My first Gen Con was like the opposite of doom scrolling catacombian.com/blog/gen-con...

This week @aaronfrancis.com is joined by @johnrudolphdrexler.com & @coulb.com of Thunk to talk about why you should think like a PM, what they want to see from Solo, trash cans in New York, "footy", and a whole lot more.

Mostly Technical Podcast@mostlytechnical.com · last mo.

🎙️ Just published a new episode of Mostly Technical: 137: You Do Have To Care w/ John Drexler & Daniel Coulbourne. Have a listen:

I've spent so much time in the software world, it took me a while to wrap my head around how much physics matters in board game distribution. Here's what I learned. catacombian.com/blog/how-boa...

How Board Game Distribution Actually Works - Catacombian Games

I had no idea how board game distribution worked until I started calling retailers and distributors. Here's what I learned about margins, street dates, and consolidators.

catacombian.com

I moved my game design content to a separate account. I'll be forever grateful for a follow ❤️❤️❤️

Catacombian Games@catacombian.com · 4mo ago

The best narratives in games are the ones that emerge from gameplay. catacombian.com/blog/embedde...

My effective tax rate is like 40%. The richest Americans and biggest corporations pay 0-10%. If that doesn’t piss you off, you might be a bootlicker.

Had an idea that might be brilliant and might be stupid. Stay tuned to find out whether we are brilliant or stupid. podcast.thunk.dev/episodes/91-...

Talking Businessly | 91: The agency's agency

We have an idea to do Thunk marketing and Tidy marketing at the same time. And it feels like a breakthrough.

podcast.thunk.dev

In the era of AI development, how do you create a moat around your product? @johnrudolphdrexler.com thinks there's no moat, @coulb.com thinks taste is the moat, but @ianlandsman.com says no, it's actually their schtick that's the moat for their new app Tidy.

getting cyberbullied by your own mom <<<<

This week @ianlandsman.com is joined by @johnrudolphdrexler.com & @coulb.com of Thunk to talk about their new app Tidy, what constitutes a moat in the age of AI, why phone spam is the absolute worst, and so much more.

Mostly Technical Podcast@mostlytechnical.com · 4mo ago

🎙️ Just published a new episode of Mostly Technical: 127: Charge It To The Game w/ John Drexler & Daniel Coulbourne. Have a listen:

If I was king of NYC for a day: 1. Introduce a $10k/yr car tax 2. Every two lane road gets a dedicated bus lane 3. 10x the number of bus routes

Real conversation a Wall Street guy just relayed to me. Partner: Claude is so good at analysis, we should get rid of our analysts Quant: no, I’ll show you how easily hallucinations happen Partner: pshh I have an easy workaround. *types “Claude, don’t hallucinate this time.”*

Willy Wonka is a prescient parable about the main 4 types of overconsumption. Mike Teevee: screen time Augustus Gloop: gluttony Veruca Salt: greed Violet Beauregard: likes gum too much (??)

Running and agency or being a freelancer is risky in 2026. But you can eliminate a lot of that risk by keeping your operations tidy. Tidy is launching soon. Join the mailing list to get early access or to support us as we approach launch day. tidyup.agency

Tidy — Agency Time Tracking, Invoicing & Client Management

Replace Harvest and Bonsai with Tidy. All-in-one agency management with time tracking, invoicing, scheduling, e-signatures, and a client portal.

tidyup.agency

This is awesome. And our new landing page is already looking way sharper. tidyup.agency

Tidy — Agency Time Tracking, Invoicing & Client Management

Replace Harvest and Bonsai with Tidy. All-in-one agency management with time tracking, invoicing, scheduling, e-signatures, and a client portal.

tidyup.agency

Justin Jackson@justinjackson.ca · 5mo ago

I just published a new "marketing for developers" case study. I sat down with @coulb.com and @johnrudolphdrexler.com to talk about their agency's new SaaS (Tidy), and how they should think about promoting it. youtu.be/V9Nyntq4lT0?...

As we start marketing Tidy, @justinjackson.ca swings by to drop like 100 gems on us from building @transistor.fm. He explains how marketing actually works in the age of LLMs. There is so much genius in this one. Get ready to take notes. podcast.thunk.dev/episodes/89-...

Talking Businessly | 89: The zero risk agency (empaneling Justin Jackson)

After hemming and hawing for 20 minutes, we are joined by the inimitable Justin Jackson. He gives us an absolute treasure trove of good advice for launching and marketing Tidy.

podcast.thunk.dev

🤫 we quietly launched our client management app. Invoices, agreements, scheduling, time sheets, and a whole lot more. More features and a full marketing blitz coming soon. But here’s the skinny: podcast.thunk.dev/episodes/87-...

Talking Businessly | 87: tidyup.agency

We have quietly launched our client management app. It has invoices, agreements, schedules, time sheets, reports, and more. We'll be doing a full marketing blitz soon. Daniel has been cooking up an...

podcast.thunk.dev

I'm making a game that takes place in the past and the present. I'm giddy. notesonplay.transistor.fm/episodes/19-...

New brand, new site. You should hire us. But don't take our word for it: the new site is chock full of testimonials from our amazing clients. thunk.dev

There's a big vibe shift happening in the agency world. Here's our hypothesis of where we fit into the future. podcast.thunk.dev/episodes/85-...

Talking Businessly | 85: Our billion dollar theory of the future

It feels like there's a dark cloud over web development right now. So where does Thunk fit into the future, and how do we win? We lay it all out here.

podcast.thunk.dev

The cool thing about being at 80% is that you only have 80% to go. The cool thing about being at 90% is knowing you only have 80% to go. The cool thing about being at 99% is that you only have 80% to go.

I prototyped a LOT of new games last year, and haven't talked about most of them. Now it's time to pick one to finish. www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRGR...

18: Every prototype I made in 2025

YouTube video by Catacombian Games

youtube.com

Aaron Swartz downloads academic articles from JSTOR. Arguably, he broke no laws. He faces 35 years in prison. Nvidia uses a pirated database of books to train LLMs. They spawn a new generation of billion dollar companies built on plagiarism. They're hit with a meager civil suit.

Wonderful essay. "The important details you haven’t noticed are invisible to you, and the details you have noticed seem completely obvious and you see right through them... If you wish to not get stuck, seek to perceive what you have not yet perceived." johnsalvatier.org/blog/2017/re...

Writing code is so easy, even Claude can do it. But an extremely low percentage of products actually find market fit. People who are good at executing, and reaching / understanding / listening to humans still have an unfair advantage.

Justin Jackson@justinjackson.ca · 7mo ago

A tale as old as time: It turns out, building something is the easy part. Building something people want? That’s the real challenge.

Fascism indicator. At a game convention in suburban Pennsylvania. Lots of Star Wars cosplay. But literally all of them are cosplaying as the Empire. Zero Resistance cosplayers.

I always thought this was funny. So many great details. www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEyF...

Prague's Kafka International Named Most Alienating Airport

YouTube video by The Onion

youtube.com

Producing code is easier than ever. But being responsible for a real software product is still very hard.

Why my basketball board game didn't work. Full episode here: notesonplay.transistor.fm/episodes/17-...

My theme for 2026 is "do a good job." podcast.thunk.dev/episodes/83-...

Talking Businessly | 83: Do a good job ™

Our goal for 2026 is to do a good job. John wants to start doing some serious, long term business development.

podcast.thunk.dev

recession indicator: all the spam I receive is for fake job postings