startups
#76 - Be OK Talking About Money, With Saron Yitbarek
April 8, 2024
One of the things that is a bit taboo to talk about, both in the tech industry and outside of it is money. People just aren't comfortable discussing openly the hard decisions that go into things like seeking funding, investing money into things that save you time, and scaling your own abilities with the help of, you guessed it, cold, hard, cash. Saron Yitbarek, entrepreneur extraordinaire behind CodeNewbie and podcasts such as Command Line Heroes, generously accepted my invitation to chat and talk about all these things, and more. And of course, we talk about Saron's latest project - Big Cash Money 2024, something for folks that want to max out their income beyond just their salary.
#75 - From Pandemic Pastime To Real VC-Funded Startup, with David Khourshid
March 30, 2024
In this episode of The Work Item, I had a conversation with David Khourshid, founder of Stately.AI. You might know him as @DavidKPiano on social media. Today, we're breaking new ground around unconventional paths of building an engineering career, entrepreneurship, and leveraging your audience as the potential first customers for your product. And of course - we talk a bit more about state machines (David is also the developer behind XState) and lessons learned from launching and growing a startup in the midst of a pandemic.
#73 - Put The Passion Aside And Go For The Market, with Rob Walling
February 12, 2024
If you’ve ever listened to Startups For The Rest Of Us (which, by the way, is approaching seven hundred episodes), you might already be familiar with the energetic host of the show - entrepreneur, bootstrapper, and podcaster extraordinaire Rob Walling. Rob and I chat about his early days as an employee, the transition from the more traditional path of working for someone to starting his own business, building MicroConf, and how the trifecta of skill, hard work, and luck can help folks be on a more predictable path to success.
#51 - Finding Your Engineering Passion, with Vicente Plata of 500 Startups LatAm, Shopify, and More
March 11, 2022
Vicente Plata is doing way more than one would expect from an engineering leader - not only is he an engineering manager, but he also advises startups and communities, is deeply involved in various mentorship programs, and is someone who is always eager to help. In this episode we sit down to chat more about his aspirations, how he balances time between all the responsibilities, and what someone working in tech can do to accelerate their career on an exponential trajectory.
#45 - Startups, Growth, and A Quest to Build People-focused Companies, with Jennifer Kim
November 21, 2021
The decision to join a startup or a big company is not an easy one, as one has to consider many factors that go beyond just the financial side of things. In this episode, I talk to Jennifer Kim, a seasoned startup advisor with a lot of experience dealing with these kinds of decisions and more. Jennifer also specializes in the people part of the startup equation - arguably, one of the hardest ones. We chat about the current challenges startups encounter in this space, why it's important to build a diverse workforce, and what one individual can do to be a changemaker in their company's culture.
#37 - Be A Builder, With Jack Zerby
June 25, 2021
Last time I chatted with Jack, I had pages of questions I still wanted to ask - with this episode, I attempt to address that backlog. And the more I talked to Jack, the more I realized that the theme of his entire career is - "be a builder." As someone who started and worked at many startups, he sure knows first-hand how to do that well and in a way that is sustainable. Today, we talk about his work at Vimeo, what it means to collaborate with others, and how to build a network of folks that are there when you need them most.