We are Khwan & Simon, co-founders of Ling App. Every other week, we talk about our experience in the app business. Get actionable advice on app marketing, team management, technology and much more. If you're an aspiring app developer or marketer, we help you take it to the next level.
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In this episode we talk about our new process of hiring A players. As we got more applicants for certain roles, we added another interview to the process.
We talk about:
- Our current process of selecting and interviewing candidates
- The screening interview
- The case study interview
- The Who interview
- The reference interview
- Interview best practices
Resources mentioned:
Geoff Smart - Who https://www.amazon.de/-/en/Geoff-Smart-ebook/dp/B001EL6RWY
Our previous episode on hiring: https://anchor.fm/app-life-podcast/episodes/36---How-Do-We-Hire-A-Players-esei1s
#62 - How To Use Google Analytics 4 To Understand Your Audience Better (00:15:21)
Today we talk about ways to analyze your app and web audience with Google Analytics 4.
We cover
- Ways to setup Google Analytics 4 on mobile and the web
- The difference between Google Analytics 4 and Google Analytics Universal
- What events to track inside an app
- How to plan your tracking
- Limitations of Google Analytics
- Alternatives to Google Analytics
#61 - How To Get Funded By Sponsored Startup Programs? (00:18:19)
In this episode, we talk about sponsored startup programs and our experience with it.
We talk about
- The programs we successfully applied for
- What are the benefits of sponsored programs?
- How to apply?
- Pitching best practices
- What to do when you're excepted?
- Examples of local government programs
#60 - Monetize Your App Via In App Purchases (00:12:52)
This episode is all about in app purchases!
We talk about
- What types of in app purchases exist (one offs, subscriptions)
- How to implement in app purchases in your app
- Should you use your own server?
- Apple's and Google's payment system vs Stripe
- Consequences of the recent decision in Epic's lawsuit against Apple
- Frequent in app purchase problems and how to fix them
Resources mentioned: https://www.revenuecat.com/
#59 - Content Marketing For Apps: Does It Still Work in 2021? (00:20:10)
Let's talk about our blog today, https://ling-app.com/blog . It's been a wild ride from starting the first few posts about learning Thai to creating a content machine that churns out over 20 articles per week (and counting).
We cover:
- Why we started our language learn blog in the first place
- Initial strategy and how we shift over time
- When should you start hiring content writers?
- Tips and best practices for SEO
- What kind of content should you focus on?
Note: We decided to switch to a bi-weekly release schedule from now on. Stay tuned!
- Resources mentioned: Auto video creator via AI https://lumen5.com/
#58 - Own Products Vs Client Work: What Is Better? (00:12:02)
This time we talk about our experience with working with clients. How does this compare to developing your own product?
We share
- The pros and cons of working with clients and making your own products
- What do to when you're just getting started
- Things we learned when working with clients
#57 - Building A Great Company Culture Based On Feedback (00:18:33)
In this episode, we talk about our 3-monthly retrospective sessions and how they helped us building a great company culture.
We talk about
- The beginnings: How and why we started the retrospective with 3 team members
- How to organize a retrospective
- Best practices when running the sessions
- Examples of what we learned from the feedback
#56 - How To Translate Your App In Multiple Languages (00:15:11)
Today's episode is all about translating your app, or app localization.
We cover
- Why you should consider translating your app
- How to find out what languages to translate into first
- How to find good translators
- How to setup a process to ensure great translation quality
- Take it to the next level: Automate the process via OneSky app
Resources mentioned:
- Translation service: https://gengo.com/
- OneSky app: https://www.oneskyapp.com/
#55 - Stress-free Productivity With Getting Things Done (GTD) (00:20:28)
In this episode, we discuss the Getting Things Done (GTD) method invented by David Allen. Simon has been using this method for the better part of a year, and has had a great experience with it.
We talk about
- What Getting Things Done is and why you might wanna use it
- The method in detail: Collect, clarify, organize, review
- The value of cleaning your inbox daily and having a weekly review
- Tips and best practices
- Alternatives to GTD
#54 - How We Built Smart Court (00:19:05)
While we focus on learning languages at Simya, this week we talk about an app we built for a completely different industry. Smart Court is an app that lets people book badminton courts easily. The idea of the app originated when Simon regularly took badminton training and realized the bookings were all done manually.
We cover
- How we validated the idea & decided to create Smart Court
- Requirement gathering and staff interviews
- Building the MVP
- Challenges along the way
- Where we stand now and future plans
Try the app here: https://simyasolutions.com/smart-court/ Only Chiang Mai is supported at this point in time ;)
#53 - How We Built Ling Live (00:19:36)
Time for another installment of the "How We Built..." series! This time, we talk about our brand new app, Ling Live. It's a platform app to connect students and teachers, enabling everyone to book a language lesson in seconds.
We talk about:
- How we came up with the idea of Ling Live
- How we did market research
- How we validated the initial prototype
- Marketing and business development
- Challenges along the way
- What's next?
Check out the app here and book your free Thai trial lesson (trial lessons are limited): https://live.ling-app.com/
#52 - The Value Of Team Outings (00:16:10)
Today, we talk about team outings. At Simya we're doing them regularly and are amazed again and again how much fun they are.
We cover
- Why we do team outings
- When and how we got started
- 3 examples of our past team outings
- Best practices and benefits of outings
Enjoy!
#51 - Khwan's Story Before App Life (00:18:01)
This episode is Khwan's turn to talk about her experience before we started our app business. She shares how she grew up in a village in the North East of Thailand, how she came to Germany to study and eventually worked as management consultant before quitting her job. Learn about her challenges, lessons learned, and turning points in her life that lead her to where she is today.
#50 - Simon's Story Before App Life (00:23:30)
How was our life like before we quit our jobs, went to Thailand and started an app business? This episode, Simon talks about his life story and some lessons learned along the way. Enjoy!
#49 - Our First Hackathon And What We Learned From It (00:15:09)
Inspired by the "20% project" famously once implemented by Google and other big names, we started to do hackathons at Simya. The idea is to devote some of our time to side projects and try to create something cool in the process. Last week, we did our first hackathon day (we call it "Awesome Time") and it was a great success.
In this episode, we cover
- How we came up with the idea of Awesome Time
- What to prepare if you want to implement it
- Our experience doing our first hackathon
- Was it worth it?
- Examples of what you can create during a hackathon
Resources:
20% project: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/20%25_Project
#48 - How To Buy A House In Thailand (00:27:25)
About 18 months ago, we bought an office building in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Our main motivation for this was to fulfill the capital requirements for our BOI company. It turned out to be a great decision in all respects. So today we talk about the process of buying a house in Thailand.
We cover
- Why we made the decision to buy an office building
- How to go about finding the perfect place
- Financing options
- Due diligence before singing a contract
- Should you hire a lawyer or do it yourself?
- Tips for transferring the property
#47 - App Story: How We Built Flow Yoga (00:18:57)
This is episode is about our app Flow Yoga. It's a pretty cool app to learn Yoga. What's special about it is that you can configure your lessons in any way you want it.
We cover
- How we came up with the idea of Flow Yoga
- How we researched and validated the idea on the market
- UX planning, mockup and design
- How we used our network to create the app content
- Challenges we faced on the way
- How the app is doing now
Check out the app here and let us know your feedback: https://simyasolutions.com/flow-yoga-app/
#46 - Our Favorite Board Games And What They Can Teach About Business (00:14:19)
A slightly off-topic but fun episode today: Our favorite board games! As LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman said though: Board games can teach a lot business, too.
We'll cover
- What we learned from board games about real life
- How Khwan discovered the world of board & computer games
- Khwan's favorite board game: Terraforming Mars
- Parallels of strategy in gaming and business
- Simon's favorite board game: Chess
- Great cooperative game: Spirit Island
#45 - How We Automate Our Business With Trello Bots (00:13:51)
Automation is the key for small business to succeed nowadays. We spend a lot of time and energy in finding new ways how to automate things to make our life easier.
Trello Bots via a Trello power up called "Trello Butler" is a great example of this.
We talk about
- How and why we use Trello in our projects
- How Trello Butler works
- Simple automations via rules
- Integration with Gitlab and Slack
- Custom Trello buttons on boards and cards
- Best practices to use it in your daily processes
Resources mentioned:
- Trello: https://trello.com/
- Trello Butler: https://help.trello.com/article/1198-an-intro-to-butler
- Jira: https://www.atlassian.com/software/jira
- Gitlab: https://gitlab.com/
#44 - The Value Of Regular Team Feedback Meetings (00:13:39)
At Simya, we do a informal meeting called "Coffee Break" every 6 weeks with every team member. It's been a great way for us to give and get feedback, improve teamwork and make the team overall happier.
We cover
- Why and how we started regular coffee breaks
- Benefits of regular feedback
- How to give open feedback in the Asian culture
- Creating a good meeting atmosphere
- How to prepare the meetings
- Can you delegate coffee breaks?
#43 - App Story: How We Built WriteMe (00:17:33)
Time for another app story! Today, we talk about why and how we created the app "WriteMe". It teaches how to read and write in a foreign alphabet such as Japanese, Korean etc. and has been downloaded over 1.5 million times.
We share
- How Khwan came up with the idea of a writing app
- How we did the market research
- What is our unique selling point?
- How did we validate the idea?
- How to promote the app
- Lessons learned
Try the app here: https://simyasolutions.com/write-me-app/
#42 - How We Onboard New Team Members (00:15:28)
As your team grows, it's getting more important to ensure a smooth onboarding for your new team members. In this episode, we share the process we use at Simya.
We talk about
- What to do once the employment or freelance contract is signed
- The template we use to send out to all new hires
- A simple checklist that makes sure everyone is on the same page
- The importance of a good communication guideline
- The system we use to manage holidays and sick leaves
- Last but not least: How to offboard leaving team members
Resources mentioned:
- https://hr.my/ - Free HR management system
#41 - How We Use GSuite For Our App Business (00:11:40)
GSuite is a great portfolio of apps you can use to make your business more effective. In today's episode we talk about
- Why we started using GSuite
- What apps we use and how to use them most effectively
- Alternatives to GSuite
- Is it the right choice for you?
- Should you get the free legacy edition of GSuite?
Resources mentioned:
- Example of a GSuite legacy account provider: https://ggslegacy.net/
- Interesting GSuite competitor: https://www.zoho.com/one/
#40 - Being Business Owner And Mom At The Same Time (00:17:00)
What is it like to be a business owner and parent at the same time? Today, Khwan will talk about her own journey and how her life changed after the arrival of our little daughter Layla.
She talks about
- How she managed her work and recreation before becoming a parent
- What was her life like in the months before and after birth?
- When and how to return to the work life?
- How a baby changes your priorities and time management
- Is it even possible to run a business with a young child without outside support?
#39 - Getting Things Done As A Business Owner (00:17:44)
It's not always easy to manage our time effectively when you're a small business owner. In this episode, Simon talks about how he manages his daily tasks and how his system evolved over time.
Here's what you'll learn:
- How to manage the transition from developer to biz owner
- The benefits of the Getting Things Done method by David Allen
- How the method works - Inbox, Context, Weekly Reviews
- Some challenges in the practical application of GTD
Ressources mentioned:
David Allen - Getting Things Done: https://www.amazon.com/Getting-Things-Done-Stress-Free-Productivity/dp/0143126563
