The New Disruptors

This podcast often emphasizes going it alone. But what if you could achieve your own dreams of continuous learning and creative expression while also having full-time jobs and getting that mythical thing, a regular paycheck? I talk with Alli Dryer and Jenni Leder, user interface/user experience (UI/UX) designers, who changed their lives — and those of their husbands — to bring their lives closer to what they want within the structure of employment. We talk about that most scary of words to your host, a J-O-B, in this episode. This episode is sponsored by Smile Software's TextExpander and Cards Against Humanity.

We recorded a special live episode of The New Disruptors in Brooklyn's fantastic DUMBO district in the Galapagos Art Space as part of the Nearly Impossible conference in which we talked about the joys, challenges, and surprises in prototyping, funding, producing, and distributing products. On stage, we had Che-Wei Wang and Taylor Levy of CW&T, Tom Gerhardt and Dan Provost of Studio Neat, and Jessica Heltzel of Kern and Burn. Sponsored by Shopify http://shopify.com/nd

Dean Putney has made some of your favorite things on the Internet. He's Boing Boing's software developer, as well as filling your mind with the best animated GIFs on the Internet. But what he's working on at the moment takes us over 100 years into the past: a book of photographs his great-grandfather took before World War I, and in the trenches as a German soldier. He recently funded the book project on Kickstarter, and shares lessons in publishing and crowdfunding. This episode is sponsored by Stack: www.stackmagazines.com (use coupon code DISRUPT13 for a discount).

Marian Call is an Alaskan chanteuse who found an audience after winning a Firefly-related song contest in 2007. She has run her music career as an independent grassroots effort ever since. She connects with her fans constantly and directly, both through social media and crowdfunding, and sleeping on their floors during tours and house concerts. She spends a lot of time on the road, and we talked in person (appropriately enough, in my living room) right after GeekGirlCon 2013 in Seattle in October. She lives on Twitter @mariancall and is currently on tour in Europe.

Roman Mars is a public-radio producer. But the definition of what public radio is has become malleable, especially with his show, 99% Invisible, which has enormously more listeners for its podcast version than the broadcast flavor. The show is about design and architecture, and more particularly about the inner workings of things we take for granted. Roman raised a significant sum on Kickstarter in July 2012 — $170,000 for season 3 of his show. He launched a second Kickstarter for season 4 today (October 22) to expand to weekly episodes and add staff.

Jon Mitchell was a mild-mannered reporter at a major metro-webbian publication, Read Write. He left to pursue new ideas about how musicians could find new audiences. He wrote an extraordinary essay about the future of musician-led podcasts recently, and we discuss him, mindfulness, the importance of collaboration, and music. He co-hosts The Portal with fellow musicians and friends Kirk Benttinen and Rebecca Marcyes. This episode is sponsored by Smile Software's PDFpen Scan+.

Devin Lucas is a writer and director from Southern California, who has made plenty of movies in the past, but nothing quite like the upcoming Under the Smogberry Trees, the true story of Dr Demento and Mr Hansen. He's part of Meep Morp Studio with Christine McDonald and Scott McKenzie, which is producing the film.

XOXO is a truly remarkable festival and conference that you've heard me talk about quite a lot. I interviewed Andy Baio and Andy McMillan just before they announced the line-up for the 2013 show, which took place in mid-September. At XOXO, I interviewed the folks behind four companies or projects exhibiting there about what they were up to: Brewbot, Draplin Design, Projecteo, and NeoLucida.

Yancey Strickler, one of the co-founders of Kickstarter, began his working life in journalism in 2000, and managed to make a living as a freelance writer during one of the most difficult times to ply that trade. A few years later, he joined eMusic, where he rose to editor in chief and started an in-house record label to give bands an easier way to get an album out. He began working on Kickstarter long before its April 2009 debut, and remains as excited about its potential to change artists' and creators' lives today as he was before its launch.

Sir Mix-A-Lot, a.k.a. Anthony Ray, may have become best known for "Baby Got Back" over 20 years ago, but his career spans nearly 30 years, and he's never stopped trying to create a genuine connection with his fans. He's a singer, songwriter, producer, actor, technologist, and car aficionado. He runs the independent label Rhyme Cartel. Find him on Twitter @therealmix.

James Flynn is a New Zealander who relocated to San Francisco where he runs Extrasensory Devices. He's an engineer who started by developing modems, and then released on his own a set of drum-tempo monitors and a light-meter add-on for the iPhone. He's launched three Kickstarters, all of which funded, and has plenty more in his pipeline.

Jack Conte is a musician and entrepreneur, and one-half of the group Pomplamoose with Nataly Dawn. He and his partner have had millions of people watch their videos on YouTube, and launched a successful career for their stripped-down but layered covers. Jack and Nataly also both have branched into solo work, and Jack recently launched a twist on "conventional" crowdfunding with Patreon, an artist-supporting site.

Marisa McClellan puts stuff in jars and it's delicious. Her Food in Jars blog on canning and preserving went from a side venture alongside a full-time job to her main hub as a food writer. She writes for Food Network and Table Matters (part of Saveur). She conducts dozens of workshops and demonstrations every year. Her first book is Food in Jars: Preserving in Small Batches Year-Round, and she is in the middle of writing her second book, Preserving by the Pint. You want to pickle something? She's your woman.

Choire Sicha (pronounced "Corey SEEK-a") is one of the founders of The Awl, a site devoted to new writing and events of the day, with four sister sites under the same umbrella. Choire was an editor at Gawker — and returned as editor a second time after he first left. He's written for or worked at the New York Observer and Radar. Choire just came out with the fictionalized but entirely true novel, Very Recent History: An Entirely Factual Account of a Year (c. AD 2009) in a Large City.

David Malki's biography would take five minutes to read out. You may know him best as the perpetrator of the cartoon Wondermark, but he's also a filmmaker, a movie trailer editor, an author, an entrepreneur, and the Supreme Commander of Publicity & Promotions at TopatoCo, a firm that handles merchandise primarily for webcomics. He's available for weddings and bar mitzvahs. We talk about making films, making cartoons, and making books, and having a great time at all of it.