Jeff Atwood is the co-founder of Stack Overflow – he played a major role in bringing that influential Q&A network to life. Jeff now brings his community-building prowess to Discourse, a fast-growing community SAAS company. Jeff knows all about the fear, discomfort and iterative experiments that pave the way to success in the digital world. He’s one of my favorite people to talk with – listen in and enjoy his stories and insights.
Jim Scheinman is a lifelong entrepreneur who’s spent the last two decades working at the forefront of social software. As an early employee of Friendster and Bebo, Jim rode out the first big social media wave. Now he’s helping the next generation of founders invent the future through his work at Maven Ventures. Jim’s approach is grounded in operational reality – and infused with a passion for working on a ‘vision worth fighting for.’ He appreciates the power of a truly compelling experience to draw people in and keep them engaged. Learn how an early-stage investor decides who to work with – and how to help his companies succeed.
In the short history of web design, Jeff Veen is a true pioneer. In his work for Wired, Adaptive Path, Google, Adobe, and now True Ventures, Jeff has been pushing the boundaries of online publishing and Web interactivity for decades. He’s worked with some of the best and brightest teams in tech – and has a deep and abiding passion for group collaboration Find our what’s on Jeff’s mind and capturing his his attention these days. I got a lot our of this conversation – and I know you’ll enjoy it too.
Richard Garriott is a pioneering game designer, gifted world-builder, second-generation astronaut, arctic explorer – and ever-inspiring creative force. I first met Richard when I was teaching online community design at Stanford; half my class was in the Beta for Ultima Online, and I jumped in enthusiastically to learn the ropes. I ended up working with Richard, Raph Koster and their amazing crew of developers through the launch & growth of that early graphic MMO. Like many great game designers, Richard is a sophisticated systems thinker who sees the world through a unique lens that’s on full display in this far-ranging & fascinating conversation.
Cindy Alvarez is an expert in customer research and iterative development. She’s the author of Lean Customer Development, a hands-on guide for validating product and feature ideas. She’s worked for small and medium-sized startups – and now runs user experience for Yammer (a Microsoft company). Cindy’s got a flair for explaining user-centered design in a compelling and understandable way. From her early days doing tech support for her professors at Harvard—to her current leadership role evangelizing lean tactics at Microsoft—Cindy thrives on new challenges. Listen in and learn how a seasoned UX expert blends customer development with product leadership.
Matt Leacock is a board game designer and UX expert. His first big hit, Pandemic, is a cooperative board game where you team up with others to save the world from virulent diseases. In his latest game, Pandemic Legacy, Matt extends the core Pandemic gameplay with an overarching narrative structure that delivers an episodic experience where every choice you can has irrevocable impact. Matt’s background as a UX designer shines through in his approach to iterative prototyping and “finding the fun” in his games. Matt Leacock is one of my game design heroes, and I’m thrilled to get to talk with him about his creative process. Listen in and learn how a world-class board game designer brings new ideas to life.
Irene Au is a design leader and UX expert with deep experience in team-building. She’s currently an operating partner at Khosla Ventures, where she works with startup CEOs to make their designs great. Irene started her career at Netscape – then moved on to lead design efforts at Yahoo, Google and Udacity. This progression gives her a unique perspective on growing UX teams – and smart strategies for enhancing design in different situations. Irene brings a deeply humanistic approach to everything she does, and integrates her passion for Yoga and mindfulness into everything she does. Listen in and discover how a Silicon Valley legend gets startup CEOs to embrace iterative, user-centered design practices.
Dan Olsen is a seasoned product manager – and the author of the Lean Product Playbook, a soup-to-nuts handbook for doing smart product management with Lean principles. Dan runs the Lean Product & Lean UX Meetup in Silicon Valley, where he brings cross-functional teams together to lean how to create great products. Dan is an articulate proponent of a lean & disciplined approach to product development – and he knows the power of choosing the right mental model to organize your thinking. In this interview, you’ll learn how an experienced product manager approaches customer discovery, rapid prototyping and smart MVP development.
Teresa Torres is a rising star in product management, and the author of the popular “Product Talk” blog. She’s got an eclectic background in cognitive science, UX design, startup management and organizational change – which gives her a unique perspective on product discovery. Teresa shares her deep & hard-won product wisdom – and her inspiring perspective on the long game of product management. Learn how one talented product manager is forging a new path & shaking up the organizational change management game.
Mike Sellers is a pioneering social game designer turned academic. Long before World of Warcraft was a world-wide hit, Mike & his merry crew of innovators – including John Hanke, the driving force behind Pokemon Go – created Meridian 59, the first graphical MMO – or massively multiplayer online game. Since then Mike has worked on many games for companies like Electronic Arts and Kabam – and is now a professor of game design at Indiana University. Like many of our Getting2Alpha guests, Mike has a deep & longstanding fascination with human psychology and social systems – and a LOT of experience wrestling with the challenges of bringing new ideas to life.
Mike is one of my favorite people in gaming – he’s a deeply insightful and innovative thinker, with as astonishing breadth of knowledge. In this interview, you’ll learn what Mike thinks about early MMOs, super-powered mental models, and the pervasive future of Augmented Reality gaming.
