5 days agoThe point of convictionWhen and why you should ignore the competition — When I first came up with the idea for my audio startup, I wanted to make sure I’d done my due diligence. I knew the trap of getting excited about an idea and going straight to building without validating it, understanding it, and really making sure it had legs. So…Startup4 min read
Jun 1The Problem-Pain Threshold: Just Because It Hurts Doesn’t Mean It Needs A FixHow to avoid building products no one asked for — You would think that a user who has a problem would want a solution. They would certainly use it if it were offered, and maybe even pay for it. This sounds pretty logical. But the surprising reality that I’ve learned over the years of conducting hundreds of user interviews is…10 min read
Mar 19, 2019Producer at CodeNewbie (remote, full-time)We’re hiring a producer for our CodeNewbie podcasts! We’re a small and mighty team that produces the CodeNewbie Podcast and the Basecs Podcast, along with our annual Codeland conference. We’re looking to bring on a full-time producer to produce our two shows and work on pilots for two more. …Podcast1 min read
Feb 21, 2019CodeNewbie Community and Social Media Manager (remote)I started CodeNewbie a few years ago to support people learning to code. Two years ago, I quit my full-time job at Microsoft to focus on our amazing community of developers and people learning to code. We’ve produced an amazing conference, Codeland, the CodeNewbie Podcast, and the Basecs Podcast (with…Social Media2 min read
Feb 3, 2019The Brilliant and Flawless Execution of Pepsi’s 2019 Superbowl AdCardi B teased her partnership with Pepsi a while back, and it was published on Jan 28 ahead of the 2019 Superbowl. As of this writing, on Twitter alone, it’s reached over 7M views. What’s fascinating about this ad is that it is not a Cardi B ad. Cardi…Music5 min read
Jul 26, 2018Interrupting: a powerful tool for podcast hostsInterrupting people gets a bad rep. The general consensus is that it’s rude and something you should avoid doing. But there are particular situations when interrupting is an incredibly important skill, and one of those is podcasting. I’ve interviewed hundreds of people as a podcast host of the CodeNewbie Podcast…Podcast8 min read
Jul 5, 2018Using index cards to manage your todo listI spend a lot of time thinking about how to be more productive and efficient. I run a business, host podcasts, speak, travel, and then there are the surprise tasks and projects that come up. There’s a lot to do and little time, so I created a system to help. …Productivity3 min read
Jun 6, 2018Transitions: The easiest way to improve your tech talkI’ve coached about 100 speakers on their tech talks, reviewed hundreds of talk proposals, given tech talks around the world, and produce my own tech conference, Codeland. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what makes a good tech talk and how to help people with theirs. There are…Conference5 min read
Jun 2, 2018The Ultimate Podcasting Hack: Record in your closet and use two pillowsI produce two podcasts that have millions of downloads (the CodeNewbie Podcast and the basecs podcast with Vaidehi Joshi). In producing my own shows, I’ve spent a lot of time (and money) trying to figure out the best way to increase the audio quality of my podcasts. Professionally produced shows…Podcast10 min read
May 28, 2018The one question that will change your lifeI don’t remember why he said it, but I remember the car we were in on our way to a fancy networking event full of important people doing boss shit when he looked at me and asked, “What are you optimizing for?” He squinted, his brown skin pinched at his…Decision Making5 min read
