# 2X Engineers

> 2X Engineers is Matt and Darren, two engineers shipping real products and talking about it: what got built, what broke, what we learned. A podcast and shorts for indie devs, creators who code and engineers going solo.

- Hosts: Matt (engineer · co-host), Darren (engineer · co-host)
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@2XEngineers
- RSS: https://2x-engineers.pages.dev/rss.xml

## Work with us

Page: https://2x-engineers.pages.dev/work/

Products we have shipped:
- Big: https://itsjustbig.com (a growth platform for creators and small businesses. your AI agent sets it up over MCP.)
- Pando Market Arcade: https://pandomarket.com/arcade (live now. we launched it alongside Big, and we talk about where it goes next in ep 3.)

Consulting, by Matt and Darren (2X Engineers):
- advisory / council: talk your product through with two engineers before you build: what to build, what to skip, and how to ship it.
- building: we build it with you, from the first version to launch. onboarding included this time.
- maintenance: once it's live, we keep it running: fixes, updates and the next round of features.

Talk to us: booking opens soon. Until then, find us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@2XEngineers

## Episodes

### ep 3: we forgot onboarding and got crickets

- Page: https://2x-engineers.pages.dev/episodes/3-we-forgot-onboarding/
- Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68HnbdxtN4s
- Length: 1:13:07 · published oct 28, 2026

Four months, two launches. We catch up on shipping Big and Pando Market Arcade, the onboarding we totally forgot (crickets), the $200-plan token burner, and why we think the next big IP will be AI-generated.

Chapters:
- 00:00 cold open
- 00:19 we're back (four months later)
- 01:24 azuki regionals recap
- 04:47 big & pando market arcade are live
- 10:22 custom builds for creators
- 15:19 opus 5.5, fable & tiny models
- 23:51 the $200-plan token burner
- 27:33 coaching vs building, and why big exists
- 38:32 agents over UIs & forgetting onboarding
- 45:44 ai in college & unprofitable labs
- 51:58 bootstrapped marketing & the internet's missing payment code
- 1:02:52 what's next: pando arcade & indie games

Links:
- Big: https://itsjustbig.com
- Pando Market Arcade: https://pandomarket.com/arcade
- driver.js: https://driverjs.com

Mentioned:
- azuki regionals: regional TCG tournament hosted by Core TCG in Pasadena
- MCP: Model Context Protocol: an open standard that lets AI agents plug into apps and data
- opus 5.5 & fable: Anthropic's newest Claude models
- LA tech week: a week of startup and tech events across Los Angeles
- ICANN: the nonprofit that coordinates the internet's domain names and root servers
- secret of mana: 1993 Super Nintendo action RPG by Square
- maplestory: Nexon's 2003 side-scrolling MMO, home of the rage-bait jump quest

### ep 2: our throwaway image ad beat the pro video

- Page: https://2x-engineers.pages.dev/episodes/2-our-throwaway-image-ad/
- Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkVejw-m31k
- Length: 1:36:41 · published oct 5, 2026
- Guests: Kevin Salas (co-founder, Deal Oracle)

Darren and Matt sit down with veteran marketer Kevin Salas, co-founder of Deal Oracle, on where marketing stands right now: the weird world of SEO and AEO, ads and conversion tracking for the agentic age, and where to put our eggs while we build Big and Pando Market.

Links:
- Deal Oracle on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DealOracleYT
- Big: https://itsjustbig.com

### ep 1: from 2x to 10x

- Page: https://2x-engineers.pages.dev/episodes/1-from-2x-to-10x/
- Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNWAAaipVHU
- Length: 1:08:24 · published jul 2, 2026

Two ex-engineers, Matt and Darren, kick off the podcast with how to actually go from a 2x to a 10x engineer in the AI era: pick one AI plan and master it, build an agent team instead of just prompting, and teach the AI your judgment.

Links:
- Big: https://itsjustbig.com

ep 4 is in the works (recorded oct 21).

## Posts

- Archive: https://2x-engineers.pages.dev/posts/

## Pages

- https://2x-engineers.pages.dev/: home (select screen)
- https://2x-engineers.pages.dev/episodes/: every episode
- https://2x-engineers.pages.dev/posts/: every short, episode and post, newest first
- https://2x-engineers.pages.dev/work/: work with us (our products + consulting)
- https://2x-engineers.pages.dev/about/: about Matt and Darren