John Corcoran: 07:27
Yeah. So one I’ve been using a lot lately is various different vibe coding tools. So the big ones that people know about are Lovable and Replit. Another one. There’s a few others.
Those are the big ones I consider Lovable. Kind of like an entry-level one. And what can I do? First of all, it can spin up a web page and a website a heck of a lot faster than what you know than you would in other ways of creating a website. Now it’s just like the AI writing.
If you don’t give it good guidelines, it’s not going to output something that is helpful. But if you give it good guidelines, it is truly amazing. So oftentimes what I’ll do is I’ll go to ChatGPT or another LLM, and I will outline a description of a page that I want to create or a website that I want to create and really refine it in there. And then once I have something that is a better prompt, I’ll take that and I’ll paste that into Lovable, or place that into Replit and create it there. And you know, these tools are creating websites that have full functionality too.
You know, they can create apps that you can then later upload to the App Store. They’re creating basically mini software, SaaS communities, things like that. That would have taken hours and hours. And sure, it’s not perfect, but again, these things get better over time. So those are two that I’m really excited about, and they have some really interesting applications right now.
Chad Franzen: 08:55
Okay. Very interesting. Next topic we usually ask you about a book or a podcast you recommend. I think today it’s a podcast.
John Corcoran: 09:03
Today it’s a podcast and it’s one of the all time greats. So WTF with Marc Maron. I was just listening to it earlier today because he just put out his last episode ever. Marc Maron is a long-time stand-up comedian who started a podcast. I don’t know how many years ago now, I think maybe 18 years ago or something like that.
It’s been going for a long time, and he really put podcasting on the map and gave it credibility. I think it was 2015 that he had president then President Obama on, and that really gave it credibility because he records these episodes mostly from his garage in Los Angeles. And even President Obama, who was president at the time, came to his garage to record this episode. And so it really helped to put podcasting on the map, and so I’m deeply grateful to him for all the contributions that he’s made, and just had so many interesting conversations, these long-form conversations that he’s published over the years.
Chad Franzen: 10:01
What does the fact that he’s a comedian help enhance the podcast?
John Corcoran: 10:04
Oh, sure. Yeah. I mean, humor enhances everything. You know, when someone has a sense of humor, I think it keeps it interesting, keeps it novel, keeps it new. But, you know, also, his mind is really sharp and he has a lot of natural curiosity.
He’s got a lot of knowledge about various different industries and cultural history. And so he brings a lot to the table.
Chad Franzen: 10:27
So, who is a thought leader that you admire and respect? Who would you recommend that listeners follow?
John Corcoran: 10:34
So I don’t think I’ve mentioned him before when we’ve done these episodes, but Lael Sturm is a friend. He is a colleague he and I have known each other for. Oh gosh, I guess about seven years now. We were in the Entrepreneurs’ Organization Accelerator Group together. And now we’re on the board of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization in San Francisco.
And he has a company called Ogmentor. It’s ogmentor.com. I believe that helps provide marketing and sales remote staffing for companies. And he’s just a truly generous individual who really tries to give back to others. And I really admire his.
His just incredible Sticktoitiveness he, when he joined the accelerator program, had a different business and he evolved it and changed it and, and grew it pretty tremendously. And so it was really cool to see him stick to it and not give up. And so I’m just a big fan of his.
Chad Franzen: 11:39
Final topic today, we’re going to talk about maybe a podcaster who is a B2B podcaster who kind of takes a different angle toward his podcast that works, but still makes sense with his, you know, his line of business. Tell me about one that you’ve noticed.
John Corcoran: 11:57
Yeah. So I want to give a shout out to our client, Rich Walker. He’s got a company called Quik! Software. And what’s interesting about him is what I often say to our clients is that you want to have a conversation in, in your podcast that’s in the vicinity of where you want to end up. So there are some people that start business podcasts and they talk about all kinds of random stuff.
They don’t talk about the things that they actually do. And if they were to try and pivot to that after the interview’s over, it’d be weird and awkward because it’s completely separate from what they’ve talked about. So Rich realized this, and he has this software that does intake primarily for financial institutions. So it’s kind of a boring topic because it’s just a software that does forms. So he realized that he couldn’t do that, or else it would be really boring for people to come on.
The episode wouldn’t be that attractive. So attractive. So instead he decided to focus on customer experience, which is like the subject, the broader subject, a little bit further in the vicinity of of what he does because the form software ultimately what is it about like, you know, have you ever been to a doctor’s office where they hand you a clipboard and it’s got 70 pieces of paper, and each one has to have your first name, your last name, the date, your phone number, your home address, and you fill it out 70 different times and you’re like, oh my God, this is so inefficient, right? That’s not a good customer experience. And in today’s day and age, we expect to not have to do those sorts of things, especially online.
And so that’s what he has helped people with. So by deciding that his subject matter is going to be customer experience, he can talk about those things. And guess what? His company also helps to create a better customer experience. So if he’s talking to a prospect or talking to a referral partner or talking to a strategic partner, he’s got relevant experience to share.
He can weave it into the conversation. He is a thought leader and an expert because for so many years, his company has helped financial institutions to create a better customer experience. So it’s a perfect marriage of he’s completely he’s very, you know, knowledgeable about this area. It’s interesting. And it’s also in the rough vicinity of what he wants to be talking to his prospects about and, and helping them with.
Chad Franzen: 14:14
So he can focus, he can have guests on and talk about all the great things they do to help their customers. But then at the end, he can kind of throw it or, you know, maybe afterward talk, talk about how he provides another service that would help them help their customers.
John Corcoran: 14:26
Or weave it in in a relevant way. I mean, there’s so many different things that a business can do to improve customer experience from, you know, onboarding to ongoing support to sending little gifts in the mail to, you know, helping them with different technical hurdles along the way. There’s a million different things they could do. so. He can talk about all of those and where relevant, he can bring in his experience.
He can talk about things that he’s seen that have worked well, just like you would if you were having a natural human conversation with someone you know, at a bar or over a meal or, you know, at a party or something like that, you would bring in these things. And so, yeah, that’s absolutely the case, is that he can bring in these relevant experiences.
Chad Franzen: 15:10
You know, he’s also very entrepreneurial. I interviewed him one time and he was telling me how when he was like 12, he invented this squirt gun or this water gun, and he sold it at the 4th of July block party. And he made, like, gross amounts of money. That’s a 12-year-old, you know.
John Corcoran: 15:24
That’s great.
Chad Franzen: 15:25
Hey, John, great to talk to you as always. Thanks so much.
John Corcoran: 15:28
Great. Thank you so much, John.
Chad Franzen: 15:30
So long, everybody. Thanks for listening to the Smart Business Revolution Podcast . We’ll see you again next time and be sure to click subscribe to get future episodes.
Outro: 15:30
So long, everybody. Thanks for listening to the Smart Business Revolution Podcast . We’ll see you again next time, and be sure to click subscribe to get future episodes.