
<YouTube youTubeId="V2izYekSSwY" />

From [Google I/O 2021](https://io.google/2021/): In this session, we (I) discuss marketing activities that help users discover and engage with what you’ve built on Google Assistant, as well as some updates to monetization features for Conversational Actions.


Driving a successful launch for Conversational Actions


<YouTube youTubeId="HX1bMuoZ6II" />

As a part of my work as a DevRel lead for Google Assistant, I did a guest segment on VOICE Talks in August of 2021, talking about why UX research for voice-first experiences is so crucial.


VOICE Talks August 2021: Trust the researchers for voice-first UX


<YouTube youTubeId="cw1wlHV4hGk" />

Tools like Eleventy, Hugo, Gatsby, Svelte, and others have given developers a superpower for quickly developing content-driven, easily manageable web properties. It's an exciting frontier for developers who are also content creators, but for non-technical creators, our favorite toolchains can feel like a labyrinth of indecipherable choices.

In this talk, we'll discuss our role in promoting the creator economy. We'll talk about the opportunity we have as developers in helping to democratize content creation for everyone, and the importance of creating a more robust, archival internet.

[Check out the slides](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1XFJ_nQfPnX0oPOUezOEwVKLZFtptTKemtGg41RJPisQ)


JAM Stack, SSGs, and their role in empowering the creator economy


<YouTube youTubeId="OaF_WhzNAKQ" />

From my work as a Developer Advocate on the Google Assistant team, this tutorial explains the difference between _shortcuts_ and _dynamic shortcuts_ for Android, and how to use Assistant to take advantage of this functionality.


Push dynamic shortcuts to Assistant


<YouTube youTubeId="lxviLXXvs3A" />

A brief, 2-minute Demo from [Google I/O 2021](https://io.google/2021/): learn how to create your first App Action for an Android app, which lets you connect your app's features to Google Assistant


How to create your first App Action


<YouTube youTubeId="z6l-V-EOGNY" />

A quick demo from [Google I/O 2021](https://io.google/2021/): we take a look at some user experience (UX) changes for card verification code (CVC) confirmation and new payment method entry for payments on smart screens.


New Transaction Features for Smart Displays


<Image
  publicId="external-references/fullstack-dev-article-aquent/cover"
  alt="Article screenshot: What the Heck is a Fullstack Developer? Aquent UK blog"
/>

An interview with my former employer (and parent company of [Gymnasium](https://www.thegymnasium.com/)), [Aquent](https://aquent.com) about my thoughts on what it means to be a Fullstack Developer.

Description from the article:

<Aside>
  To shed light onto what is for many a mysterious role—Full Stack Developer—we
  talked to our own Star of the Full Stack, Mike Bifulco. Currently the Director
  of Technology for Aquent Gymnasium, he was previously a User Experience Lead
  and Program Manager at Microsoft.
</Aside>

Full article is available to read on [Aquent UK's blog](https://aquent.co.uk/blog/what-the-heck-is-a-full-stack-developer).


What the Heck is a Fullstack Developer? Aquent UK


<Image
  publicId="external-references/proximity-acquires-smpl/cover"
  alt="A screenshot from a press release announcing proximity acquiring smpl"
/>

In early 2020, [smpl](https://smpl.io) was acquired by [Proximity](https://proximity.space). I was cofounder and CEO of smpl - we proudly helped independent coworking spaces manage their communities with automated billing, invoicing, and community management. It was a wild ride, and I couldn't have done it without my two amazing cofounders.

We were acquired by our biggest competitor, Proximity, who are continuing the dream by creating a network of amazing, independently owned coworking spaces around the world.

[Read the press release about the acquisition](https://www.proximity.space/news/proximity-acquires-smpl-software/) to find out more.

There is another (paywalled) article on [Business Insider](https://www.businessinsider.com/inside-a-coworking-software-deal-proximity-buys-smpl-2020-4) about the acquisition, too!

[More about smpl](https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/smpl-llc) on Crunchbase.

Tools we used to build smpl:

- [Firebase](https://firebase.google.com/)
- [Stripe](https://www.stripe.com)
- [React](https://reactjs.org)
- [Intercom](https://intercom.com)
- [LogRocket](https://logrocket.com)


Proximity Acquires SMPL Software


<Image
  publicId="external-references/matter-a-whole-thing/cover"
  alt="Cover slide: MATTER - a whole thing about design"
/>

From a talk I gave at my then-home-base [Hygge Coworking](https://wearehygge.com/) at a community event. The thesis: we're all designers, and you should give a damn about the things you put into the world.

Slides are [available on slideshare](https://www.slideshare.net/mbifulco1/matter-a-whole-thing-about-design).


Matter - a whole thing about design


<YouTube youTubeId="ukPI1zlxKqg" />

From my days working as Technical Director of [thegymnasium.com](https://thegymnasium.com): a 5-minute tutorial (lovingly referred to as a **Take 5**) showing how you can use GitHub pages to host your very own website.

The full tutorial (with additional reference material) is available **for free** on [The Gymnasium](https://thegymnasium.com/courses/take5/publishing-your-first-github-pages-website)

Gymnasium is a treasure - if you like this, get yourself a free account at [thegymnasium.com/register](https://thegymnasium.com/register), and start learning at your own pace today!


Publishing Your First GitHub Pages Website - Gymnasium Take 5


<Image
  publicId="external-references/the-perils-of-obedience/cover"
  alt="title slide: The Perils of Obedience, by Mike Bifulco"
/>

These are slides from a lightning talk I gave at a local conference in 2018.

I explain the Milgram Experiment, how absolutely terrifying it is, and how understanding Cognitive Psychology and Social Sciences can help us make the world a better place.

I also implore the audience to go register to vote. [turbovote.org](https://turbovote.org). Go do it!

Slides [available on Slideshare](https://www.slideshare.net/mbifulco1/the-perils-of-obedience) if you're interested in perusing.


Lightning Talk: The Perils of Obedience


<Image
  publicId="external-references/design-matters-zero-day/cover"
  alt="title slide: Design Matters, Hygge Zero day"
/>

These are slides from an empassioned talk I gave about design during a community event called Zero Day at [Hygge Coworking](https://wearehygge.com) in Charlotte, NC, USA.

The thesis: good design is important, and you should be paying attention to good-and-bad design in the world around you. Contributing to making the world better for everyone **is** everyone's job.

Slides [are available on SlideShare](https://www.slideshare.net/mbifulco1/design-matters-hygge-zero-day-93804671)


Design Matters, Hygge Zero day


<Image publicId="external-references/50-most-powerful-startups-in-charlotte/cover" />

I was cofounder and CEO of [smpl](https://smpl.io), a SaaS startup helping independent-scale coworking operators automate their business. We were featured in a 2017 Article by Axios Charlotte (then called **The Charlotte Agenda**) as one of the most powerful (lol) startups in town. Pretty cool!


50 Most Powerful startups in Charlotte


<Image
  publicId="external-references/edx-comprehensive-theming/cover"
  alt="Cover slide: Edx Comprehensive Theming tutorial, by Mike Bifulco"
/>

A talk I gave at Stanford University in 2016 on Comprehensive Theming for [Open EdX](https://open.edx.org).

Slides [are available on Slideshare](https://www.slideshare.net/mbifulco1/edx-comprehensive-tutorial)


Edx Comprehensive Theming Tutorial


<YouTube youTubeId="2VJmjmESvMo" />

(My talk starts at 5 minutes and 43 seconds into the video)

From [Open EdX Conf 2016](https://open.edx.org), this is a lightning talk I gave on our strategy for student support at [Gymnasium](https://thegymnasium.com), while I served as Technical Director there.


Open EdX, Slack, and Intercom


<Image
  publicId="external-references/30-under-30-2016/cover"
  alt="Photo of me being recognized as one of Charlotte's 30 under 30 in 2016"
/>

Not much on the web about this these days, but if you really want to go spelunking, here's a Wayback Machine link from late 2016 that's captured the gist of it. [Wayback Machine: Top 30 Under 30 Future Leaders of Charlotte, Elevate Lifestyle 2016](http://web.archive.org/web/20161115035530/http://elevatelifestyle.com/30-under-30-2016), and an [old facebook event](https://www.facebook.com/events/1088933411127102/).


Top 30 Under 30 Future Leaders of Charlotte - Elevate Lifestyle 2016


<Image publicId="external-references/your-app-is-ugly/cover" />

A rehash of a talk on the basics of design and aesthetics, covering color theory, swiss design, and some of the historical roots of modern design.

Authored with Andrew Miller, Jeremy Osborn, and Leah Cunningham

Slides [are available on SlideShare](https://www.slideshare.net/mbifulco1/your-app-is-ugly)


Your App is Ugly


<YouTube youTubeId="5DiJ_2Bz2hM" />

(My part starts at 13m47s, but you should watch the whole thing!)

This is a talk I gave during [Open Edx Conf 2016](https://open.edx.org) with my colleagues, comrades, and brothers in arms Andrew Miller and Jeremy Osborn, talking about how we built Gymnasium while actively experimenting with formulas for an effective MOOC.


Gymnasium - Building the plane while flying it


<Vimeo vimeoId="84388498" />

This is a talk I gave at [Blend Conf](http://2013.blendconf.com/speakers/mike-bifulco/) in Charlotte, NC USA in 2013, when I was working for [Microsoft](https://microsoft.com) as a UX Designer. If you're interested in learning how to design apps for a version of Windows that came out in 2012, this is your day!

Slides are [available on Slideshare](https://www.slideshare.net/mbifulco1/designing-windows-81-apps-from-the-ground-up)


Designing Windows 8.1 apps, from the ground up


## An (extremely brief) history

If you follow me across the various other social networks I use, you'll likely stumble across my passion for cycling. For the past 8 or so years, road cycling has been my primary form of exercise. I love cycling; it keeps me sane, and helps me live a healthier life, while seeing the world. If you haven't been on a bike recently, you should give it a shot - I can't recommend it enough.

It should come as no surprise, then, that I recently started a passion project that involves cycling. Details are (intentionally) a little unclear at this point, but I'm putting together **something** which will help cyclists, runners, hikers (and athletes of many other sorts) understand data that they record using IoT sensors during workouts. Think this-and-that to do with GPS tracking, Heart Rate, speed, power, etc.

I'm guessing that many of the folks reading this right now may be thinking this sounds familiar. Products like Strava, Endomondo, MapMyFitness, Garmin Connect, Apple Fitness, and Google health all fit into a Venn Diagram that helps folks who track their workouts. It's true! I'm hoping I can carve out a small-but-mighty and impassioned audience from within those larger umbrella services. The trick, though, is that I have to figure out what that means - what's missing for the people who use those services that I can provide?

## How the heck do I think I can succeed?

I can see how you might think takes some granite _cojones_ to think that this kind of hairbrained idea could go well. I'll try to make the case for my plan:

[Strava just added its 50 _Millionth_ user](https://dailyspin.co/articles/strava-now-has-50-million-users/). Hot damn! That's a ton of people. The way I see it, if I can manage to attract a few thousand paying customers, at a couple bucks a month, I can offset costs for a 1-man operation, and maybe have a chance at building something really exciting.

I just finished devouring [Paul Jarvis'](https://twitter.com/pjrvs) fantastic book [Company of One](https://ofone.co/), and I'm hoping to adopt some of the strategies outlined in Jarvis' book, which describes how radical transparency can serve a small operation well:

- I believe that the right kind of customer for me is someone who appreciates the human side of what I'm doing. This isn't a venture-backed project with zillions of dollars pushing it along. I'm not working out of a SoMa loft, down the block from Facebook, Google, and Apple. This is an espresso-powered love letter to my passion, built from my basement office during the wee hours of the morning, and late at night.
- I intend to be very public with what I'm building. Since I'm sourcing my feature list from the needs of real people (by way of surveys), I feel it's only fair to have a [public roadmap](https://github.com/orgs/gopistola/projects/1) of what I'm building. This will facilitate further feedback and discussion from the people using Pistola. I love that idea.
- I'm going to make the formulas I use to calculate calories burned **Open Source**. As far as I can tell, there isn't a single product on the market that explains _exactly_ how they calculate calories burned. It's patently crazy to me that this is something that the industry treats as a trade secret. Can you believe that? To boot, nobody really makes mention that the calorie numbers they show you are _estimates_ -- which they are. It's an inexact science, but you're never made aware of that anywhere. We can do better.
- I'm going to make my costs and earnings publicly viewable (at least to start). I'll admit, this one makes me a bit anxious. Precisely because I'm building this thing out of pocket, I'm going to ask users to pay for Pistola from the get-go. By leaning on the candor I'm using to build Pistola, I'm hoping that the people who will want to use the product will be empathetic to the cause, and -- for the price of a cup of coffee each month -- chip in a few bucks for access to Pistola. Their money will power the product, and they'll know what kind of margins I'm operating on.

## Where does that leave me now?

At the moment, I'm a few steps away from having a very small MVP put together. This will allow you to create an account, upload workouts to pistola, and analyze your workout on a relatively simple timeline. To begin with, all workouts will be private, so you'll only be able to see your information. Shareable content will come later.

I'm going to use the blog at https://pistola.io/blog as a way to document my process.

I've also published the first episode of a podcast called [Building Pistola](https://pistola.io/podcast). These audio-only vignettes will be published from time-to-time, documenting my process, struggles, and concerns. Can't get more out-in-the-open than that!

Last week I put out a [user research survey](https://gopistola.typeform.com/to/osVw3W), asking folks about their experience with Strava. I'm going to analyze those results and summarize them in a blog post. That information will be used to power the first version of Pistola's product roadmap.

## Next steps

- If you're with me still, I'd love it if you subscribed to the podcast ([Building Pistola](https://pistola.io/podcast), and signed up for the [pistola newsletter](https://pistola.io/).
- If you've got feature ideas, or you're a GitHub user and you want to keep an eye on things, check out the [Product Roadmap](https://github.com/orgs/gopistola/projects/1).
- It's time for me to get my nose back to the grindstone, and continue building the product!

Most of, all thank you for reading, and for your support. I'm hoping this crazy idea can grow some legs, and I won't get anywhere without support and encouragement from the design, developer, cycling, and running communities. I'd love to hear your feedback, criticism, and encouragement. I'm here for it, and I deeply appreciate it. My inbox is always open: [mike@pistola.io](mailto:mike@pistola.io)

Thank you!

#startup