About

Hello! Welcome to my personal website. Expect to read about a variety of subjects, ranging from Denver (where I live with my family) to open source projects. If you’d like to get in touch, please contact me.

I am the Founder and Manager of Kenny Consulting Group, LLC, a consultancy that helps founders and executives grow their businesses. A few projects I’m working on include: Intro CRM, OSHdata, and Hello Blink Show. I previously worked in management consulting and for several technology companies before starting my own business.

I’ve been featured in outlets like The Wall Street Journal, National Public Radio, and Hacker News. Outside of work, I contribute to public data projects like Wikipedia and OpenStreetMap. I previously served as Treasurer of the Board of Directors for the Open Source Hardware Association (OSHWA). In school, I earned an MBA from the University of Denver and a BA in Economics from Pepperdine University.

Listen to the latest episode of Hello Blink Show (co-hosted by Harris), a practical podcast for technical people who want to start their own company.

How to Build an Audience with Darian Johnson – Hello Blink Show

Darian Johnson joins the Hello Blink Show crew for a live brainstorming session. He is working on a low-power, battery-operating LCD digital assistant. He plans to fund manufacturing through a crowdfunding campaign, but he needs help figuring out how to market the device first.Darian starts the episode by sharing a personal story about how he encouraged his 12-year-old son to build his own TV. Rather than simply buy a TV, he gave his son a Raspberry Pi and a monitor. The son had to install the operating system, connect all the components, and load streaming services.One of Darian’s recent projects was a set of smart candles made with real wax, which you can read about here: https://darianmakes.com/scent-terrific-smart-candle/. These were turned into a product called the Pyllr. He asks Harris and Shawn for ideas on how to market his LCD digital assistant. Harris mentions that blogging or sending prototypes to beta testers is a great way to gauge product-market fit. Even if it is not open source, sharing the journey and process is a great way to build an audience. Sites like https://hackaday.io/ or https://www.hackster.io/ offer good platforms for sharing projects and journaling the process.Since recording this episode, Darian has started chronicling his efforts at https://hackaday.io/project/178328-always-on-low-power-digital-assistant.SponsorWe want to thank Twilio for sponsoring this episode! Twilio is a cloud platform that helps developers automate phone calls, text messages, and other communications through their web API. Check out twilio.com/go/helloblink for more information about using Twilio for automated messaging and IOT applications. List of ResourcesWebsite – Hackaday.ioWebsite – Hackster Guest InformationDarian Johnson is a managing director for a large technology services company, where he leads major cloud computing initiatives. Darian is also a hobbyist maker of IoT (Internet of Things) projects. His projects have been featured in numerous publications and won multiple awards. His most recent project, the Pyllr Trio Candle, is scheduled for a crowdfunding launch in the Spring of 2021.  Guest Contact InformationWebsite – darianmakes.comLinkedIn – Darian JohnsonTwitter – @darianbjohson Host Contact Informationshawnhymel.comkennyconsultinggroup.comLinkedIn – Shawn HymelLinkedIn – Harris KennyTwitter – Shawn HymelTwitter – Harris Kenny License Information“Hello Blink Show” by Kenny Consulting Group, LLC and Skal Risa, LLC is licensed under CC BY 4.0Intro and outro song is “Routine” by Amine Maxwell is licensed under CC BY 3.0
  1. How to Build an Audience with Darian Johnson
  2. How to Run a Successful Crowdfunding Campaign with Julio and Sean
  3. Developer Advocate Marketing with Christine and Dom of Twilio

Listen to the latest episode of Pipeline Meeting (hosted by Harris), a place for freelancers and early stage founders to get real advice about managing and closing deals.

Our New Customer Onboarding Process – Pipeline Meeting

As we bring new customers onboard at Intro CRM, we were thinking about the best way to do it. Along came Arrows, a tool that elevates the customer onboarding process. In this episode, we talk through who needs to think about onboarding, what constitutes a good customer onboarding process, and three things we like about Arrows. Plus, an unexpected use case. Read the episode transcript here.On the Intro CRM YouTube channel: Customer Onboarding Process Demo of Arrows →On the Intro CRM blog: Your customer onboarding process with Arrows →Learn more: Visit Arrows' website to sign up for a free trial →Meet Daniel Zarick: Follow Daniel on Twitter →Meet Benedict Fritz: Follow Benedict on Twitter →Listen to their podcast: Keep Going podcast →
  1. Our New Customer Onboarding Process
  2. Your virtual sales assistant
  3. Intro CRM Basecamp Integration