EP26: Amy Hoy sells her My Little Ponies

Amy Hoy gives a personal interview on her growing up in suburban Maryland, programming on an Apple IIc, selling her My Little Ponies to buy a Power Mac, and how she ended up building her first products.Highlights“I started programming when I was 7 year old. At home we had an Apple IIc, and I wrote some programs in BASIC on that.”“Programming books suck.”“I grew up in suburban Maryland. It was a wasteland: the only place to get coffee was at a gas station, or one of those sub shops that don’t have a name.”“Growing up, I didn’t have any business mentors. I was all alone. I learned from books.”“I was always hustling trying to get money. To buy my Power Mac I sold all of my My Little Ponies.”“My entire life, everyone told me I couldn’t do stuff.”“I dropped out of high school in 9th grade and started freelancing.”“Communicating and teaching are my #1 passions.”“To me it’s really interesting how people hear about people, and start following people” – Justin“Twistori ended up making us a lot of money.”“Working for this startup was like living in Dilbert, but with lots more money and parties.”“It took about 1-2 days a week, for 3 months to build Freckle.”“I remember hearing about the 30×500 formula, and thinking: ‘Whoa! That’s doable'” – Justin“We’re doing a 30×500 bootcamp on June 9-10. The cost will be $1,550.”Show notesAmy Hoy Thomhas Fuchs Freckle The Daily Mac CBC Television (Venture) Kids on the Internet Basecamp Color Wars We feel fine Twistori Limewire Javascript Performance Rocks 30×500Premium SponsorsSprint.ly – Our premium sponsor is Sprint.ly. Sprint.ly is agile project management software with one goal: to help you ship more stuff. You can try them out for free at  www.sprint.ly. You can also thank them on Twitter:  @sprintlyWPengine – Are you frustrated with your current web host provider? A few years ago I was looking to switch from my current cheap host to something more robust: but trying to search online for hosting providers is a nightmare (there’s so much spam in the search results). Then Rob Walling recommended  WPengine. I’ve been with them ever since. If you’re looking for dedicated WordPress hosting, that can handle huge traffic spikes (like 40,000 visits in a day), is lightning fast, and has great support I highlight recommend them.  Click here to get up to 2 months free.Shout outsShout-out #1: Product People newsletterShout-out #2: Save 10% on domains at Hover.comShout-out #3: Get $25 off at Ting 🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.📺 Learn how to start your own podcast!