's a service based thing
and I'm doing, you know, effectively

freelance or something like that.

The tax implications are very different
and they're, like, we don't do that

if you're doing that, we're not for

you.

So if you, if it's just a
pure digital delivery, then

it's it's best.

That's

basically, it's got to
be a digital delivery.

Mario: did they give you a chance to add
something to that where it shows on the

Alan: it shows Paddle.

And then I've got

one here.

Mario: dash something
or something like that?

Yeah.

Cause

otherwise people can

Alan: Yeah,

Mario: and I'm like, oh, I don't have

anything with paddles,

Alan: right.

So they both the invoices that
they get have like the Paddle

logo at the bottom, but it has
your name and logo stuff as well.

And on

the receipts, it says Paddle parentheses

your.

Product.

So it's and most things, I mean
like tailwind UI is sold via Paddle.

So if you look at your receipt for that,
if you have that then you'll, you'll see.

I have a surprising number of
services I pay for use it just

because I think it's very convenient.

So yeah, maybe, maybe with that,
but yeah, people seem to understand

now that it's a lot of them say,
you know, it'll be billed by Paddle.

Something because I've
got the issue that my,

Company's XenoCode, my application is
DotPlan and it's been sold by Paddle.

So people will be like, what
the hell am I paying for that?

Yeah, exactly.

It's a bit confusing, but that?

Mario: Yeah.

Well, I kind of have a similar situation.

Fusioncast is not the company name.

It's just the product name.

Yeah,

Alan: And you might be able to, I see.

I think you

can set

what gets displayed on that.

So I think it would say

Paddle bracket DotPlan.

I think,

can't remember

Mario: Nice.

All right.

Anything else?

Alan: think.

What about you?

new job, right.

So I assume quite

intensive.

Mario: Yeah.

It is.

Just, you know, getting on board and,

learning new things.

There's lots of

unknowns and

getting to know what I'm working

with

and the people I'm working
with, which has been great.

yeah.

It's been going great.

I'm really loving it.

Just, you know, working with my

team and,

Very smooth

onboarding

process.

Alan: I think you did tell me
less last week, but how, how

big is.

Mario: It's, Like a mid size company
is not too small, not too large.

but they do have,

lots of,

Business going on nationwide.

So there's, lots of things going on, very
complex system to handle all of that.

So yeah, it's a fun.

Project, that I'm working with.

And it involves, rewriting of an
old system, basically, you know?

And so there's lots of opportunities
to improve and to make it better.

There's also the challenge of.

Digging into an, an old code base written
by, multiple different people who write

code in a different style than your own.

And so you have to.

Dive in there and do a lot of
detective work to figure things out.

So, that's challenging, but
it it's a fun project in that.

it's very promising in
terms of, the potential, you

know, to rewrite

it and make it better

Alan: Was it written in
a different language and

framework as

well?

Or is it, oh, it was all PHP

right now.

Okay.

So well, oh, okay.

That's fun.

I remember doing that.

Mario: Yeah.

Yeah, yeah,

Alan: Nice.

Mario: yeah, so it's
a, it's an interesting

project, but I liked that

kind of challenge, you
know, I kind of like

Alan: It is kind of therapeutic.

I did something very similar for a
client in the last few weeks was, was

basically taking an older
Ruby code base and rails

defying it.

It wasn't using rails before.

And it's against kind of
grown over time and it's

yeah, thankfully it

wasn't too much to change,
but obviously there's the

opportunity for like, ah, we can

do this better using things.

So it is quite

therapeutic for

sure.

Mario: Yeah.

Yeah,

Alan: And you have the
power to effectively yet.

Like I said, rewrite things,
I'll leave things out.

I'll just,

Yeah.

it's nice.

Cool.

Mario: Yeah.

Yeah.

So it's been going great, but you
know, it's it's been taking up most

of my time and mental bandwidth and,
haven't really been putting too much

time into a fusion cast just a little
bit here and there on the weekend.

I did manage to make some
changes to the UI based on some

really good feedback that I got.

And also the fact that, some of the
APIs that I'm working with, there

were some changes, some updates

that have made it possible to not record
the backup recording automatically

from the beginning, from the

moment that you join a

session.

because that was really a technical
limitation that I had because of

the API that I'm using for that.

And I turned it into a feature
where, you know, it's a

backup, right.

So it's great that it's automatic,
but I did get some feedback.

They were saying, it's great.

But at the same time, I wish I had the
option to, just start recording whenever

I want to not just have it automatically.

because even, even if I don't start
recording locally, it's recording that,

you know, backups still
automatically from the get-go.

So it just seemed very.

Forceful,

if you will,

the user not having

that

Alan: So now they can, you
can initiate a session.

And separately

say, start recording

it.

Right.

Nice.

Mario: Yes.

So basically now I have the ability
to start recording both locally and

backup of the same

time on demand.

When I click the button, then both, both

recordings start.

Alan: I mean, th that's
probably more in line

with expectations, right?

Mario: Exactly.

Exactly.

I was

super excited when I found
out that they've updated that.

So,

I worked

on, on that.

And so now

that's

one of the changes that are coming.

It's still not

Alan: Oh, I have

a book request or at least

feature quirk.

Mario: oh yeah, for sure.

Let me, let me, let me write it

down.

Alan: So if I'm logged in,

I think I may have mentioned this before.

If I'm logged in, I can't join

our session.

Mario: If you are logged
in on your own account

Alan: I can't.

So I was

logged in because I was recording intro.

And I was getting 403
for joining this session.

And it's really confusing cause it

takes like, it takes a few brain cycles
before I go, I have got to log out and

then we've got to go to Fusioncast,
sign in, sign out, and then go.

So if.

It doesn't work for a technical thing.

Just pop up a thing there saying
like, you need to sign out to join

as a guest or something if, if

that's easiest work around.

But yeah, four three is really
unlike, oh, it's broken.

Hold on.

This rings a bell.

Mario: Yeah, that's a good one.

Well, I guess because of you are logged

in, you have a session going

on.

and It thinks that the
session that you're trying to

Alan: It's belongs to

Mario: belongs to you,

but it

Alan: that's what I said, I think
is easiest thing was just, just

pop up message and say to join
somebody else's session, you

need to log out first and put a

log out button and do It that it
was logged you out and then redirect

you back to it or something.

Something like that.

Just, just not just a 4 0 3.

Mario: yeah.

that's that yeah, that's true.

It's it's really bare bones right now.

It's just, you know, 403
and needs to be polished.

Alan: And and also I'm

going

to bug you about the

password

rules again.

Mario: Oh yeah, no, that was on my list.

Yeah, it's on my list.

I need to work on that.

password rules.

Yeah.

I'm going to get to

that one pretty soon.

Cool.

Yeah, want to have it on

my notes here so

that I don't forget about it

out of sight, out of

Alan: Tell me about it I mean,
especially one of the things I,

Especially with like a personal
project, like this, using something,

like get to a bud grr as
I've been using linear

for client work we use
a linear book trucker.

That's really Nice.

That's probably one of the
most impressive client side.

You know, browser apps.

I mean, there's an application,
but it's just react.

So it just runs electron or whatever.

It's probably one of the
most impressive apps.

You know, client side had apps,
web apps that I've ever used.

It's really responsive.

It's super fast.

It feels like it's incredibly fast.

It's.

I don't know what they're doing.

I want to kind of look into their
sinking magic sometimes just

because it's really well done.

If anything could convince me that
client setups are worth it, Figma

and linear, probably the two, which
are like, wow, that's really good.

So worth looking at book for personal
or you're the only one working on it.

It feels like

a

commodity is like overkill.

Right?

I mean, I know I should.

So I'm actually just using dot plans
future features or future plans list for

that, which means it's got very big, but
it also means that it's there on the page.

Every time I like go
to it and say, oh Yeah.

I need to

do that stuff.

So that's actually my my to do list.

So someone mentioned, I don't
think I've mentioned this, but

someone of my testers as mentioned
this idea of doing an auto

check-in, have I mentioned that?, so it's
been, you mentioned it and at first I'm

like, huh, I don't get it.

And it's one of those that sits in
your head long enough that you're

like, it's actually quite good idea.

So his comment

was during the date, he'll go
through you know, in the morning.

You know, look at today's plans are
what's left over from yesterday's plans.

Add his plans to do going through the day,
check them off and then forget about it.

And the next morning he's
like, ah, I didn't check in.

And he's like, I've if I've changed
my plans or the, if I've checked

stuff off during the day set like
an auto check in time, say 6:00 PM.

Then if it hits 6:00 PM, just, just
publish my check-in and I'm like,

That's quite, that's quite a good idea.

Cause he was like,
well, you've done stuff.

So therefore publish it.

And it's like, well, Yeah.

I mean, I always want to publish it.

It's just, sometimes I literally were like
finished the day and be like, oh, I'll get

them done and forget to go and check in.

So he's like, I want it to
publish my check-ins every day.

I just sometimes forget.

So rather than I've got like an email
reminder right now, which I mean,

who reads their email these days?

Seriously?

Mario: Yeah.

Alan: So he's like, I just
want it to check in for me.

So it's, it's been bouncing
around my head for a good few

weeks now.

And I'm coming around to the idea
that I might add it as an option,

because to be honest, I do the same.

I'll go through and, you know,
mock stuff is done, but then I'll

completely forget to actually
check in and I'm like, you might

be onto

something.

So.

Mario: Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That sounds like a, like a neat feature.

Alan: And also as

Mario: There'll be cool.

Alan: so mentioned here, I've
got a Japanese beta tested that's

I added time-tracking to dot

plan for as like a an
experimental feature.

So it's really basic.

You can start and stop a timeout, or you
can start a timer attached to a project.

So you can say I'm looking on
this project and then stop it.

I'm working on another project.

Stop it.

And that that works really well.

It says super simple feature, but it, I,
I was on the fence about adding it, but

I kind of was convinced by him and by a
few of the people actually, you know, in

my business, we need to do that anyway.

So if it was kind of part of the same
product, then it could be useful.

So I've added that as a.

An optional feature, you can turn
it on or off within the admin.

So the owner of the account can turn it
on or off as a, as a workspace level.

But this company has requested now.

It's like, that's great.

But people are now stopped checking in
because they're like, I recorded my time.

Whereas before they were checking in
as like the stop working now, it's

like, now they're just clicking stop.

So his suggestion was when
you stop, pop up your.

Your, your plans, right?

That you have open it's like, do you
want to check in, so I kind of have that

as a two-step stop, as opposed to just
stopping it where you stop and it says,

do you want to check in what you've done?

Okay.

Tap, tap, click.

Those has done like check-in.

So I'm adding that as well as a see,

how it works for them because
they're quite actively using it.

So that they're actually it's
an interesting test case because

they seem keen on the idea.

They're sticky points are parts of
the implementation, not technically,

but just how it fits their Workday.

And so it's kind of a good.

test case because they.

They They want to use it, but
they wanted to be as little

work as possible for it to work.

Right.

So it's like, okay, now this is, it's
an interesting evolution of that feature

that is like well, if I'm going to have
timecards you know, timing check clock-in

and clock-out might as well integrate with
the plan system itself and make it based

around that, which was, was the part,
which I was not keen on adding timing.

Too far.

That's the reason I didn't really
want to add that in first place

was just like, well, that's a
separate thing from the check-ins.

Right.

But this actually would make

it part of the check-in.

So I'm kind of playing around
with that as a, as an idea at the

moment.

I don't know if I'll make it into it, but.

Mario: sounds good.

sounds like it would make the
product more useful, I guess, more

Alan: Integrate.

Yes.

It's, it's, it's part
of the same thing then.

right.

Mario: different

Alan: And that, that's why I made it an

optional

feature is because as I said,

quite a few of the beta users.

Because they do client work and
client work is more, often, you

know, they do like agency type stuff.

More often than not is timed as well.

You know, so having an idea of how much
time has been spent on a product that

they have to do timekeeping anyway.

So I

say, well, if that's kind of built in and

it

merges this idea of doing a check-in
with recording time as well, then it

kind of makes that a bit more coherent.

Mario: Nice.

Cool.

well Yeah,

play

with

Alan: Yeah, it's a little
bit, I said the whole timing

thing is kind of an

experimental

branch at the moment.

I mean, it's,

there and it's, it's in
the product, but I'm not,

I'm not a hundred

percent

convinced.

Mario: Yeah, well, I know how it goes.

Sometimes it takes a while
to really either confirm

Alan: I mean, this is one of the

the pros and cons of, of
bootstrapping slash not having a,

A

separate process of defining

the product from end to end.

Right.

You know, kind of iterating on the product
is it is very much a learning process.

Right.

You know, it's and again, this
is one of the kind of regrets

of not just making a simpler.

more known product.

If I was making a calendaring app or.

a calendar meeting

scheduling out, then that's fine.

I kind of know what it needs to do.

and it's kind of a defined

space.

Right.

But because it's one of the
downsides of making something that

I am not, I don't know the answers

to all the questions

yet.

Mario: Right, right.

So there's a lot of exploration
and trial and error for sure.

Alan: You know,

it's a live alone.

Right.

Mario: Yup, yup.

Alan: So

what's your next plan on

the scale?

Try and get these is there
any more new users lined

up?

Oh, did

you get Laurie signed

up?

Did he contact you?

Mario: Yeah.

I, yes, yes, I did I
haven't heard from him.

Since that, but I, wrote an email
to him with some information.

I gave him the option to do
an onboarding call or just for

him to try it out on his own.

So I gave him some information just
quick, facts about, you know, what

Fusioncast is and how it works.

And I gave him a private code
invite so that he could, create

his own account and give it a try.

So I told him, let me know if you
have any questions, or we could do a

call, and so I haven't heard from him
yet, so I don't know if he's had a.

Yeah, I know.

Right.

I don't think he's created an
account yet or maybe he did, but

he hasn't done anything with it.

Yeah.

So we'll see.

I'll reach out to him again.

I just wanted to give him
some time, some space.

I don't, you know, I don't like
to bug people with, you know,

so just give it some time and but
I'll reach out to him to see if he

has any questions and, we'll go from.

so I think that's it, really just, on
my end, just a, those little changes

that I've been able to work on.

And most of it has to do with
functionality within the studio.

mainly just cleaning stuff up.

So now

that I have better control of
recording, It simplifies a lot of

things.

Cause now I don't have

to say, okay, backup
recording is in progress,

Alan: Yeah.

Yeah.

right,

Mario: not, or, you know, any of

that.

Alan: it's either it
is recording or isn't,

right?

Mario: Exactly.

And there isn't really a need
to emphasize any differences in

that.

and so I came to the

realization also

that, Indicating when

Fusioncast is

uploading is kind of not
really necessary, right?

If it's, recording,

it is a uploading at the same

Alan: Recording kind of

Mario: the system needs to

know internally.

Alan: If it's recording,

it's

been uploaded, right?

Mario: Exactly.

So there's no

need to be indicating both
processes for the user.

The user doesn't really

care about that.

the system needs

to know internally what's going on and I

need

to manage that under the hood,
but I don't need to display that

it's uploading it's enough to say
that it's recording and that's it.

So I'm cleaning a lot of stuff up,
like that for example, the microphone

and camera, when it's on, it's on,
you can tell it doesn't need to have

a green icon indicating that it's on.

if it's muted, then it'll display
a little red microphone, but if

it's not muted, it's just nothing.

And then the camera is even easier because
if the camera is on, you can see it.

And if it's, you know,
if it's disabled, then.

You can see it as well.

It's a black, you know, frame.

So, so there's really no need for that.

So I'm, I'm

just removing redundant

stuff and simplifying and
that's based on feedback

Alan: I like that because yeah, the, the,
I'm just saying recording, like evenly,

a backup and local recovery in progress.

you

just you're recording.

That's it.

Right.

Same with the upload cloud upload.

It's just

recording.

Mario: yeah, exactly.

So, you know, uploading is.

by

Alan: is, it's an implementation detail
though, that you need to know, but your

user

just needs to know it's recording,

right?

Mario: exactly.

Yeah.

Again, I don't know what I was thinking

when

Alan: funny because it makes sense
when You say it, but I've never

really questioned it.

Just knowing that those, this is one
of the really difficult things about

being too close to your prototype
because you expose things which a lot

of the

time your users

don't care on need to know about.

Right.

But you're like, well, it does this.

I need to tell you it's doing this

Mario: Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah let's see, what else?

Oh yeah.

I wouldn't even

have, at the top, in the center where it

says backup recording, it's not gonna,
there won't be anything there at all.

And just every video frame we'll

have

recording, you know,

on the top

Alan: You could move the timer

middle maybe.

Mario: Yeah, I

could move that.

I thought about that.

maybe Yeah.

Put it

in

the

Alan: That's a useful, maybe
it's a useful thing to, to

know.

and it always, I always
look for it and it's always

over there

Mario: Yeah.

So

if it's in the center,
it will be easier to

find.

Alan: I like that.

That's

Mario: Okay, cool

Alan: That's a nice idea.

Mario: I've been working on a
bug that I found if you switch

cameras in the middle

of a session, for example,

it'll change the camera.

To the rest of the
participants in the session.

It'll, reflect that change to everyone,
but not on your, on your own, it'll

still show the video input from the

previous camera.

A little complicated to fix that and
I haven't had much time for that.

So it's going a little
slow, but as I ease into

my new job, I think I'll have
more mental, bandwidth to, work,

late in the night or,

Alan: No the first, first
few weeks were always

just

exhausting, just because there's
so much new stuff to, take in.

And, you know, if you want to
make a good impression and it's

just getting to know like
the, the boundaries of you

know, just expectations

and things like that.

So, yeah, it's, it's always hard for the
first few weeks, so I'm not gonna, I'm

not going to give you any grief about

that.

No problem.

I'll let you off.

Mario: All right.

Alan: Cool.

I'm glad.

It's going well,

Mario: Cool.

Well, yeah, that's all we have, I

guess.

Maybe it's a good time

to wrap it up.

All right.

Have a

good

Alan: Talk to you later.

Cheers man