
Building Reflect at sea (Interview)
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This week we’re talking with Alex MacCaw — he’s well known for his work as founder and CEO of Clearbit. In May of 2021, Alex shared a personal update with the world on his blog. After much reflection, he decided to step down as CEO of Clearbit to go back to his roots. In his words, “I love the early stages of company building. Hacking together code, setting up the Stripe account, getting the first customer. That’s my jam.”
We talk with Alex about this portion of his journey at Clearbit, the Catamaran he bought in South Africa and then sailed across the Atlantic Ocean, and the new thing he’s building called Reflect that let’s you keep track of your notes, books, and meetings.
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Sponsors:
- Fly.io – Deploy your apps and databases close to your users. In minutes you can run your Ruby, Go, Node, Deno, Python, or Elixir app (and databases!) all over the world. No ops required. Learn more at fly.io/changelog and check out the speedrun in their docs.
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Featuring:
- Alex MacCaw – Website, GitHub, X
- Adam Stacoviak – Website, GitHub, LinkedIn, Mastodon, X
- Jerod Santo – Website, GitHub, LinkedIn, Mastodon, X
Show Notes:
- A personal update
- Alex’s first appearance on The Changelog
- reflect.app
- Clearbit
- Earl Grey Capital
- Google - “Catamaran”
- The Manager’s Handbook
- Ross Moser
- Beginning of Infinity
- Scale: The Universal Laws of Growth, Innovation, Sustainability, and the Pace of Life in Organisms, Cities, Economies, and Companies
- remirror/remirror
- Replicache
- Mimestream
- The Changelog #455: Building software for yourself with Linus Lee
Something missing or broken? PRs welcome!
Join the discussion
changelog.zulipchat.comChangelog++
changelog.comFly.io
fly.ioFireHydrant
firehydrant.comSourcegraph
info.sourcegraph.comabout.sourcegraph.com/code-insights
about.sourcegraph.comHoneycomb
honeycomb.ioWebsite
alexmaccaw.comGitHub
github.comX
x.comWebsite
adamstacoviak.comGitHub
github.comLinkedIn
linkedin.comMastodon
changelog.socialX
x.comWebsite
jerodsanto.netGitHub
github.comLinkedIn
linkedin.comMastodon
changelog.socialX
x.comA personal update
blog.alexmaccaw.comAlex’s first appearance on The Changelog
changelog.comreflect.app
reflect.appClearbit
clearbit.comEarl Grey Capital
earlgrey.capitalGoogle - “Catamaran”
google.comThe Manager’s Handbook
themanagershandbook.comRoss Moser
linkedin.comBeginning of Infinity
thebeginningofinfinity.xyzremirror/remirror
github.comReplicache
replicache.devMimestream
mimestream.comPRs welcome!
github.com
- 0:01Welcome
- 1:23Sponsor: Fly.io
- 3:44Hey Alex!
- 5:19Living and working on a sail boat
- 10:49Jerod lives nowhere near the water
- 13:30This is like being stranded on Mars!
- 17:18Hiring a captain was a wise move
- 19:37Running on a lithium-ion battery at sea
- 30:02Sponsor: FireHydrant
- 31:50Collaborating at sea
- 33:33The difference between Clearbit and Reflect
- 36:55Did you consider ways to stay at Clearbit
- 37:54What does it take to find and hire a CEO?
- 42:01Building the team at Reflect
- 45:59Who is Reflect for?
- 48:42Alex's view of the notes world
- 54:38Taking notes with Notion
- 1:00:09Sponsor: Sourcegraph
- 1:03:06Sponsor: Honeycomb
- 1:04:38A refreshing place to be in life
- 1:06:35Journaling and mental health
- 1:10:29Kindle and searching your notes
- 1:14:08Jerod likes Blinkist
- 1:15:35Is Reflect open source?
- 1:17:42Could Reflect be local first?
- 1:21:14Getting back on the water
- 1:21:47Let's not wait another 10 years
- 1:22:53Outro