People want validation or shortcuts when it comes to advice. However, there is no magic source for advice. Our advice? You should be wary of advice. Go out there ask multiple people for advice and then synthesize them. And the best advice is the one you never had to ask for - feedback!
With the rapid rise of AI a lot of people are worried about them taking over. In this episode Rich and Paul, who are experts in the tech world, examine how human history has shown time and time again that this is just a wave. People love the new AI because they're interesting but soon enough they will reach their limit, and humans will resort back to what's genuine and authentic.
This episode pays tribute to Paul's late father. Rich and Paul discuss the influence that their fathers had on their lives, and how they now see their dads reflections in themselves. They talk about the difficulties that come with being a father and how it is important to be compassionate and understanding towards them, that at some point, they were doing the best they could, with what they had.
Rich and Paul discuss the reality of your money in the bank-- it's just in a database. They delve into the formal and informal systems of financing, highlighting the challenges faced by immigrants and small businesses. They advocate for the balance between regulation and privatization, recognizing that while regulations are important, they can sometimes create friction for entrepreneurs looking to build a growing business and drive economic growth.
The internet is a huge customer support platform. When people online subscribe to an idea they tend to over-identify with it, and build a strong emotional connection to them. This turns into an unhealthy community when the users approach the platform as theirs and forget about the administrators.
Rich and Paul, founders of a new software startup called Aboard, discuss the importance of creating something that is simple and resonates with people. And the challenge of accepting that not all ideas will be successful, that the important thing is to put our ego aside and have the humility and discipline to continue working on our ideas until they are simple.
Rich and Paul follow Jane as she takes initiative on a project at Microsoft. Jane is met with disinterest from her team and is... done with microsoft. The episode offers valuable advice for both Jane and her boss, highlighting the importance of working on something you care about and recruiting passionate team members to produce impactful work.
The decline of humanities majors is resulting in a lack of diverse perspectives, since they play a crucial role in cultivating more well-rounded individuals. This decline may be contributing to the growing polarization and intolerance we see online today.
An episode about two spoiled men with two spoiled hobbies-- that turns deep. Shedding light on the importance of communities, and having that space that fosters growth and positivity. Additionally, how these are the safe spaces of the internet where there is more authenticity.
Paul has started to learn the piano, as a part of his applied practice for his love for music. Rich and Paul discuss the importance of having the humility to learn for the sake of learning regardless of the outcome.
For the most part Paul had to live with the stereotypes and negative perceptions of society towards obesity. This episode focuses on being more mindful of other people, and to have better relationships. Now paul is changing - after starting to take shots for diabetes, Paul noticed that his brain's wiring changed. Which took a while to acclimate and reset into.
Paul is no longer the CEO of Aboard. Rich and Paul have switched positions, as the criteria with being the CEO of Aboard includes a lot of accountability to investors and outside actors.
Paul found himself in a CEO position again, and he's finding trouble keeping people accountable and setting deadlines for others. Rich provides useful and universal career advice to Paul, on how to demand accountability.
Rich thinks kids these days have it too easy. He complains about his bursitis for thirty minutes (just kidding). But he and Paul talk about constraints and the media, and how to raise kids. Advice is given. You know what this is.
Ziade and Ford ADVISORS right? Well you know the oldest kind of advice? Proverbs. Paul picks out some interesting ones to see what happens. Thoughts ensue.
Rich and Paul talk through the tech layoffs, explaining why they happen, why they suck, and what you can do about them (very little) and what you can do for the people involved in them (far more).
A conversation about the robots taking our job—and how various forces have been taking our jobs for a while, and personal experiences with jobs and robots.
Rich has an idea about how to completely revolutionize the remote workplace. Typical hijinks ensue.
Paul and Rich talk about modern shopping experiences—and how big box retail is increasingly like a warehouse for online orders, while more and more commerce becomes focused around community and live events.
Rich advises Paul (who is pretending to be a guy who works in video editing) on whether to quit his job or not. Together, they look into THE VOID. The VOID looks back. Paul digresses on corporatist epistemology. In the end everything is okay.
Rich and Paul come back to the office after the holidays just full of predictions for tech, politics, and the economy.
The last episode of 2022! Paul and Rich talk about the World Cup, in a general way, but then they start to talk about how soccer functions as a platform in the world—how to see it as a kind of technology.
Rich has been a Customer Success Manager Level IV for Salesforce for 13 years—and he's panicking. He heard a cable bill got renegotiated by a robot and now he's convinced the robots are coming for his job. Paul unpacks that with him and helps him see that there could be new ways of working and doing things for him and his team, and then Paul and Rich demonstrate the absolute state of the art in AI technology.
Paul and Rich talk conspiracies: Where they come from and why people keep going in for them. Paul pretends to be a guy named Jeff who is falling into QAnon. They talk about where conspiracy thinking comes from, what to do, and how to handle Christmas Dinner.
Paul role-plays as Jim, a hapless and cranky young product/project manager at some company or other. Jim hankered for a promotion, oh how he hankered, but now there's a recession looming, and Jim—well, he's never experienced one before. So he's come to ask Rich for advice. How do you thrive in a recession? What do you need to do to get the big account, or the big promotion, when things are looking kind of dire? Rich, of course, has bullet points.
Twitter seems to be cooked (or is it). Where do we go now? We talk to Jason Goldman, former VP of Product at Twitter, and to each other, of course, and Paul admits that he really likes Mastodon.
Paul has a big idea: There's a strong case to be made that Queen Elizabeth II was the best CEO of the last century. So he makes it to Rich, outlining what makes a great CEO in the process. Rich buys in to the theory, then changes the conversation to chocolate.
Crypto exchange FTX has melted down, whatever that means—and it turns out nothing means what it seems to mean, especially the word "exchange." Paul and Rich invite two friends to guide us through the latest crypto maelstrom, finance journalist and crypto chronicler Matt Levine and polymath crypto advisor/journalist Aaron Lammer. Can they explain what's happening? Can Aaron convince Paul that crypto is just getting started? Why is our first podcast about crypto?
AI is completely changing tech and tech careers. Want to get ready? Come meet Reqless, the podcast where Paul and Rich, two fast-talking NYC software industry veterans, take a clear look at how AI is changing the entire industry, how to make sense of that change, and how to make the best of it.
