TechnologyBusinessEntrepreneurshipManagement

MarsBased podcast - Life on Mars

MarsBased

MarsBased podcast - Life on Mars is your go-to space for technology, entrepreneurship, and innovation.

Brought to you by MarsBased, a high-end development consultancy specializing in Ruby, JavaScript, and Python. If you are a software engineer, you can expect deep dives into tech, but we go far beyond the code. We share our first-hand expertise on remote work, company culture, management, and digital transformation based on our journey building a successful lifestyle business.

Every two weeks, we sit down with the best founders, investors, experts, and celebrities from across the galaxy to hear their stories.

After years of investing heavily in the startup and tech communities in Barcelona and worldwide, we are bringing that same value to you through this channel.

Follow us to join our journey! 🚀

Play

Open in

21 episodes
fortnightly
Avg 44 min
English

Support the show

Goes straight to the publisher. podnod takes nothing.

Support this Podcast

Episodes 21

Newest Oldest Longest

All20 Unplayed20 In progress0 Played0

Counted on this page — what you have heard stays on this device, so it is not something the list can be paged by.

S3 · E122
Tuesday · 31 min
How we landed HP, Ford & FC Barcelona as clients | Building MarsBased
How does a small 30-person development agency land work with global giants like HP, Ford, FC Barcelona, Moody’s, and Citadel Securities? In this episode of Building Marsbased, Àlex Rodríguez Bacardit, CEO and founder of Marsbased, shows the exact strategies used to negotiate, win, and maintain contracts with major corporate clients. Àlex explains why the 5-year mark is a critical tipping point for enterprise trust, how an inbound marketing strategy and technical SEO bring enterprise leads directly to you without cold calling, and why saying no to massive deals early on can actually strengthen your reputation. The episode also covers navigating fast-track procurement, leveraging client acquisitions to unlock corporate contracts like Ford and Moody’s, and managing heavy administrative bureaucracy without exhausting your executive leadership team. Support the show 🎬 You can watch the video of this episode on the Life on Mars podcast website: https://podcast.marsbased.com/
- Transcript
- Chapters
S2 · E121
August 18 · 42 min
4 mistakes that didn't kill our company | Building MarsBased
Building a bootstrapped software consultancy comes with unique challenges, unexpected financial gaps, and hard-learned lessons. In this episode of the Building MarsBased series, Àlex Rodríguez Bacardit examines four significant errors that could have derailed the company but didn't. Most startups operate on a razor's edge, but MarsBased was built on financial independence and optionality, allowing the team to turn these costly setbacks into fundamental business lessons. The discussion covers the financial reality of working with long-term clients who stop paying and how a 100k€ loss eventually paved the way for a more resilient partnership years later. It also explores the hidden costs of starting and stopping the hiring process too frequently and why bringing in a dedicated specialist changed the company's growth trajectory. Àlex also addresses the "unreasonable frugality" that often leads founders to wait too long before hiring operations and management roles. Finally, the episode details the importance of regular pricing reviews and how moving to auto-renewing contracts eliminated constant administrative friction. This is an in-depth look at building a healthy, sustainable business by learning to manage the mistakes that are often unavoidable in the early years. Support the show 🎬 You can watch the video of this episode on the Life on Mars podcast website: https://podcast.marsbased.com/
- Transcript
- Chapters
S2 · E120
August 4 · 51 min
Why 94% of Companies Fail at AI ROI | Sven Peters (Atlassian)
Only 6% of companies see a real Return on Investment from AI. The rest buy licenses, burn through tokens, and confuse faster individual coding with actual business value. Speeding up an individual developer is meaningless if team workflows and PR reviews stay completely unchanged. On the MarsBased podcast, Àlex Rodríguez Bacardit joins Sven Peters, AI Evangelist at Atlassian, to tackle why most corporate AI implementations fail. Since every company has access to the exact same underlying LLMs, your true competitive edge relies on internal context, documentation, and codebase history, not simply upgrading to newer models. They explore how active leadership usage makes engineering teams four times more likely to adopt AI long-term, while highlighting how Atlassian measures genuine DevX impact instead of tracking wasted token budgets. Follow Sven Peters on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/svenpeters73/ Support the show 🎬 You can watch the video of this episode on the Life on Mars podcast website: https://podcast.marsbased.com/
- Transcript
- Chapters
S2 · E121
July 29 · 1 hr 6 min
I fired a huge-name client to protect my team | Adarsh Pandit
Adarsh Pandit (founder of Cylinder Digital, ex-Thoughtbot, ex-McKinsey) met Àlex 12 years ago in San Francisco when MarsBased was just getting off the ground. They catch up on a decade of building software agencies, navigating career shifts, and managing team dynamics. Adarsh shares the story behind firing a high-profile client who was verbally abusing his team, the panic of dropping a production database on Heroku, and how applying systems thinking changes how you look at code, sales, and business operations. They also touch on how AI and vibe coding are reshaping agency pricing, the return of fixed-bid contracts, and why human trust remains the most critical asset in tech. Support the show 🎬 You can watch the video of this episode on the Life on Mars podcast website: https://podcast.marsbased.com/
- Transcript
- Chapters
S2 · E119
July 21 · 52 min
Why SEO isn't enough anymore: The rise of GEO with Clemens Rychlik
Is traditional SEO officially dead, or has search simply evolved? In this episode of "Why SEO isn't enough anymore: The rise of GEO", hosted by Àlex Rodríguez Bacardit, Clemens Rychlik from Hello Operator joins the show to examine the seismic shift away from Google's Page 1 and into AI interfaces like ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity. Together, they explore why customer decisions and conversions are now happening directly inside LLMs long before anyone visits your website, and why traditional SEO metrics fall apart in a probabilistic search landscape. Clemens shares practical insights on how to adapt your content so AI models actually cite your brand, why admitting what your product can't do actually builds trust with LLMs, and the dangerous "GEO hacks" currently being sold across the industry that you should stay far away from. Hosted by Àlex Rodríguez Bacardit: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexrodba/ Guest: Clemens Rychlik (Hello Operator): https://www.linkedin.com/in/clemensrychlik/ If you enjoyed the episode, make sure to subscribe to the channel, hit the like button, and let us know in the comments how your team is adapting to AI search! Support the show 🎬 You can watch the video of this episode on the Life on Mars podcast website: https://podcast.marsbased.com/
- Transcript
- Chapters
S2 · E118
July 7 · 46 min
From non-technical founder to CPTO: Road to CTO with Jennifer Woodard
In this episode of Road to CTO, Jennifer Woodard shares her remarkable journey from founding a startup as a non-technical leader to becoming the CPTO of an AI-native company. Jennifer breaks down the reality of earning technical credibility, the importance of European AI sovereignty, and why the "imposter syndrome" is a constant companion even for established experts. We also discuss the shifting landscape of tech hiring and the lessons learned from a six-figure technical mistake. Support the show 🎬 You can watch the video of this episode on the Life on Mars podcast website: https://podcast.marsbased.com/
- Transcript
- Chapters
S2 · E117
June 16 · 32 min
How standardizing AI boosted our dev efficiency up to 50% | Building MarsBased
Welcome back to another episode of Building MarsBased, the series where we share the completely transparent reality of how we have built our development agency since 2014. In this episode, we pull back the curtain on our 18-month journey of adopting Artificial Intelligence within our web and mobile development workflows. The rapid evolution of large language models has completely transformed the engineering landscape. However, finding a process that actually worked for a professional agency took a lot of trial, error, and strategic pivoting. We structured our transition into three clear parts, starting with a Divergence Phase in early 2025. During this time, we went full throttle and let our 30-person team test every tool on the market, from Cursor and Replit to ChatGPT and Raycast AI. While this freedom was an incredible learning experience, it also led to widespread analysis paralysis and left us paying for costly, unused annual subscriptions for tools that the market deprecated just weeks later. Everything changed when we entered our Convergence Phase in early 2026. We made the executive decision to standardize our entire tech stack around Claude Code and introduced a unified RPI (Research, Plan, Implement) methodology across all teams. By putting everyone on the exact same setup, we were finally able to benchmark quality and track results. This standardization triggered an immediate shift from minor marginal gains to a staggering 20% to 50% increase in developer productivity across our client projects. Today, we are operating in a continuous Refinement Phase. Through our daily internal knowledge-sharing sessions called Martian Tapas, our team constantly tests the boundaries of our setup. We are optimizing token consumption with specialized plugins like Caveman and RTK, while simultaneously experimenting with local AI models to ensure our agency maintains long-term regional independence from US-centric, VC-subsidized platforms. Watch the full episode to see exactly how we structured this rollout and how you can apply these professional frameworks to your own development team. If you have any specific questions about our infrastructure, drop a comment below and we might have our CTO, Xavi, break it down in a future video. If you appreciate honest, data-driven insights into the business of software development, please Like, Subscribe, and Share this episode! Support the show 🎬 You can watch the video of this episode on the Life on Mars podcast website: https://podcast.marsbased.com/
- Transcript
- Chapters
S2 · E116
May 26 · 48 min
Why the AI slop problem is getting worse | David Okuniev (Typeform co-founder)
The AI slop problem is getting worse. AI can crank out code, decks, and landing pages in minutes, but somehow everything starts to look exactly the same. That sameness is not just an aesthetic problem; it is a trust problem. I sit down with David Okuniev (Founder of Typeform and Supercut) to unpack what “taste” really means when anyone can one-shot a product, and why people still crave signals of real craft. We also dive into the hidden cost of easy creation: from small-team dynamics to a "65 PR backlog," we discuss how AI shifts the bottleneck from writing code to building a harness for shipping safely. Beyond the philosophy, we get practical about the future of async work. Supercut’s bet is that the winning Loom alternative is not just about recording your screen, it's about searchable transcripts, AI Q&A, and agentic workflows that turn a video into a document your team can act on immediately. If you care about product design, reliability, and building honest software in the AI bubble, this conversation will sharpen your thinking. Support the show 🎬 You can watch the video of this episode on the Life on Mars podcast website: https://podcast.marsbased.com/
- Transcript
- Chapters
S2 · E115
May 12 · 46 min
Why I left big tech to build again: The reality of being a founder
What is the real difference between a CTO and a VP of Engineering? How do you build a technical team from scratch in a non-tech company? In this Road to CTO episode of the MarsBased podcast, we sit down with Emma Burrows (Ex-Google, Ex-Stripe) to talk about her incredible career path. From her time at Google to leading as CTO at Stripe Payments UK and her current jump into the founder world with Resonant, Emma shares the lessons learned at every stage of the journey. Support the show 🎬 You can watch the video of this episode on the Life on Mars podcast website: https://podcast.marsbased.com/
- Transcript
- Chapters
S2 · E114
April 7 · 1 hr 8 min
100x faster every 6 months: Linus Ekenstam on the future of AI
The tech landscape is shifting under our feet. In this episode of Life on Mars, our CEO Àlex Rodríguez Bacardit sits down with Linus Ekenstam to discuss the 100x era, a world where technology becomes 100x faster and cheaper every 6 to 12 months. Linus breaks down why the ability to write code has moved from a competitive advantage to a basic commodity. He warns that if you are 100% dependent on a platform's reach, you are no longer in control because your boss is an algorithm. The discussion covers the 100x rule and why you must assume tech will accelerate by 100x every year to plan effectively. We explore the death of the coding moat and why execution is now a commodity while taste is the new differentiator. Linus also discusses algorithm slavery and how to humanize your brand to build your own platform for true defensibility. We also touch upon the future of teams and why MarsBased is moving toward multi-faceted engineers over specialized roles. Finally, Linus provides candid feedback on his experience consulting for giants like Adobe and shares the hilarious story of the 1,000 burger party mistake. Support the show 🎬 You can watch the video of this episode on the Life on Mars podcast website: https://podcast.marsbased.com/
- Transcript
- Chapters
S2 · E113
March 17 · 24 min
Is your NDA a rookie mistake? Lessons from 12 years in tech - Building MarsBased #7
Signing a non-disclosure agreement just to have an initial coffee or hear a pitch is often the ultimate "tell" that you’re a rookie in this industry. In this episode of Building MarsBased, our CEO Àlex Rodriguez Bacardit breaks down why we stopped signing NDAs "left, right, and center" and how we transitioned into using them as a qualification tool rather than a barrier to entry. After 12 years of running MarsBased and talking to over 1,000 potential leads, we’ve found that the most "secretive" inventors often have the least to show. Àlex dives into the red flags of the "revolutionary" solopreneur and explains why established clients with significant budgets rarely demand an NDA upfront. We also share the behind-the-scenes story of how we simultaneously worked for rivals Real Madrid and FC Barcelona by understanding that real business secrets rarely live in the software itself. Finally, we discuss how we use AI to spot predatory clauses in seconds, ensuring we remain business partners rather than just another service provider. Get in touch:Send your questions to hola@marsbased.com for future episodes of Building MarsBased. Support the show 🎬 You can watch the video of this episode on the Life on Mars podcast website: https://podcast.marsbased.com/
- Transcript
- Chapters
S2 · E112
March 3 · 38 min
Troy Hunt: 12 years of Have I Been Pwned & the truth about AI scams
We sit down with Troy Hunt, the creator of Have I Been Pwned (HIBP), to discuss the evolution of cybersecurity over the last 12 years. We explore whether AI is truly changing the nature of data breaches, why the banking industry is still stuck with insecure SMS, and the fascinating story of how HIBP remains a lean, bootstrapped team of three people despite handling billions of queries. Troy also opens up about the 2019 acquisition process that almost changed everything and why he is ultimately glad the deal fell through. Support the show 🎬 You can watch the video of this episode on the Life on Mars podcast website: https://podcast.marsbased.com/
- Transcript
- Chapters
S2 · E111
February 17 · 33 min
Agency Q&A: Recruiting "Champions" and optimizing for answer engines (AEO) Building MarsBased #6
How do you find employees who care as much as the founders? And in an AI-driven world, should you stick to traditional SEO or pivot to Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)? In this episode of Building MarsBased, CEO Alex Rodriguez Bacardit answers two deep-dive questions from the agency community. We explore the "Champion" profile, why former freelancers and entrepreneurs are the secret to delegation, and how MarsBased hit 30 people in 2025 by restructuring their leadership. We also discuss the marketing strategy behind their new spin-off, GPT apps. Alex explains why they are using paid ads for the first time in 12 years and how to optimize your content so AI bots recommend your brand. Support the show 🎬 You can watch the video of this episode on the Life on Mars podcast website: https://podcast.marsbased.com/
- Transcript
- Chapters
S2 · E110
January 27 · 40 min
Scaling a remote team: Lessons on trust, productivity, and firing | Building MarsBased #5
In this fifth episode of Building MarsBased, Àlex Rodriguez Bacardit reflects on nearly 12 years of operating as a remote-first company since 2014. Inspired by the 37signals philosophy, MarsBased was designed as a "hard remote" entity to optimize for productivity over mere presence, a model that forced the founders to defend their professional authority without a physical office during the early years. To maintain human connection in a distributed team, the company established rituals like Martian Days, quarterly in-person meetings, and Martian Tapas, where team members showcase new skills or tools. A key principle in avoiding "second-class citizens" is ensuring that no major company decisions are made during informal hangouts in Barcelona, keeping the playing field level for everyone regardless of their location. The MarsBased hiring strategy specifically filters for seniors, former entrepreneurs, or freelancers who are exceptional written communicators, as remote environments can feel isolating or "hostile" for those who lack experience in self-management. This professional maturity is supported by a streamlined tech stack, evolving from Basecamp to Linear, and a culture of 100% trust from day one, rather than a system of surveillance. While remoteness brings challenges like the "loneliness slump" around month 12, the company remains 95% faithful to its original 2014 vision. By treating employees like adults and prioritizing quality over quantity, MarsBased continues to thrive as an independent, bootstrapped lifestyle business. Support the show 🎬 You can watch the video of this episode on the Life on Mars podcast website: https://podcast.marsbased.com/
- Transcript
- Chapters
S2 · E109
January 13 · 41 min
Generalist or specialist? Inside our biggest business debate: Building MarsBased #4
In this episode of Building MarsBased, Alex Rodríguez Bacardit, CEO and founder, discusses the internal debate of whether the company should operate as a generalist vs specialist. This conversation offers key business tips for how to start a business, emphasizing the need for strategic thinking to foster business growth. We explore the essential elements of a sound business strategy for long-term success. Support the show 🎬 You can watch the video of this episode on the Life on Mars podcast website: https://podcast.marsbased.com/
- Transcript
- Chapters
S2 · E108
Dec 23, 2025 · 53 min
Silicon Valley’s longest-standing CEO: 37 Years leading Micrel
In the volatile world of Silicon Valley, where the average CEO tenure is often less than five years and startups burn out as quickly as they rise, Ray Zinn stands as a monumental exception. For 37 years, Zinn served as the CEO of Micrel, the semiconductor company he founded in 1978, holding the record as the longest-serving CEO of a publicly traded company in the Valley. His tenure wasn't just about longevity; it was a masterclass in disciplined consistency. Under his leadership, Micrel achieved a staggering record of being profitable for 36 out of those 37 years, a feat almost unheard of in the tech industry. This video dives deep into the story of the man they call the "Iron Man" of the semiconductor industry. We explore how Zinn famously rejected the standard Venture Capital model, choosing instead to bootstrap Micrel using his own savings and bank loans to maintain total control over the company's culture and destiny. You will learn about his unique management philosophy, "Tough Things First," which prioritized discipline and employee well-being over short-term stock manipulation. Beyond the business metrics, we also uncover the incredible personal resilience of Ray Zinn. Later in his career, he went legally blind, yet continued to run the company effectively, relying on his vivid memory and the deep trust he had built with his team. From the early days of 1978 to the final acquisition by Microchip Technology in 2015, this is the definitive story of an outlier who proved that slow, steady, and disciplined leadership can outlast the hype of Silicon Valley. Support the show 🎬 You can watch the video of this episode on the Life on Mars podcast website: https://podcast.marsbased.com/
- Transcript
- Chapters
S2 · E107
Dec 9, 2025 · 28 min
Working with friends? Building MarsBased #3
There is a recurring piece of advice in the startup world that says you should never mix friendship with business. However, after 12 years of profitability and organic growth at MarsBased, reality has taught us that working with friends is not only possible but can be a competitive advantage if expectations are managed from day zero. In this episode of Building MarsBased, I open up the black box of our founding story to explain how Xavi, Jordi, and I went from being classmates to co-founders, and why we made the difficult decision to leave a fourth friend out just before signing the company incorporation. I take a deep dive into our atypical organizational structure where we decided not to have a single CEO, but rather divide leadership into three areas of absolute responsibility (Tech, Operations, and Marketing) while democratizing cross-functional decisions. Throughout the video, I detail how we resolve conflicts using asynchronous communication via Linear to remove ego from discussions, how we define our salaries based on the company’s financial health (bootstrapping) rather than investment rounds, and what our philosophy is regarding equal equity splits. If you are considering starting something with your close circle, here you will find our real-world experience on how to align priorities, manage friction, and prevent silent resentment from killing both the company and the friendship. Support the show 🎬 You can watch the video of this episode on the Life on Mars podcast website: https://podcast.marsbased.com/
- Transcript
- Chapters
S2 · E106
Nov 25, 2025 · 1 hr 12 min
Road to CTO: From Mafia Wars to Amazon, 35 years of tech leadership wisdom
Welcome to another episode of Road to CTO, our series where we sit down with some of the most experienced and influential technology leaders in the world. In this episode, we talk with Dorion Carroll, a veteran with 35 years of tech leadership experience, former CTO at Zynga, VP at Amazon, and one of the most insightful engineering minds in the industry. From scaling engineering teams from 280 to 3,600 people, to navigating billion-dollar decisions, to understanding what truly makes a great CTO, Dorion shares the lessons, stories and frameworks that shaped his extraordinary career. If you're an aspiring CTO, an engineering manager, or simply passionate about how world-class tech organisations operate behind the scenes, this is a masterclass. Support the show 🎬 You can watch the video of this episode on the Life on Mars podcast website: https://podcast.marsbased.com/
- Transcript
- Chapters
S2 · E105
Nov 12, 2025 · 33 min
When is the right time to start your company? Building MarsBased #2
When is the right time to start your company? In this second episode of Building MarsBased, we answer a listener’s question that every aspiring founder wrestles with: Should I launch while keeping my day job, or go all in? We unpack the real factors behind that decision: macro timing, industry waves, personal runway, team alignment, and share how we made the call that led to MarsBased. You’ll hear why the 2012–2014 window mattered in Spain’s post-crisis context, what the “mobile app boom” taught us about riding vs ignoring a hot trend, why nights and weekends rarely scale, and the exact moment (December 2013) we took the leap. We also discuss the investor point of view on “founder commitment” and a practical way to spot opportunities from inside your current company. In this episode, you’ll learn how macro conditions shape founder timing, what makes the difference between a viable and an advantaged moment to start, what the realities of bootstrapping look like compared to fundraising, why part-time efforts usually stall and what to do instead, and how to use your current job to validate a real problem worth solving. Support the show 🎬 You can watch the video of this episode on the Life on Mars podcast website: https://podcast.marsbased.com/
- Transcript
- Chapters
S2 · E104
Oct 21, 2025 · 25 min
How to come up with your first business idea: Building MarsBased
Starting a business begins with one powerful idea, but how do you come up with your first one? In this episode of Building MarsBased, we share the real story behind our company’s early days and how a simple concept evolved into a long-lasting, profitable business. You’ll learn how to identify opportunities, validate ideas, and turn side projects into sustainable ventures, all based on real-world experience from a fully bootstrapped tech company. If you’re an aspiring entrepreneur, freelancer, or agency owner, this video will help you find direction and clarity for your next move. 💡 Want to build your next digital product with a trusted partner? Let’s talk: https://marsbased.com/ Contact: hola@marsbased.com Support the show 🎬 You can watch the video of this episode on the Life on Mars podcast website: https://podcast.marsbased.com/
- Transcript
- Chapters

Showing 1–20 of 21 episodes