Justin's brain

Successful startups don't create demand. They position themselves in the path of existing demand.

In a good market, customers provide their own motivation.

Your job isn't to create customer motivation; it's to find where it already exists and then build something that satisfies it.

Timestamps:

00:00 I was listening to the Offsite podcast.
00:20 What does it take for a customer to take out their credit card?
00:46 How high is the customer's desire for the product?
01:23 When will a customer buy even when there's friction?
01:59 The pitfalls of optimizing a product when there's no demand
02:45 A framework for assessing Market Demand
03:21 Conclusion

Watch the whole episode of Jordan's conversation with Ruben.

★ More about me: ★

I'm Justin Jackson. I founded Transistor.fm (a podcast hosting and analytics platform) with Jon Buda.

I write, podcast, and make videos about bootstrapping, startups, marketing, calm companies, and business ethics.

My blog
Bluesky

There's a strange relationship between the effort you put into something and the outcome you get out of it.

You could invest thousands of hours in a project, only to get a tepid response to what you've made.

Read the blog post: "The effort-outcome asymmetry" 

Have thoughts? Reply on Bluesky

"I used to be more skeptical than I am now. Especially when everyone was talking about 'one-shotting' and 'vibe coding.' But then I forced myself to download Cursor and build an entire project without typing any code, making the computer type the code for me. I had to throw myself in the deep end."

All three of us (Adam, Brian, Justin) give our honest takes on AI and software development, and how it's going to affect our businesses.

"AI is like keyboard shortcuts on steroids for the things I am an expert in."

🎧 Listen to the whole episode on The Panel:
https://panelpodcast.com/11

Adam and Brian share how AI lets them program more, not less, by eliminating grunt work. They think experienced developers will have a huge advantage in this AI era. 

We also dive into the business implications: how AI is already affecting traffic and sales for Tailwind UI, why building an audience is more important than ever, and what Adam is building next.

This conversation actually got me curious to try Claude Code and Cursor AI.

Chapters
00:00 - Adam's Initial AI Skepticism
01:15 - The Cursor Experiment: Building Without Typing Code
02:45 - Why You Need to Be Specific with AI
03:15 - The Evolution of AI Models (Claude Sonnet 4)
04:00 - Cursor Rules: Training AI to Match Your Style
04:45 - The 90% Grunt Work Problem
06:30 - AI as "Keyboard Shortcuts on Steroids"
07:15 - Why AI Fails for Learning New Technologies
08:15 - Using ChatGPT vs Cursor: Learning vs Coding
09:00 - The Future of AI in Every App
10:15 - How AI Should Work in Design Tools (Figma)
10:30 - How AI is affecting the Tailwind business (traffic is down)
14:00 - Keeping JavaScript Commercial This Time
14:45 - New Ventures: Video Editing Software
16:30 - Removing Grunt Work from Video Editing
17:45 - The Paradigm Shift and New Opportunities
19:00 - AI for Custom Personal Tools
20:30 - Building AI Automation Flows
22:00 - The Future: AI Pull Requests for Tailwind

🔗 Links:
Bryan's new Rails components: https://instrumental.dev/
Bryan's SaaS: https://clarityflow.com/
Integrate Open AI and Anthropic APIs into your Rails applications (video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dW1Kkx7utQ
Rob Walling's Stair Step approach: https://robwalling.com/essays/2015/03/26/the-stair-step-method-of-bootstrapping
Vercel's new V0 AI tool: https://v0.dev/
Thorsten Ball's article: How to build an agent https://ampcode.com/how-to-build-an-agent

★ More about me: ★
I'm Justin Jackson. I founded https://transistor.fm (a podcast hosting and analytics platform) with Jon Buda.

I write, podcast, and make videos about bootstrapping, startups, marketing, calm companies, and business ethics.

My blog: https://justinjackson.ca
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/justinjackson.ca

 My friend Jeremy Enns and I recently had this conversation about a quote by Thelonious Monk:

We explored this idea about what it means to find your zone of genius and why being authentically yourself might be the key to your greatest work.

I ended up writing a blog post about this too: Finding your zone of genius

This conversation was a part of a longer episode we did for PMT Explained.

I think a lot of folks assume that people who create content (YouTube videos, podcasts, screencasts, public speaking) are mostly extroverted.

But this conversation I recently had with Aaron Francis, Marie Poulin, and Brian Casel on the Panel Podcast calls that into question.

🔗 Listen to the full episode here: https://panelpodcast.com/4

Timestamps:

• (00:00) - - Are most content creators extroverts?

🗣️ Leave a comment on Bluesky

In the pursuit of "making podcasts more discoverable," the podcast industry has welcomed YouTube with open arms. But is the industry misdiagnosing YouTube's role? YouTube isn't just "getting into podcasting" - it's a behemoth that's captured consumer attention at an unprecedented level.

Join the discussion:

• Reply on Bluesky
  

I don't think YouTube actually cares about "podcasting" as an industry (it's just another content keyword for them). I also think responses like "Let's add video to podcasts" are missing the bigger picture.

This episode contains clips of myself and Jeremy Enns digging into the realities of algorithmic discovery, social media addiction, audio podcasts vs video podcasts, and how the podcast industry might respond to the threat of YouTube as a platform.

• (00:00) - - YouTube's advantage: engrained consumer habits

Want to start an audio podcast? Read my guide.

The advent of AI coding assistance has introduced a wave of dread in the software development industry, exemplified by Chris Sacca's stark prediction that "we are super screwed" when it comes to traditional coding jobs. 

But I'm not convinced.

• (00:00) - Chris Sacca's dire prediction about AI replacing coding

I wrote a blog post, that ended up Hacker News, called: "What's happening with founders over 40?" I got a lot of comments and reactions to the piece, so I thought I'd respond to those here.

Key moments:

• 0:00 - What was the blog post about?
• 1:28 - Discussion of cognitive changes and fluid vs crystallized intelligence
• 3:01 - Personal example of declining energy for late-night work
• 5:36 - Menopause and hormonal changes in aging
• 7:58 - Research showing the age of a successful founder is 45
• 10:15 - Personal life stage considerations
• 12:31 - Thoughts on ambition and different paths for aging entrepreneurs
• 14:04 - Discussion of taking health seriously in your 40s
• 15:44 - Example of shifting gears like Rob Walling
• 17:38 - Final example: Bob Dylan

Key Quotes:

• "At 44, I don't feel like I still have the raw horsepower in terms of creative mental energy that I did 20 years ago."
• "It's like gradually and then sudden. And there's actually research that shows that aging might happen in these bursts."
• "A 50 year old entrepreneur is nearly twice as likely to have a runaway success as a 30 year old."
• "Nothing sticks. I have to clear my schedule, concentrate, take supplements, stay up late, and take copious notes just to make a bit of progress on anything."
• "You can't have the same kind of energy or creative firepower forever. I did that. I can't do that anymore, but I can do other things now."

Links:

• Blog post: What's happening with founders over 40?
• Draft: I'm 44, and my brain is getting worse
• Article: How Old Are Successful Tech Entrepreneurs?
• Blog: Old founders do this better
• Research: How the Aging Brain Affects Thinking
• Article: Humans age dramatically at two key points in life
• Research: Nonlinear dynamics of multi-omics profiles during human aging
• Peter Attia: build muscle in your 40s
• Video: Bob Dylan, 60 minutes
• Book: From Strength to Strength, Arthur Brooks

I have an entrepreneurial drive to start many projects.

A formula from my therapist about stress management.

How I use Claude AI to evaluate my life choices.

Key moments:
0:00 - Introduction & One-Take Podcast Format
0:39 - The Stress Formula: Demands vs Resources
1:44 - Entrepreneurial Phase & Sustainability
1:59 - Using Claude AI for Life Planning
2:27 - My Current Responsibilities
3:31 - Desires for New Projects
4:04 - Claude's Analysis of My Responsibilities
5:17 - Resource Management Insights
6:31 - The Only Two Solutions
6:50 - Summer Camp Dream Example
8:13 - Key Lesson: Can't Be CEO of Everything
9:18 - Three Main Takeaways

Key Points:

• Stress = Demands ÷ Resources
• The importance of maintaining equilibrium between responsibilities and available resources
• How I'm using Claude AI for personal life planning
• Why you can't be the CEO of everything
• The necessity of delegation when taking on new projects

Links:

• Bluesky: I want to do all the things!
• Follow me on Bluesky
• Inspired by Caleb Porzio's "Notes on Work" podcast

tl;dr – I've decided to delete all my Twitter posts, lock down my account, and leave the platform. And I'm going all-in on Bluesky, which (in the last month) has become 1,000x more fun than X.

Links:

• Why I'm leaving Twitter for Bluesky  – my blog post
• ​Bluesky Migrate​ – a simple guide on how to migrate to ​Bluesky from X.
• ​Starterpacks.net​ and ​Bluesky Directory help you find Starter Packs to follow.
• ​Use your custom domain as your username​

Follow me on Bluesky!
https://bsky.app/profile/mijustin.bsky.social