Uncertain Value

Synthesized podcast episode into concise, engaging show notes

In this episode of Uncertain Value, host Johannes sits down with his son Francis to recount their father-son project of resurrecting an 11-year-old Fitbit Charge HR that Francis discovered in his grandfather's drawer. What started as a "probably just needs a battery" hunch turned into a full repair saga: sourcing a replacement lithium-polymer battery, a T3 screwdriver, and a new charging cable, then borrowing a soldering iron from a neighbor to swap out the old battery, which they discovered had swollen to nearly double its size. Along the way they hit snags with a delicate heart-rate sensor cable and a finicky side button that nearly derailed the whole project, but ultimately got everything working. Francis and Johannes close out by reflecting on the trial-and-error process, the appeal of soldering, battery-life quirks of the old device, and what they'd do differently next time (watch the how-to videos and follow step-by-step guides before diving in rather than mid-repair).

Mara Lantz is a Bay Area-based artist and product design leader. She holds a BA in psychology and fine arts from Hampshire College, where she designed her own concentration at the intersection of psychology, studio art, art history, creative writing, and theater. Most recently, Mara worked at Pinterest as a design leader in the monetization sector. Her acrylic paintings and mixed media sculptures have been exhibited at galleries across the US, including KNK Contemporary in San Francisco, After Time Gallery in Portland, and Artworks Downtown in San Rafael.

In this episode, Mara talks about growing up in a family of game designers. Her father Noah Falstein is a veteran of the industry, her husband James and father-in-law Frank run their own studio, and together the family created Hey Robot , a card game that made it onto The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. She shares what she looks for in a great game and why the best ones let you practice life skills in a safe, low-stakes way.

Mara also opens up about her return to making art after a long break, sparked by watching her young daughter draw, and what it's like to be a visual artist with aphantasia, the inability to conjure images in your mind's eye. She walks us through her painting process, her black hot-glue sculptures made from thrifted glassware, and how she finds beauty in objects other people walk right past. Along the way, we cover Vancouver recommendations, the power of naming things, and why she never wanted art to be tied to her livelihood.

In this episode I'm speaking with Nina Chan, a Strength Coach and former Growth Product Manager. After studying creative writing at Brooklyn College, she spent 16 years as a Product Manager. First at Ask.com, then at SurveyMonkey, in the San Francisco Bay Area. Recently she changed her career to be a strength coach.

In this episode, I’m speaking with Sarah Eckenhoff. Sarah is a creative director and aesthetic trend analyst with a background in both graphic design and product design. Quoting the tagline from her online bio "she's been making things thoughtfully pretty for over 20 years”.

Sarah has curated trends for thousands of seasonal Starbucks drinkware products, including collaborations with Disney, Universal, and Stanley, and has designed co-branded CPG gift packs sold on shelves of Fortune 500 clients including Target, Macy's, and Costco. If you've ever bought a Starbucks mug, chances are, that she helped bring it to life. In our conversation she explains what trend forecasting is and Sarah talks about her process.

In 2024 Sarah established her own trend consultancy called Docent. Docent helps retail brands transform aesthetic insights into standout, consumer-driven products.

Links to things we reference and talk about in the podcast

• Sarah's favorite Starbucks mug
• The Devil wears Prada monologue
• Sarah's Trends for Autumn/Winter 26/27 outdoor apparel presentation

In this episode, I'm talking with Patricio "Pato" Echagüe, one of the founders of Split.io. Pato shares his path to starting a company in Silicon Valley, all the way from his roots growing up in a small town in Argentina and starting to code on an i386. He talks about how he kept his motivation over the 10-year existence of Split until it got acquired in 2024. We talk about how they started the company, how funding changed over time, and the importance of culture in a startup.

Katharina van Zeller was born in Vienna and grew up in both Vienna and Hamburg. She studied Social Anthropology and Sinology at the University of Vienna. She is a professional organizing coach and the founder of Ordnungskunst, a consulting practice that helps small businesses and private households create and maintain order. She also co-founded Dreikreis, an agency dedicated to placing agile IT freelancers with purpose-driven companies. 

In our conversation we dive into why and how she started a recruiting agency, what business lessons she learned along the way and how she eventually sold the business successfully. We also talk about how Kathi helps people as a professional organizing coach and how well studying sinology and social anthropology complement each other.

Bonus: Kathi gets into Chinese characters, explaining the difference in meaning between 1 woman under a roof 安 and 2 women under a roof 奻.

In this episode of the Uncertain Value podcast, I’m talking with Mario Zechner again. He shares how he designed and built a portable, Gameboy-like audio player for his son — motivated by the shortcomings he saw in the Toniebox and Yoto Player, the two biggest products in the market. Issues like unintuitive controls, underpowered speakers, the potential fire hazards of lithium-ion batteries, content limitations, and privacy concerns about the mandatory internet connection sparked his desire for something better.

Although this was Mario’s first real adventure into electronics, how much can someone who usually writes game engines and compilers really be held back by designing circuit boards, soldering, and 3D printing? Listen and find out!

Resources

• Mario's in-depth blog post on how he built the audio player.
• Book recommendation: Make: Electronics by Charles Platt
• Book recommendation: Electronics for Beginners by Jonathan Bartlett

Anthony Parker lives in San Rafael, California, and created a successful online guitar school. The success of his business is deeply rooted in social media. He has a strong presence on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, and Patreon. His business, called "Anthony Parker - Near Life Experience", is the go-to destination for aspiring guitarists. In our conversation, Anthony tells the story of how & why he founded his business, what didn't work, and how he made it successful using a lot of experiments.

The dead milkmen

Brandon grew up in Idaho and earned both a Master of Science and a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Boise State University. He is a Certified Public Accountant in the state of California. Most recently, he served as the Director of Accounting and Operations at Split Software in Redwood City, California. Prior to that, he was an Accounting Manager at Officengine in Oakland and an Audit Associate at PwC.

In our conversation, we focus on the three key financial statements: the balance sheet, income statement, and cash flow statement. We discuss their importance in assessing the financial health of a business. We delve into the details of the income statement, starting with an explanation of the difference between the top line and bottom line. Together with Brandon, we analyze Datadog's recent 10-K filing to better understand the company's financial health through mandatory SEC disclosures. We conclude with a list of finance and accounting questions that startup employees should ask during all-hands meetings to gain insights into their company’s financial well-being.

David Burrowes, who goes by “Deej” earned a bachelor’s degree in Cognitive Science from Brown University. He also studied Chinese at National Taiwan University and Tzu Chi University. He has held various engineering roles in Silicon Valley over the last 30+ years, including Senior UI Engineer at Sun Microsystems, Staff Engineer at Box, Principal Engineer at Split Software, and Engineering Architect at Harness.

The conversation with Deej begins in the small Ohio town where he grew up, reflecting on why it was, in hindsight, an ideal place. Deej shares his experiences at Brown University, where the freedom to design his own curriculum drew him in. This flexibility allowed him to take a class on Islam, which later helped him process the events of 9/11 and its aftermath. Deej also talks about his move to Silicon Valley in 1990 and how he was laid off six months into his first job. We discuss his time at Sun Microsystems and the final days of the once-great company. Deej explains what sparked his interest in learning Chinese and how he realized that immersing himself—studying the language in Taiwan for over a year—was the only way he could truly learn. We delve into company culture, its significance, and why Slack is a powerful but costly tool for fostering it.

Book recommendation: Slack: Getting Past Burnout, Busywork, and the Myth of Total Efficiency