#285 Crossroads of Creativity: Barry Luijbregts' Synergy of Software Development and Podcasting

0:00:02 - Mehmet
Hello and welcome back to a new episode of the CTO show with Mehmet. Today I'm very pleased joining me from the Netherlands. Barry, thank you very much for being on the show with me today. The way I love to do it is I let my guests introduce themselves. Sometimes I even did it with very well-known people because I said, yeah, I love to hear the story from the people themselves. So the floor is yours. 

0:00:26 - Barry
Yeah, thank you. That's a very good way of doing it, I think, so. Thank you very much for having me on the show, first of all. 

0:00:33 - Mehmet
It's an honor. 

0:00:35 - Barry
My name is Barry Luijbregts and that's kind of a weird name because it's a Dutch name. 

So usually I just say, hey, I'm Barry, because you know, English-speaking people know how to pronounce Barry, and not so much Luijbregts. Like I said, I'm from the Netherlands and I started my career as a software developer because I was always interested in software and the magic of you know. You type something in the computer, you text, you press a button, it compiles, it does some magic and then something actually happens on the screen and users can do something with it. You know a button or something in a real world. You know a light turns on. 

That's magic to me, and that continues to be magic still. So throughout I've been creating software, architecting software, doing consultancy, creating courses about software, online courses, and now I'm creating, and have launched already a podhomefm, which is kind of a passion platform for me. What it does is a podcast hosting platform with very intelligent features and more modern than the other ones, of course, and I love building that and I have lovely customers who are now creating podcasts that you can all listen to and that's kind of my passion and I love doing that. 

0:01:59 - Mehmet
Beautiful. We share some common passions and even the podcasting part is something as a podcaster now we will definitely talk about, like you mentioned. Of course you know this passion, for you know software development and of course I was always myself fascinated by you. Press a button and all of a sudden, magically, something happened. You know like it's maybe kind of a traditional question, but you know what was one of your early projects that you did yourself and you know you said, okay, this is what I need to do for the rest of my life. This is why I would choose to be a software developer. 

0:02:46 - Barry
Yeah, I think the earliest one was my dad bought an MSX computer, which was it was a computer but it was basically a keyboard and it didn't have a you know a box attached to it, just a keyboard, and it got its data from a tape. So for people that don't remember that we used to have CDs. Before we had things digitally and before that things were stored on tape. So we had this tape, this cassette tape, and on there when you listen to it usually it contains audio but you could also store data on it. It would sound very strange like, and on those tapes were computer programs, so games and things like that. 

And the MSX came with a book of some programs that you can do. One was like a kind of a text based adventure. You could program that in a very rudimentary programming language by just typing that all in pressing the button and then hopefully, if you typed it all correctly, then it would work. So after a couple of goes I did that as a young kid and then it would work. And that was just magic right On this big screen, this green screen, old school screen, not like flat screens like we have now. 

And that was just so much fun because that just opened the door, like, hey, I can create whatever I want really. So this is just magic. And this was even before the internet, where, once the internet hits, we got to see what was possible, what you could create, all the possibilities. And so, from the MSX on, I started to create more and more stuff myself, with all the subsequent technologies that followed, including Flash, if you remember that, to create websites with. You could create interactive websites with it with animations and all sorts of stuff. It was horrible for a browser to load and it's very slow and stuff, but you could make cool looking things with that. And now we got back to just plain old HTML and that worked very well. 

0:05:00 - Mehmet
You know, when you were talking about this, it's like a nostalgia for me also as well, and probably this generation might not understand some of the terms you just mentioned. We used to have the CRT. We used to call them the CRT screens that work with X-ray actually, and it was a magical moment when you connect the cable and all of a sudden the screen, which is black, turns into these colorful lines and you start to see the text typing there. And I believe it was more exciting times, because the amount of work you needed to do in order to produce this was very long. Now you can literally go on the Internet and just find a tutorial, copy paste a few things and voila, you get things there. 

So, yeah, it's a big transition that we did, but another transition that you did when I was preparing for the episode. So what you have done is not only you kept being a developer, but also you moved to be a thought leader, a teacher, and you specialized in Microsoft technologies, which is a big leap. So what inspired you to do this change in your career path? 

0:06:29 - Barry
So the route I took with going into Microsoft technologies let's just go into that first was because I was always using Windows from the start. I didn't know any better because my parents bought a computer at some point through their work. There was the special programs. My computer was a big deal and that had Windows or DOS at first on it and then Windows 3.11, windows 95, 98 and you name it. So I grew up in a Windows, so in a Microsoft kind of thinking framework, and therefore that expanded itself. So I grew up trying to install games on Windows through floppy disks, which were also kind of tapes for people that remember that on Windows. So I would use a command line and Windows commands. From there I went on with HTML and things like that. That just kept me within the Microsoft ecosystem. Basically they were pretty good. 

When it came to developer tools early on withNET, early versions of that Visual Studio which I still use to this day as well I always stayed in that realm and I'm not saying that other technologies are bad or good or whatever. It's what you know. I'm productive with it. So this is what I use. The Microsoft ecosystem is huge when it comes to software development and clicking things together to make things work. I started to learn about more and more about that in the era ofNET and when the web came out with ASP, active Server pages, aspnet all Microsoft frameworks as well, which basically run a framework on a server that generates HTML that you didn't see in your browser. Through all that learning in the beginning I started to earn certifications, because you have lots of certifications forNET and C-Sharp and you name it because I thought it was cool and you had these big books of Microsoft Press and each book covered a part of the technologies, or C-Sharp, for instance, or MVC or whatever it was databases. I wanted to learn everything, everything there was, and back then that was actually possible because you could learn about databases, you could learn about web, you could learn about infrastructure in the middle and then you knew everything that there was to know to build a working application. Now there's a lot more to learn, but through that learning I found that I could also explain that to other people. What I learned and I liked explaining that to other people I started to teach. 

In one of my earliest jobs, I taught people in person. There was a thing back then and still is sometimes now you go for a course and then you go to a room where there's an actual teacher and they'll show you a guide to a workshop of a couple of days, maybe a couple of weeks, and then you learn something. So I did that a lot in those days, which also taught me to speak in front of people about technology and other things as well. From there I continued that path forward, rolled into online courses, for instance, at Plural Sites, which is an e-learning company. I created lots of courses about Microsoft technologies for them, including Microsoft Azure Cloud Platform and all very broad. I then also started speaking at conferences and user groups about the things I was teaching about. So the cloud, for instance, csharpnet you name it Also to promote those courses, but also to continue to teach, basically because I do like teaching. So I did that and then still continue to build stuff as well. 

0:10:53 - Mehmet
That's really cool and inspiring, I would say very especially Personally, I appreciate anyone who is also able not only to learn these new technologies but also, at the same time, grab the knowledge and share it with others. For you, because we were just mentioning maybe some terms that people, especially maybe the new generation, never heard about it before, like floppy disk and Windows 3.1, and DDoS and all these terms. Now you're talking about cloud. There's no one that doesn't know what the cloud is, and Azure and all this. So having done this very I'm sure you will see what I'm trying to reach later on. So when you start the technology from the beginning and you start to build every update that comes with this technology, so you must, with time, figure out which technology fits which use cases and you start to understand it more from business perspective. Now I'm sure you have your own, as someone who's coming from a technical background, as a software developer, like how this evolution in technology also shaped the way you understand businesses and how consumers will use this technology. 

0:12:32 - Barry
Yeah. So, as a technologist, once you start learning that you can make stuff with certain technologies, it's easy to start thinking about hey, maybe I could make this or this or this startup without realizing there should be a need for that as well within business. You get caught in. The technology is a solution instead of there isn't even a problem to solve. Let's first look at it from the user's perspective, or from the business perspective. So as I gain more experience and become older and working more and more companies and with more and more users, gradually and this just comes with time, or at least it did for me I came to the realization what companies actually want, what they do, how they make their money, what their processes look like and what their users actually do. And then you can start looking at all right, so if we know all that, then what is a good fit for them to solve their needs with technology? And most often that does not involve actually building something, but using something off the shelf. 

Back then there wasn't that much that existed off the shelf for custom solutions. Like, for instance, I did lots of consultancy jobs and I found that most companies really do forms over data stuff. Right, Users are working with information. They are putting information in somewhere and they are getting information from somewhere else, and then maybe they augmented information, do something with it and put it in another system, For instance. That's usually what happens with the information you want value from something and then you augmented and put it somewhere else. 

So that's not really unique and most companies actually do this in many different forms. Even a bank, for instance, is also a forms over data company that just does something with financial data, and every sector has kind of the same thing. So when you find that out and you know, it becomes a lot more simple because there are many technologies that can help with that right and nowadays you can create forms without coding anything, not even with AI, but with just. You know there are regular low-code solutions where you just drag and drop forms over data that enable users to put stuff in a database, get it from the database, show reports, do all sorts of stuff with that. But the realization that you don't always have to build something, which is very expensive, difficult and time-consuming, that comes later, at least for me. 

0:15:33 - Mehmet
Absolutely perfect. I'm happy you mentioned this very especially, hearing this from someone again coming from your background that you don't need to reinvent the wheel all the time, right, so you just choose the right technology. And I think part of the things you have done during your career is that you worked on architecture, because you know the word architecture is, I think, not sure if I should say, underrated or overrated, so people think architecture is something you know, like you know, but it's really important because, as an architect, you put the base for everything to start work together, but you don't need to go and build every single stone from scratch, right? So you just grab the things Now. And this will bring me, because you know you did another shift and this is why you know we are talking here today, so in 2023, I understood that you were, you know, in kind of a fork in the road, right. So either you go, you know, follow one path, or you just choose to follow what you have built, which is the, you know, the pod home. 

Now, what I'm interested to know, first, why you know you decided to leave every other possible startup, vertical space, whether I know, like you mentioned in your bio, for example, the healthcare, and you know another hot topic maybe, and still it's hot which is fintech, for example, and you know plenty of domains which are, like, considered hot, and I'm not saying podcasting is not. But what made you and maybe I'm biased because I started to do podcasting last year and you know it's a rewarding experience by itself, but for you, what made you do this choice, choosing to build something for the podcasting community versus going maybe something which might be for others? I'm not saying this is my point more fancy, more you know like, can have more like doom and doom around it. 

0:17:42 - Barry
Yeah, yeah, that's a really good question. So, like you said, I was at a fork in the road, at a decision point where I could choose to do lots of things. I could go into another consultancy role, I could start something in healthcare, but I was toiling with this idea about making life easier for podcasters because I'm a podcaster myself as well. I like creating podcasts, I like listening to podcasts and I think they are extremely valuable to humanity. I know how that sounds. That sounds a bit hyperbolic, but I think a podcast is a very special way of learning and being inspired about anything really, be it technology, health, politics, news, entertainment, whatever it is. We all have our different categories that we like, but I think it is a vital infrastructure for spreading information, and getting the right information and broad information from all sorts of perspectives is important for humanity, as we see that information is getting squeezed, filtered out and sometimes censored by lots of platforms, and I think podcasting is one of the last avenues where information can flow freely. You can say whatever you want, with all sorts of perspectives, and I think that is very valuable for everyone so that we can all continue to learn and be inspired. 

Now, that being said, like you hinted at, podcasting might not be a very profitable thing. So people that create a podcast often cannot monetize it or make money from it. You create a podcast because you want to spread the word about something. Either you want to teach people something, you want to inspire them, or you want to perhaps tell them about your company or the thing that you created a book, a course, whatever it is or just entertain people. But for most people, a podcast is not a direct asset where they can make money from it. If you start with the idea that it will be that you'll be the next Joe Rogan, you're probably mistaken. You should have a better reason to create a podcast, and there are lots of good reasons to create a podcast. 

So, again, with that being said, this might not be the most profitable start-up idea, but I always believe in following my gut, as in, like I explained, I like this topic a lot and I think it will add lots of value to the world, and the money will follow. That's what I always believe. The money will follow later, the rewards will follow later, and now I run this very bare bones. As in, infrastructure does not cost a lot yet and I don't expect it to cost a lot, even when I have thousands and thousands of users. That's good because it's a very scalable thing, and that's nice when you create such a thing, because that is a real asset, a thing that can just stand there. Obviously, it needs customer support and continued development, but it does its own thing right. 24 seven people can sign up and use it. But yeah, so I don't follow the big money like a fintech thing or something like that. I follow my passion in this case, and I believe the rewards will come later. 

0:21:32 - Mehmet
I totally agree 100% and no, because we are both podcasters. So maybe people will think we are a little bit biased, right to what we say, but you've been doing this longer than me, so for me, it was a dream that I always had. I want to have my podcast, I want to have my podcast, but I didn't have the time actually and, let me be honest, it was always me pushing things. Until last year I said, whatever it takes, maybe I will fail, maybe I will succeed, I don't know. I just need to put it out and exactly the same concept that you said. So and this is, if you see, like even in this design I did, in the cover I put insights, ideas, innovation and because my point to your saying, barry, podcasting is one of the few in addition to books, of course where you might leave a trace on some other people, because they would listen to someone on your podcast and they get inspired. 

Funny enough, I didn't expect and this thing happened actually is that two people they met because of my podcast and although and I don't claim I have millions of downloads, I'm happy with the growth. 

It's not like the ultimate number that every podcaster, like Joe Rogan, for example, or Tim Ferriss and these big guys. But I'm happy because people are coming back and I always tell them, as long as there is one person in this world that he would download this episode and listen to it, I'm happy because at least I touched one human being. So, having said that, barry and you are in a mission and I love people who are on a mission and they follow their guts but, of course, you found that there is a need to have a new platform where people can upload their podcast episodes. So I'm sure, like maybe because you are a podcaster, you face some of the challenges yourself. So what were, like, the main, I would say, pain points, if you want to put it in this way, or let's say the things that you thought okay, if I solve this, 90% or let's say 80% of the podcasters, their life will be better. So I want to hear from you, because I'm sure I got to learn a lot of things that I didn't think before about it. 

0:24:12 - Barry
Yeah. So first, to your earlier point like you don't need millions of downloads if you have a podcast or 100,000 or whatever you know, if you have a hundred downloads of one episode, like, can you imagine, put a hundred people in your house? That's a lot of people that listen to your faith. That's a huge impact that you have there a hundred and I know the number looks tiny, you know you look on it on the screen because that's a hundred, but it's huge. That's a huge impact. So don't underestimate that. And then do your point what are the main pain points that PodHome solves? 

What I saw is, obviously I was also hosting my podcasts with other podcast hosting companies and there are lots of them out there, but like a handful of big ones that operate internationally, like Lipsin, buzzsprout and also Anchor, the Spotify one. But what I saw is that almost always you need to pay for either uploads, downloads or per show. So per podcast that you host and I wanted to make that unlimited for one single affordable price. So at PodHome you pay $50.99 per month and then you can create as many shows as you want, as many episodes as you want, you can upload as much data as that takes, and it doesn't matter how many downloads you have. So if you're a very successful podcaster, if you're Joe Rogan and you're being downloaded I don't know 300 million times per episode, that's totally fine. I don't charge you extra than that $50.99 per month. So that's one thing unlimited and the second thing is I wanted to make the workflow as easy as possible, because I found I record something like we're doing right now you have the audio and or video and you upload it, you edit it first, then you upload it and then you need a title, you need a description, you need to create chapters at least if you want to. I want to, because I like chapters myself in modern podcast apps because that means I can see what the episode is about and I can jump around in the episode perhaps, or move back to an important segment that I might have missed. 

I want to transcript, I want to identify the people in there, I want to create some clips for it, all this metadata around the actual media. I want to always create it because I want to be a professional podcaster, right, and I want to create the best listening experience ever for my listeners. But doing all that that takes a lot of time and, like you also said, you didn't start for a long time because you thought you did not have enough time. So you want to make this as easy as possible for people. So one thing that Pothome also does is when you upload an episode, you can flip a switch and you say, all right, use Pothome AI. 

I know it's AI in the name, it's a bit hypey, but what it does for you it generates transcript, it generates chapters, it detects people, it generates some clips, it generates show notes and it gives you five title ideas as well. So you do that, I generate all of that for you and then we show that to you and you just pick and choose what you like, check, obviously, the results and that's it. So all that metadata is then already created for you. Just to make it a lot more easy and to make that also easier, I also made that unlimited, so you can use that unlimited as well. All for that 15.99. If you do a thousand episodes per month, you might have multiple shows and you use Pothome AI on all of those thousand episodes. That's totally fine. You still pay 15.99 per month. So those are the two big things. Then there's a lot of other stuff around there as well to make it more modern than the current podcast hosting platforms. 

0:28:21 - Mehmet
So you touch on a very important point. So especially and I'm thinking out loud here and I'm not biased, guys, because this is I use AI, but of course, I don't use everything into one single place. So here you're talking, barry, about streamlining the podcast experience itself. I mean, instead of jumping from one screen to another and I'm going a little bit techy here. So whenever I like to do a software that saves time, I said, hey look, instead of keep jumping between windows and clicking here and clicking there. So basically, you bring everything under one single platform and one of the things that people I think they not underestimate, but it's like because it's always hidden from them. 

So podcasting is not only about recording, as we are doing now, because you need to do some post production as well and, honestly, I'm not the best one who does it. I do it, but I do it in, I would say, in an individual effort, but still it's a lot of time because I need to re-listen back to what we've talked about, I need to figure out if I did a mistake somewhere, I need to remove something or not. Anyway, but still it's a job to be done. So, again, you're bringing this post production, including generating show notes, transcripts, chapters and so on again into the same platform and all under one subscription, let's say, or like they pay this subscription and they get all these features. Now what I'm interested to know how the feedback you've got from early adopters. 

0:30:13 - Barry
Yeah, people really seem to like it Because I started from scratch. I don't have any technical debt, which means I can move fast and I can create a modern experience with a modern UX or user experience. People seem to like that versus the places where they came from, so most of my users are actually users that come from other hosting companies. Then they move their podcast to me that's most of my customers so far, which is great, and usually they move because they like all of the new modern features. So Pothome AI, for instance almost nobody does that besides Busprout only there it is an paid add-on where you pay per hour used as well. So people really seem to like that and also seem to like that. It just saves time for them as well. 

And I also have a lot of users from the realm of podcasting 2.0, that's an initiative that was started by Adam Curry and other people as well a couple of years ago to make podcasting more modern and standardized, because before that it was Apple that ruled the podcasting game and really set the rules about what a podcast feed should look like, what information should be in there, but there was no innovation there. 

So now with podcasting 2.0, there is a lot more newer features including, for instance, value for value, which means that you can enable a Bitcoin lightning address for now can be other addresses in the future as well on your feed or on your episode. And then people that listen to your podcast in a modern podcasting app and there are loads of them nowadays they can then stream Satoshis, so small pieces of Bitcoin, to you to your address through that podcasting app or send you a boost like hey, I like what you said there. Here's a thousand Satoshis, which is a couple cents or a dollar or something, with a little message attached to it, and you can then see that in the app and in other places as well. So that's just an example of modern features that I also support, and all of the or most of the older established podcast hosting platforms do not, or at least not yet. 

0:32:40 - Mehmet
Got you and I like this podcast 2.0 approach. 

Like every now and then, we need to have this 2.0 or 3.0, I don't know in the future what it will be called, but based on you know also the experience as a podcaster and what you have done with PodHome, and you know the reason I'm asking this. I'm not sure if I felt this because I started podcasting myself, but last year I started more people doing podcasts and I started even to see, I mean, companies investing in podcasts. But the thing that I figured out that consistency is key, right. So I've seen people they start and they stop, people who are telling me you will not handle more than three episodes, I remember and I was doing daily. I shrink now the you know, the two to three episodes per week, depending on how much backlog I would have. Yeah, I'm still enjoying it. 

So I released, just on the time of recording, episode 281. But I mean, from what you are seeing, barry, what do you think the future of podcasting would look like, especially with all you know these technologies that you mentioned, including AI, and maybe like a couple of other things that we can add to the blend? I would say. So where is podcasting heading? 

0:34:16 - Barry
Yeah, so you mentioned a couple of very interesting points there, like companies investing in podcasting. That's true, they have been for a while now, ever since that serial, that podcast came out so very popular and that brought really brought podcasting into the mainstream and from there advertisers got interested in podcasting as a medium. But advertisers don't really like podcasts. At the moment. Money is moving away. Advertisement money is moving away from podcasts here and there because it is very difficult to measure for advertisers If people listen to your advertisement from where, and they don't have that rich data. Simply because podcasting does not have this rich data. We only know that there was a download. We don't really know if somebody actually played the episode or for how long and when did they stop and what their demographic is, for instance. The platforms do have that information, like Spotify has that information, apple has that information, but that's all proprietary and they keep that for themselves and or, of course, sell that to other people. But other podcasting apps and podcast hosts like me, we do not have that data, so that data is not really prevalent around. And so podcasting advertisement money is moving away a little bit, and I think that's kind of a good thing as well, because once you start advertising on your podcast, you need to be very careful because if you then say anything that that company does not like, it doesn't have to be a bad thing, but just something that doesn't align with the brand or isn't brand safe or whatever. They can remove that money and that makes you self-censor, which is a bad thing. But if you believe in a company or a product, it's absolutely fine to just do a host read advertisement on your podcast and people will believe you as well, because you already have a targeted audience, people that actually are interested in the topic and they want to hear what you like and what you dislike, what kind of products you use and what kind of products you don't use, and so that that's very healthy advertisement. All that to say that I believe that the future of podcasting, at least the monetization of it, will move more towards a value for value model, and that means that people will be able to pay podcasters what they think that value was worth. So, for instance, what your podcasts, what your episodes are worth to them through a donation thing. For instance, we're building a donation page specifically for shows so that shows can just enable that a user can go there, hopefully within their podcasting app, and then just donate whatever they want monthly or one time or something. The same goes with those micro payments I was just talking about, and I think that that model will continue. So there will be a bit of monetization still, but it will be more, less driven by advertisements, I think, and I think podcasting will simply become easier. 

So I don't think we're going to hear lots and lots of podcasts with generated AI voices. I really don't hope so. That can happen, but that takes away the creativity, because podcasts is creating something. Right. We're creating something right now. Creativity is flowing through you when you create this and people can hear that you actually created it and like that and be inspired by that. So I do think that humans will continue to create podcasts, but that it will simply become easier for them because of all that post production stuff, like we talked about. All the metadata that makes the listening experience more easy will simply be more and more created by AI tools that will be integrated into hosting platforms like PodHome, for instance. So we will make it easier to create a podcast, to distribute it to users. Users will still humans will still create it and monetization will also become easier and less advertisement driven. That's what I think. 

0:38:44 - Mehmet
I hope the same, especially regarding the monetization part. And you know like I get. I get a couple of times, you know, opportunity to do not host thread but kind of sponsor a whole episode, and to your point. So the thing is and I'm talking purely from commercial perspective so let's say I take a brand A and I did a podcast episode with them to promote that right Now, because podcasting is one of the few medias that is very attached to the host and I think you notice better than me, barry, so your voice is your brand, right. And of course, honestly, like I push the videos on YouTube but I still get the more listeners from audio perspective, because I think this is how podcast should be. 

But of course, everyone does this this way. Okay, fine, let's do it. We need to bring some, some traffic and I'm okay with this Nevertheless. So my point is and I say, look, I can do this, but if I bring your competition be on the podcast, I don't want you to be upset because after this I start to think, okay, like maybe there should be another way of monetizing this, and then I remove the whole thing and I said, okay, I can do one thing, forget about recording a full episode. Okay, we record an episode with, let's say, someone of your executives, I will give him the space, or I will give her the space to speak freely, and but I will not personally promote, right. So I turn it around in a way that I said, hey, if you are a, and because I focus on tech, startups and more like newly established companies and so on, I said, okay, think about it as a space. I'm giving you a PR space. I don't want money for this, but if you wish, if you want to support the show you wanted to sustain, I have a, you know, buy me a coffee thing, of course, just symbolic, right. And it worked perfectly, actually. And I didn't have now to say no to any guests, of course, unless they are not relevant to the show. So, as long as someone is relevant to my show, they can add value. Like yourself, barrier, you were talking about tech, we're talking about your own, you know, startup, which is both homefm. So, yeah, let's do it. 

And what will stay with people later on, I believe, is the pure voice, because this is the magical thing about voice, and this is why, still, we have radios, by the way, because I think we get attached to the voice more than we get attached to the, to the, to the, to the picture right or the image. So I want to share with you my own view. I wish that I started before, but you know, being late is better than not doing it at all. So nice insights and I believe, yeah, so this is way we're moving forward and I believe this is will allow also to some noise to get filtered, because what will stay at that is you know people like yourself very, who add value right, who are keen to educate people, help people will help people. 

Now, as we are coming to close, I want to, from you, barry, to you, leave us with like final thoughts and advices for the younger generation, who are maybe planning to start a podcast, maybe they are planning to start their own thing, right. So what from your journey between software development to launching both home dot FM? What advice you give to aspiring tech entrepreneurs? 

0:42:42 - Barry
So I would say two things. If you're already thinking about creating a thing, then then this might not be for you. But don't just be a consumer. Create stuff. We all have it in ourselves to create things. Be a true software, be it a podcast, be the drawing I don't know art create stuff. Just start making stuff. Start making what your gut tells you to and continue to listen to your instincts, to your gut. Believe your guts. It's right, it doesn't have to be scientific. Just listen and just just go into that direction, without expecting an outcome or without thinking, oh I can't do this because XYZ. Now just just try it because you got told you so. So that's one thing. Just go and create and try it. 

And the second thing, which is very important, is focus. If you decide to do a podcast or to create a startup or to create a product or something, just focus on that thing and do it. Don't tend to do 10 other things as well. I just do that thing, and I know you probably can't do it, maybe full time, immediately, but then, when you assign the time to work on that thing, let's say after work or in the future or whatever it is don't do anything else. Turn everything off, put your phone away, turn the television off, put your partner away, I don't know. Go sit somewhere by yourself and focus, complete focus, on that thing and keep the core thing in mind, the value that you want to create. 

If it's a podcast, for instance, create that podcast. Don't think about the website of the podcast or the marketing or the social media around it, just create the core thing. Once you have the core thing, you can think about all these other things. But if you start with all that other stuff, you'll never get that one core value thing done. So focus, keep that focus, because you will be distracted throughout your journey, especially when you create a startup. You know there's a customer here once a bells and whistles, there's somebody else that wants something, there's opportunities here, there's other things there that might rear you off your path. But keep that focus. So create stuff and focus on it. That's my advice. 

0:44:58 - Mehmet
It's a great advice, barry, and you know I Maybe I'm usually I don't talk much, but you have some thought-provoking Ideas. I would say, and I like to, you know, give examples based on what you you mentioned, just as a closing nose from my side, and then we can close. So To your point. When I decide to start the podcast, you know and this is was the reason what was stopping me, because I was thinking about all the details and I was forgetting the core, right? So, oh, how the logo should look like, what the name of the podcast should be. You know, I was thinking about every single details and I forget, okay, what I gotta talk about. And then, all of a sudden, when, when I shifted my mindset, I said this is what I will talk about, this is what I want, this is my, you know the mission I want to be on. Then the rest will come. And you know, like people, if now they go, and I Asked, they asked me sometimes you're going to delete these first couple of episodes? I said no, like I want to speak, to see how it evolved with time. 

You know, I started with a very basic and I'm still does. I don't have the perfect mic, by the way, but anyway. So I start with a very basic mic. Actually, I first episode maybe I record using my phone. The cover art. It was not the perfect thing, you know you, you just name it so so, but with time I start to put things in place. So I was recording, for example, on zoom, and then I said, okay, zoom Is not the best one, you know, I need to find something more professional. And then, you know, I figured out that I need a proper intro, a proper outro. And then I figured out later on, and still I have millions of things, you know, I know that I can enhance. But I said, okay, this is, we come with time. 

Because people ask, okay, why you record from home? I said because I'm comfortable. I know, you know, here in Dubai you can find plenty of studios. But you know, what do I really want? It doesn't really matter especially because I do remote Recordings really matter if I sit behind me like shiny things and toys and let's, yeah. So so I said, okay, of course I like. 

I like to be presentable and I think you know I hope that I'm presentable and audible to the audience. But what I mean, you know, and I bring someone like you, barry, and talk about these things in deep details. You know and can share his experience. Or you know I brought a lot of People who also shared, not only from technology perspective. They shared leadership, they shared. You know they're their story, personal story. You know they were, why they became like so. You know risk averse, why they became like so Resilient. And you know all these stories when you put it, you know by side by side and said you know what, okay, like I don't care about, like how the cover art used to to be on this episode, but it was a good episode. I met nice people, I have like Connections. 

So to your point and because I'm we are talking about podcasting mainly today from tech perspective. So my advice also to others Don't make it big in your head. If you want to do it, just go do it. If you think three more times about it and you still confuse, that means it's not for you. You need to go do something else. So this is my point and sorry and sorry for taking, you know, the last few few few minutes from from your, barry, but you touched on something very, very important and I like to highlight what my guest usually says so it stays with there with the audience and with that. Barry, I really thank you very much for sharing your experience and you know like we covered a little bit of history of Computing a little bit with you and how you get into software development and then in a specializing in all the Technologies from Microsoft, cloud, azure and then building pod home FM. So hold home FM. This is the website where else we can find more about your very so I need to leave this in the show notes. 

0:48:54 - Barry
I'll leave it at pod home FM. Okay, and and that's it. From there you can find everything that you need and just for your audience. If you are a podcaster and you want to start something, podcast at pod home FM, we're running a special now. If you sign up and you use the promo code, go Podcasting, that's go podcasting. You'll get three months free, on top of the seven-day trial. 

0:49:21 - Mehmet
Absolutely. You know, slice always to to to have, you know, generous offers like this on the show. Thank you very much, barry. I will make sure that we put this in the show notes also as well. And Again, thank you for the time, and this is how I end every episode. 

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