Summary: <div> <div>Guest:</div> <div> <div><a target="_blank" href="https://zencastr.com">Josh Nielsen</a></div> <div><a target="_blank" href="http://twitter.com/joshontheweb">@joshontheweb</a></div> </div> </div> <div class="podcast-episode"> <div class="subtitle">Josh Nielsen talks with Dave Rael about building products people use, caring about users, and using customer feedback to inform product development</div> <div class="podcast-summary"> <p>Josh Nielsen started programming when he got a job as a webmaster for a University website while in school. All he knew was basic html and css and got put in charge of python and php applications. He was forced to learn fast. He dropped out of college with one semester left to take a job at a startup and learned more working there for 3 months than he did in his entire University program. He quickly caught the entrepreneur bug and moved to Boulder, CO spending a summer working as a developer for Techstars and then started on a series of attempts to start his own company. On a road littered with failures, and with a baby on the way, he switched gears to a more readily achievable project called Zencastr.</p> </div> <div class="podcast-chapters"> <h6>Chapters:</h6> <ul> <li><a href="#!"> - Dave introduces the show and Josh Nielsen</a></li> <li><a href="#!"> - What is Zencastr?</a></li> <li><a href="#!"> - Who is Josh?</a></li> <li><a href="#!"> - Josh's definition of value</a></li> <li><a href="#!"> - The things that "light Josh up"</a></li> <li><a href="#!"> - How Josh got started writing software</a></li> <li><a href="#!"> - The best way to learn - being thrown in the fire and learning just-in-time</a></li> <li><a href="#!"> - Josh's story of failure, solving the wrong problem, informality in business agreements</a></li> <li><a href="#!"> - The genesis of Zencastr from SoundKeep interaction with Tech Stars Cloud</a></li> <li><a href="#!"> - Josh's relationship with audio and music</a></li> <li><a href="#!"> - Josh's greatest success story, a successful Beta launch with Zencastr, listening to users and customers</a></li> <li><a href="#!"> - How Josh stays current with what he needs to know</a></li> <li><a href="#!"> - The risk and reward of the bleeding edge</a></li> <li><a href="#!"> - Josh's book recommendation</a></li> <li><a href="#!"> - The things that have Josh most excited about his present and future</a></li> <li><a href="#!"> - Josh's prediction for the future of software</a></li> <li><a href="#!"> - Josh's top 3 tips for delivering more value</a></li> <li><a href="#!"> - Farewell</a></li> </ul> </div> <div class="podcast-resources"> <h6>Resources:</h6> <ul> <li><a href="https://zencastr.com/" target="_blank">Zencastr - Josh's Software as a Service Product</a></li> <li><a href="http://blog.zencastr.com/" target="_blank">Zencastr Blog</a></li> <li><a href="http://joshontheweb.com/" target="_blank">Josh on the Web</a></li> <li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkinson%27s_law" target="_blank">Parkinson's Law</a></li> <li><a href="http://soundkeep.com/" target="_blank">Soundkeep Farewell Page</a></li> <li><a href="http://nodeknockout.com/" target="_blank">Node Knockout</a></li> <li><a href="https://railsrumble.com/" target="_blank">Rails Rumble</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.techstars.com/cloud/" target="_blank">Tech Stars Cloud (San Antonio)</a></li> <li><a href="http://podcastmovement.com/" target="_blank">Podcast Movement Conference</a></li> <li><a href="http://serialpodcast.org/" target="_blank">Serial Podcast</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.wtfpod.com/podcast/episodes/episode_613_-_president_barack_obama" target="_blank">Marc Maron Interviews Barack Obama on his Podcast</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.google.com/selfdrivingcar/" target="_blank">Google's self-driving car efforts</a></li> <li><a href="https://bitcoin.org/en/" target="_blank">Bitcoin</a></li> <li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eating_your_own_dog_food" target="_blank">Dogfooding</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.miltonglaser.com/" target="_blank">Milton Glaser</a></li> </ul> <h6>Resources:</h6> <ul> <li><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/1451648537/?tag=devonfir-20" target="_blank">Steve Jobs - Walter Isaacson</a></li> </ul> <h6>Josh's Top 3 Tips for Delivering More Value:</h6> <ol> <li>Just get started</li> <li>Dogfood if you can - it's easier to get in your user's head if it's your own head</li> <li>Empower and delight</li> </ol> </div> </div>
