Strictly From Nowhere: A Podcast Experiment by Cause of a Kind

Joe Leo built a Rails consultancy for 12 years — here's what he'd do differentlyMike sits down with Joe Leo, founder of Def Method and co-author of The Well-Grounded Rubyist, to talk about what it really takes to run a software agency long-term — and why niching down, building in public, and falling in love with the work matters more than chasing the big exit.They get into:Why Def Method went all-in on Ruby on Rails modernization (and why 2025 is their best quarter in years)The real reason layoffs aren't about AI efficiencyWhat agentic security actually looks like — and why we don't have a model for it yetHow multi-agent workflows and docs-driven development are changing the way they shipWhy services businesses may actually be bigger in the age of AI, not smallerJoe also shares how two years of posting on LinkedIn with zero signal eventually turned into a real pipeline, why he switched from Claude Code to Codex, and the one piece of advice he gives every engineer starting out today.📚 Book rec: Mindset by Carol Dweck🎙️ Check out Joe's podcast: Ruby AI Podcast🔗 Find Joe on LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/jleo3/────────────────────────────────LISTEN ON ALL PLATFORMSSpotifyhttps://open.spotify.com/show/1V4SjmlnG2sntDnck8UrGWApple Podcastshttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/strictly-from-nowhere-a-podcast-experiment-by-cause/id1804380172iHeart Radiohttps://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-strictly-from-nowhere-a-po-315649122/YouTubehttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWAstEyCK6YsKVTTRsQr37wSUPPORT THE SHOWPatreonhttp://patreon.com/StrictlyFromNowhereCONNECT WITH USLinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/strictly-from-nowhereWebsitehttps://strictlyfromnowhere.com────────────────────────────────FOLLOW JUSTIN ABRAMS | @cuzzinjustinLinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/cuzzinjustin/Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/cuzzinjustin/Xhttps://x.com/cuzzinjustinTikTokhttps://www.tiktok.com/@cuzzinjustinFacebookhttps://www.facebook.com/cuzzinjustin24Websitehttps://www.cuzzinjustin.com────────────────────────────────FOLLOW MIKE RISPOLI | @mike_rispoli_ctoLinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-rispoli-cto/Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/mike_rispoli_cto/Xhttps://x.com/michael_rispoliTikTokhttps://www.tiktok.com/@mike_rispoliWebsitehttps://michaelrispoli.com/────────────────────────────────CAUSE OF A KIND | @causeofakindWebsitehttps://www.causeofakind.comLinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/cause-of-a-kindInstagramhttps://www.instagram.com/causeofakind/Xhttps://x.com/causeofakindTikTokhttps://www.tiktok.com/@causeofakindNewsletter Signuphttp://eepurl.com/gcc-yjNewsletter Archivehttps://us16.campaign-archive.com/home/?u=847ea1526d6523a41ef1eb5a5&id=48d53e9627────────────────────────────────OPEN SOURCE PROJECTSCodeDojohttps://github.com/Cause-of-a-Kind/code-dojo-coreOCR Ruby GEMhttps://activestorage-ocr-demo.fly.dev/────────────────────────────────COMMUNITY INITIATIVESLong Island Technologistshttps://www.longislandtechnologists.comhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/long-island-technologists-networkinghttps://www.instagram.com/longislandtechnologists/────────────────────────────────We Build Products, Because We Want Them To Existhttps://coakstudio.com────────────────────────────────Brought to you by Cause of a KindA boutique software development and startup studio from Long Island, New YorkStand up. Show up. Build.

Ash Hess has been in the profession of arms since 1995. He changed how one million soldiers in the United States Army shoot guns. He wrote the doctrine. He ran the marksmanship school. He deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. And then he retired and had to figure out how to turn all of that into a business.He built a competitive shooting match company called Kona 5 Performance from a single $15,000 event into a $150,000 a year operation with 75 events across 17 states. Then he drove it into the ground. And he is honest enough to tell you exactly why.He built it for love of the game. Not as a business. He built the product he wanted. Not the product his customers needed. He hit the valley of despair where the business was too successful to ignore but not profitable enough to hire help. And he lost interest in his own customer base.Key TakeawaysBuild for exit, not for love of the game. If you cannot see the exit strategy, do not start until you can.The valley of despair is real. Your business makes too much to quit and too little to hire. That is where most companies die.Protect your ideas before sharing them. Someone with more money will beat you to market and beat you in court.Every soldier who tells a jump story is already a salesman. You have been selling your whole life whether you realize it or not.Do not be afraid to crash into the ground. The data you collect from failure is worth more than the comfort of never trying.Social media is your free sales channel. The fear of being visible is the only thing between you and your next opportunity.https://www.linkedin.com/in/ash-hess/────────────────────────────────LISTEN ON ALL PLATFORMSSpotifyhttps://open.spotify.com/show/1V4SjmlnG2sntDnck8UrGWApple Podcastshttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/strictly-from-nowhere-a-podcast-experiment-by-cause/id1804380172iHeart Radiohttps://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-strictly-from-nowhere-a-po-315649122/YouTubehttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWAstEyCK6YsKVTTRsQr37wSUPPORT THE SHOWPatreonhttp://patreon.com/StrictlyFromNowhereCONNECT WITH USLinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/strictly-from-nowhereWebsitehttps://strictlyfromnowhere.com────────────────────────────────FOLLOW JUSTIN ABRAMS | @cuzzinjustinLinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/cuzzinjustin/Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/cuzzinjustin/Xhttps://x.com/cuzzinjustinTikTokhttps://www.tiktok.com/@cuzzinjustinFacebookhttps://www.facebook.com/cuzzinjustin24Websitehttps://www.cuzzinjustin.com────────────────────────────────FOLLOW MIKE RISPOLI | @mike_rispoli_ctoLinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-rispoli-cto/Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/mike_rispoli_cto/Xhttps://x.com/michael_rispoliTikTokhttps://www.tiktok.com/@mike_rispoliWebsitehttps://michaelrispoli.com/────────────────────────────────CAUSE OF A KIND | @causeofakindWebsitehttps://www.causeofakind.comLinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/cause-of-a-kindInstagramhttps://www.instagram.com/causeofakind/Xhttps://x.com/causeofakindTikTokhttps://www.tiktok.com/@causeofakindNewsletter Signuphttp://eepurl.com/gcc-yjNewsletter Archivehttps://us16.campaign-archive.com/home/?u=847ea1526d6523a41ef1eb5a5&id=48d53e9627────────────────────────────────OPEN SOURCE PROJECTSCodeDojohttps://github.com/Cause-of-a-Kind/code-dojo-coreOCR Ruby GEMhttps://activestorage-ocr-demo.fly.dev/────────────────────────────────COMMUNITY INITIATIVESLong Island Technologistshttps://www.longislandtechnologists.comhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/long-island-technologists-networkinghttps://www.instagram.com/longislandtechnologists/────────────────────────────────We Build Products, Because We Want Them To Existhttps://coakstudio.com────────────────────────────────Brought to you by Cause of a KindA boutique software development and startup studio from Long Island, New YorkStand up. Show up. Build.

Daniel Pratl joins Mike on CTO Confidential to go deep on the technical and philosophical architecture behind Quadron. This is a different conversation from his Forward to Extraordinary episode. This one is about the systems, the incentives, and the infrastructure that needs to exist if we are going to make human expertise the most valuable asset class in a world flooded with AI generated noise.This is a conversation about what happens when every layer of the stack becomes programmable, including incentives, and what that means for software engineers, lawyers, doctors, and anyone who has ever put their name on the line.Key TakeawaysOpen source moved from the bazaar to corporate capture. The people who felt the original pain aged out and the incentive structure was never built.AI contributions are flooding open source repos with noise. Maintainers are closing off contributions because volume without judgment is destructive.You cannot trust AI to verify AI. The human in the loop is not a bottleneck. The human is the product.Speculation is not gambling. It is the language of conviction. Quadron is building credibility markets where you back your expertise with real stakes.Trade secrets are the new cap table opportunity. Patents cost $100K and tell the world exactly how to go around you. Auditable evidence trails change the game.Find a mentor. The biggest sea change in software development history is happening right now and the best way through it is experienced and new perspectives working together.────────────────────────────────LISTEN ON ALL PLATFORMSSpotifyhttps://open.spotify.com/show/1V4SjmlnG2sntDnck8UrGWApple Podcastshttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/strictly-from-nowhere-a-podcast-experiment-by-cause/id1804380172iHeart Radiohttps://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-strictly-from-nowhere-a-po-315649122/YouTubehttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWAstEyCK6YsKVTTRsQr37wSUPPORT THE SHOWPatreonhttp://patreon.com/StrictlyFromNowhereCONNECT WITH USLinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/strictly-from-nowhereWebsitehttps://strictlyfromnowhere.com────────────────────────────────FOLLOW JUSTIN ABRAMS | @cuzzinjustinLinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/cuzzinjustin/Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/cuzzinjustin/Xhttps://x.com/cuzzinjustinTikTokhttps://www.tiktok.com/@cuzzinjustinFacebookhttps://www.facebook.com/cuzzinjustin24Websitehttps://www.cuzzinjustin.com────────────────────────────────FOLLOW MIKE RISPOLI | @mike_rispoli_ctoLinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-rispoli-cto/Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/mike_rispoli_cto/Xhttps://x.com/michael_rispoliTikTokhttps://www.tiktok.com/@mike_rispoliWebsitehttps://michaelrispoli.com/────────────────────────────────CAUSE OF A KIND | @causeofakindWebsitehttps://www.causeofakind.comLinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/cause-of-a-kindInstagramhttps://www.instagram.com/causeofakind/Xhttps://x.com/causeofakindTikTokhttps://www.tiktok.com/@causeofakindNewsletter Signuphttp://eepurl.com/gcc-yjNewsletter Archivehttps://us16.campaign-archive.com/home/?u=847ea1526d6523a41ef1eb5a5&id=48d53e9627────────────────────────────────OPEN SOURCE PROJECTSCodeDojohttps://github.com/Cause-of-a-Kind/code-dojo-coreOCR Ruby GEMhttps://activestorage-ocr-demo.fly.dev/────────────────────────────────COMMUNITY INITIATIVESLong Island Technologistshttps://www.longislandtechnologists.comhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/long-island-technologists-networkinghttps://www.instagram.com/longislandtechnologists/────────────────────────────────We Build Products, Because We Want Them To Existhttps://coakstudio.com────────────────────────────────Brought to you by Cause of a KindA boutique software development and startup studio from Long Island, New YorkStand up. Show up. Build.

Cathy Hickman taught anatomy and physiology for 20 years in Dallas public schools. She watched 18 year olds walk into her classroom unsure of themselves and walk out ready for the world. Then she got her real estate license, went all in, and started building a career helping first time home buyers and veterans find their way.Then one night she went to show a vacant property and someone opened the door from the inside. She called her husband Brian, a former SWAT associate commander turned corporate security professional, and he asked her a question that changed everything. That conversation led to Safe Agent, a wireless panic alert system that works with your smartphone and smartwatch. You check in when you arrive at a property. Your live location goes to your emergency contacts. And if something goes wrong, one button press dispatches through a live monitoring center straight to local police at your exact location.In this episode we unpack the full journey from 20 years in education to real estate to bootstrapping a tech company with zero outside funding. We talk about the challenges of customer adoption, why the easy part is building and the hard part is selling, and how a teacher's instinct to serve became the foundation for a product that could save lives.Key TakeawaysThe barrier to entrepreneurship is not money or talent. It is you. Your own doubt is your biggest obstacle.It took a full career in education before the tech opportunity revealed itself. Patience and goodwill eventually show you the path.Building the product is the easy part. Marketing and selling it is where most founders struggle.────────────────────────────────LISTEN ON ALL PLATFORMSSpotifyhttps://open.spotify.com/show/1V4SjmlnG2sntDnck8UrGWApple Podcastshttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/strictly-from-nowhere-a-podcast-experiment-by-cause/id1804380172iHeart Radiohttps://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-strictly-from-nowhere-a-po-315649122/YouTubehttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWAstEyCK6YsKVTTRsQr37wSUPPORT THE SHOWPatreonhttp://patreon.com/StrictlyFromNowhereCONNECT WITH USLinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/strictly-from-nowhereWebsitehttps://strictlyfromnowhere.com────────────────────────────────FOLLOW JUSTIN ABRAMS | @cuzzinjustinLinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/cuzzinjustin/Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/cuzzinjustin/Xhttps://x.com/cuzzinjustinTikTokhttps://www.tiktok.com/@cuzzinjustinFacebookhttps://www.facebook.com/cuzzinjustin24Websitehttps://www.cuzzinjustin.com────────────────────────────────FOLLOW MIKE RISPOLI | @mike_rispoli_ctoLinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-rispoli-cto/Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/mike_rispoli_cto/Xhttps://x.com/michael_rispoliTikTokhttps://www.tiktok.com/@mike_rispoliWebsitehttps://michaelrispoli.com/────────────────────────────────CAUSE OF A KIND | @causeofakindWebsitehttps://www.causeofakind.comLinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/cause-of-a-kindInstagramhttps://www.instagram.com/causeofakind/Xhttps://x.com/causeofakindTikTokhttps://www.tiktok.com/@causeofakindNewsletter Signuphttp://eepurl.com/gcc-yjNewsletter Archivehttps://us16.campaign-archive.com/home/?u=847ea1526d6523a41ef1eb5a5&id=48d53e9627────────────────────────────────OPEN SOURCE PROJECTSCodeDojohttps://github.com/Cause-of-a-Kind/code-dojo-coreOCR Ruby GEMhttps://activestorage-ocr-demo.fly.dev/────────────────────────────────COMMUNITY INITIATIVESLong Island Technologistshttps://www.longislandtechnologists.comhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/long-island-technologists-networkinghttps://www.instagram.com/longislandtechnologists/────────────────────────────────We Build Products, Because We Want Them To Existhttps://coakstudio.com────────────────────────────────Brought to you by Cause of a KindA boutique software development and startup studio from Long Island, New YorkStand up. Show up. Build.

It is real. If you were wondering whether you actually get the thing when you cross 100,000 subscribers, yes you do. And today we are unboxing it live.Justin and Mike open the Silver Creator Award from YouTube and read the letter from CEO Neil Mohan. But more than the plaque, this episode is about what it actually took to get here. Years of recording with zero signal. Almost a thousand episodes across five shows. Guests who trusted us before anyone was watching. And the decision to show up every single day no matter what.The zero to 100,000 happened in about four months. But the years before that were silent. No engagement. No growth. No indication that any of it was working. And that is the part nobody sees when they look at the plaque on the wall.We talk about what changed, why volume and consistency beat everything else, how AI made it possible for two founders running a software agency to also become full time content creators, and why this moment belongs to the small business owner more than it ever has before.Key TakeawaysThe best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The next best time is today. Just get the seed in the ground.Doing it occasionally gets you occasional results. The algorithm rewards volume and consistency above everything else.The zero to 100,000 happened fast. But the years of nothing before it is the part that matters most.AI made this possible. Two founders running an agency could not have also been full time content creators without it.Personal branding is the answer. The louder you are, the more likely it is that you will be heard. That is simple physics.────────────────────────────────LISTEN ON ALL PLATFORMSSpotifyhttps://open.spotify.com/show/1V4SjmlnG2sntDnck8UrGWApple Podcastshttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/strictly-from-nowhere-a-podcast-experiment-by-cause/id1804380172iHeart Radiohttps://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-strictly-from-nowhere-a-po-315649122/YouTubehttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWAstEyCK6YsKVTTRsQr37wSUPPORT THE SHOWPatreonhttp://patreon.com/StrictlyFromNowhereCONNECT WITH USLinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/strictly-from-nowhereWebsitehttps://strictlyfromnowhere.com────────────────────────────────FOLLOW JUSTIN ABRAMS | @cuzzinjustinLinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/cuzzinjustin/Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/cuzzinjustin/Xhttps://x.com/cuzzinjustinTikTokhttps://www.tiktok.com/@cuzzinjustinFacebookhttps://www.facebook.com/cuzzinjustin24Websitehttps://www.cuzzinjustin.com────────────────────────────────FOLLOW MIKE RISPOLI | @mike_rispoli_ctoLinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-rispoli-cto/Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/mike_rispoli_cto/Xhttps://x.com/michael_rispoliTikTokhttps://www.tiktok.com/@mike_rispoliWebsitehttps://michaelrispoli.com/────────────────────────────────CAUSE OF A KIND | @causeofakindWebsitehttps://www.causeofakind.comLinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/cause-of-a-kindInstagramhttps://www.instagram.com/causeofakind/Xhttps://x.com/causeofakindTikTokhttps://www.tiktok.com/@causeofakindNewsletter Signuphttp://eepurl.com/gcc-yjNewsletter Archivehttps://us16.campaign-archive.com/home/?u=847ea1526d6523a41ef1eb5a5&id=48d53e9627────────────────────────────────OPEN SOURCE PROJECTSCodeDojohttps://github.com/Cause-of-a-Kind/code-dojo-coreOCR Ruby GEMhttps://activestorage-ocr-demo.fly.dev/────────────────────────────────COMMUNITY INITIATIVESLong Island Technologistshttps://www.longislandtechnologists.comhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/long-island-technologists-networkinghttps://www.instagram.com/longislandtechnologists/────────────────────────────────We Build Products, Because We Want Them To Existhttps://coakstudio.com────────────────────────────────Brought to you by Cause of a KindA boutique software development and startup studio from Long Island, New YorkStand up. Show up. Build.

Daniel Pratl went from law school to the SEC to open source to crowdfunding to crypto and now to building Quadrant. Every stop taught him something he needed for what he is building today.Quadrant is a big bet on human beings being the most valuable asset class in the future. Markets are about to unbundle the same way media did. When they do, your expertise and your verified body of work become the thing markets are built around.Daniel breaks down why AI makes human expertise more valuable not less, how verification becomes the critical layer between information and trust, and why the human in the loop is not a bottleneck but the product.Key TakeawaysMachines cannot replicate brownfield creativity. Varied experience matters more than ever.De-risk while keeping options open. When you find your asymmetric advantage, burn the boats.Do not build AI for accounting. Come up with something profound.You will have many careers. Be deliberate about what you collect from each one.You cannot trust an AI to verify another AI. Humans are the last mile of judgment.Your expertise is an asset class. Build the narrative now.https://www.linkedin.com/in/danpratl/https://quadron.tech/────────────────────────────────LISTEN ON ALL PLATFORMSSpotifyhttps://open.spotify.com/show/1V4SjmlnG2sntDnck8UrGWApple Podcastshttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/strictly-from-nowhere-a-podcast-experiment-by-cause/id1804380172iHeart Radiohttps://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-strictly-from-nowhere-a-po-315649122/YouTubehttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWAstEyCK6YsKVTTRsQr37wSUPPORT THE SHOWPatreonhttp://patreon.com/StrictlyFromNowhereCONNECT WITH USLinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/strictly-from-nowhereWebsitehttps://strictlyfromnowhere.com────────────────────────────────FOLLOW JUSTIN ABRAMS | @cuzzinjustinLinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/cuzzinjustin/Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/cuzzinjustin/Xhttps://x.com/cuzzinjustinTikTokhttps://www.tiktok.com/@cuzzinjustinFacebookhttps://www.facebook.com/cuzzinjustin24Websitehttps://www.cuzzinjustin.com────────────────────────────────FOLLOW MIKE RISPOLI | @mike_rispoli_ctoLinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-rispoli-cto/Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/mike_rispoli_cto/Xhttps://x.com/michael_rispoliTikTokhttps://www.tiktok.com/@mike_rispoliWebsitehttps://michaelrispoli.com/────────────────────────────────CAUSE OF A KIND | @causeofakindWebsitehttps://www.causeofakind.comLinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/cause-of-a-kindInstagramhttps://www.instagram.com/causeofakind/Xhttps://x.com/causeofakindTikTokhttps://www.tiktok.com/@causeofakindNewsletter Signuphttp://eepurl.com/gcc-yjNewsletter Archivehttps://us16.campaign-archive.com/home/?u=847ea1526d6523a41ef1eb5a5&id=48d53e9627────────────────────────────────OPEN SOURCE PROJECTSCodeDojohttps://github.com/Cause-of-a-Kind/code-dojo-coreOCR Ruby GEMhttps://activestorage-ocr-demo.fly.dev/────────────────────────────────COMMUNITY INITIATIVESLong Island Technologistshttps://www.longislandtechnologists.comhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/long-island-technologists-networkinghttps://www.instagram.com/longislandtechnologists/────────────────────────────────We Build Products, Because We Want Them To Existhttps://coakstudio.com────────────────────────────────Brought to you by Cause of a KindA boutique software development and startup studio from Long Island, New YorkStand up. Show up. Build.

Someone shipped a fake security audit powered by AI and charged real companies real money for it. Another founder launched a product riddled with known bugs and put his name on it. And somewhere in between, the rest of us are trying to figure out where the ethics went.Justin and Mike break down what happens when AI gives people beer muscles. When baseline competence gets mistaken for mastery. When speed replaces integrity and nobody stops to ask if the thing they shipped actually works when real money is on the line.They unpack the Delve scandal, the Gary Tan backlash, what a full day Riverside outage teaches us about the cost of moving too fast, and why the emergency engineer might be the most important business of the next decade. They also dig into the hopeful side with Mark Zuckerberg talking about AI creating more jobs and Mark Andreessen explaining why builders will capture more value than the model makers themselves.This is a conversation about reputation, character, and what it actually means to build something that lasts.Key TakeawaysAI amplifies character. If your ethics are shaky, AI will broadcast that to the world with your name on it.Shipping features and keeping software alive are two completely different skills. One is fun. The other keeps the lights on.Outages are reputation events. Every minute your product is down is a minute your customer considers the competition.There is such a thing as too fast. The best organizations ship at the speed their infrastructure and priorities can actually support.────────────────────────────────LISTEN ON ALL PLATFORMSSpotifyhttps://open.spotify.com/show/1V4SjmlnG2sntDnck8UrGWApple Podcastshttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/strictly-from-nowhere-a-podcast-experiment-by-cause/id1804380172iHeart Radiohttps://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-strictly-from-nowhere-a-po-315649122/YouTubehttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWAstEyCK6YsKVTTRsQr37wSUPPORT THE SHOWPatreonhttp://patreon.com/StrictlyFromNowhereCONNECT WITH USLinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/strictly-from-nowhereWebsitehttps://strictlyfromnowhere.com────────────────────────────────FOLLOW JUSTIN ABRAMS | @cuzzinjustinLinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/cuzzinjustin/Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/cuzzinjustin/Xhttps://x.com/cuzzinjustinTikTokhttps://www.tiktok.com/@cuzzinjustinFacebookhttps://www.facebook.com/cuzzinjustin24Websitehttps://www.cuzzinjustin.com────────────────────────────────FOLLOW MIKE RISPOLI | @mike_rispoli_ctoLinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-rispoli-cto/Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/mike_rispoli_cto/Xhttps://x.com/michael_rispoliTikTokhttps://www.tiktok.com/@mike_rispoliWebsitehttps://michaelrispoli.com/────────────────────────────────CAUSE OF A KIND | @causeofakindWebsitehttps://www.causeofakind.comLinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/cause-of-a-kindInstagramhttps://www.instagram.com/causeofakind/Xhttps://x.com/causeofakindTikTokhttps://www.tiktok.com/@causeofakindNewsletter Signuphttp://eepurl.com/gcc-yjNewsletter Archivehttps://us16.campaign-archive.com/home/?u=847ea1526d6523a41ef1eb5a5&id=48d53e9627────────────────────────────────OPEN SOURCE PROJECTSCodeDojohttps://github.com/Cause-of-a-Kind/code-dojo-coreOCR Ruby GEMhttps://activestorage-ocr-demo.fly.dev/────────────────────────────────COMMUNITY INITIATIVESLong Island Technologistshttps://www.longislandtechnologists.comhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/long-island-technologists-networkinghttps://www.instagram.com/longislandtechnologists/────────────────────────────────We Build Products, Because We Want Them To Existhttps://coakstudio.com────────────────────────────────Brought to you by Cause of a KindA boutique software development and startup studio from Long Island, New YorkStand up. Show up. Build.

Someone posted that their team spent $60,000 on tokens last month. Another post celebrated an engineer burning $10,000 in a single day. No mention of revenue. No mention of what was built. No mention of a single customer paying for anything.When did we start measuring success by how much money we light on fire?In this episode of The Stand Up, Justin and Mike go in on the dangerous trend of companies chest beating about token spend like it is some kind of badge of honor. They break down why spending more does not mean building more, why revenue is still the only metric that matters, and why the human side of business is getting lost in the pursuit of all agentic everything.They also ask two very real questions to the world. Show us what you built with that money. And show us who benefited from it.Key TakeawaysSpending $60,000 on tokens without revenue to show for it is not innovation. It is debt.The only metric that matters in business is revenue minus expenses. Everything else is a story.AI is not a bubble. But the behavior around AI spending could absolutely create one.The bar for entrepreneurship should not be how few humans you can employ. It should be how many lives your business can impact.More with less has always been the goal. The best code is the least amount of code that solves the problem.Open invitation: any VC or CTO spending at this level, come on the show. No hate. Just questions.────────────────────────────────LISTEN ON ALL PLATFORMSSpotifyhttps://open.spotify.com/show/1V4SjmlnG2sntDnck8UrGWApple Podcastshttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/strictly-from-nowhere-a-podcast-experiment-by-cause/id1804380172iHeart Radiohttps://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-strictly-from-nowhere-a-po-315649122/YouTubehttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWAstEyCK6YsKVTTRsQr37wSUPPORT THE SHOWPatreonhttp://patreon.com/StrictlyFromNowhereCONNECT WITH USLinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/strictly-from-nowhereWebsitehttps://strictlyfromnowhere.com────────────────────────────────FOLLOW JUSTIN ABRAMS | @cuzzinjustinLinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/cuzzinjustin/Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/cuzzinjustin/Xhttps://x.com/cuzzinjustinTikTokhttps://www.tiktok.com/@cuzzinjustinFacebookhttps://www.facebook.com/cuzzinjustin24Websitehttps://www.cuzzinjustin.com────────────────────────────────FOLLOW MIKE RISPOLI | @mike_rispoli_ctoLinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-rispoli-cto/Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/mike_rispoli_cto/Xhttps://x.com/michael_rispoliTikTokhttps://www.tiktok.com/@mike_rispoliWebsitehttps://michaelrispoli.com/────────────────────────────────CAUSE OF A KIND | @causeofakindWebsitehttps://www.causeofakind.comLinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/cause-of-a-kindInstagramhttps://www.instagram.com/causeofakind/Xhttps://x.com/causeofakindTikTokhttps://www.tiktok.com/@causeofakindNewsletter Signuphttp://eepurl.com/gcc-yjNewsletter Archivehttps://us16.campaign-archive.com/home/?u=847ea1526d6523a41ef1eb5a5&id=48d53e9627────────────────────────────────OPEN SOURCE PROJECTSCodeDojohttps://github.com/Cause-of-a-Kind/code-dojo-coreOCR Ruby GEMhttps://activestorage-ocr-demo.fly.dev/────────────────────────────────COMMUNITY INITIATIVESLong Island Technologistshttps://www.longislandtechnologists.comhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/long-island-technologists-networkinghttps://www.instagram.com/longislandtechnologists/────────────────────────────────We Build Products, Because We Want Them To Existhttps://coakstudio.com────────────────────────────────Brought to you by Cause of a KindA boutique software development and startup studio from Long Island, New YorkStand up. Show up. Build.

Raul Proenza is an 18 year software engineering veteran who has seen every wave of tooling come and go. Now he is deep in the AI agent coding revolution and his perspective is one every engineer needs to hear. The fundamentals have never mattered more.Mike Rispoli sits down with his longtime friend and colleague to unpack what agentic coding actually looks like in practice. Not the hype. Not the demos. The real day to day of using Claude Code, multi agent planning workflows, adversarial review processes, and CI/CD pipelines that actually protect your code before it ships.They get into why engineers who skipped the basics are now paying for it, how Raul built a multi agent planning system where three independent agents create competing plans that get synthesized into one bulletproof solution, and why the bar for great software just went up for everybody.This is a masterclass in how senior engineers are actually using AI to multiply their output without sacrificing quality.Key TakeawaysAI does not replace your engineering fundamentals. It amplifies them. Great engineers get great output. Average engineers get average output.If you do not have CI/CD and automated testing, AI is going to create more problems than it solves.Raul's multi agent planning workflow uses three independent agents with different techniques, a devil's advocate agent, and a synthesis layer to produce battle tested plans.The bar for software quality is going up. If you can ship an MVP in a day, spend three more days making it exceptional.Classic software engineering books like Refactoring are more important now than ever. Architecture beats language knowledge.AI democratized building. But selling to real people is still the hard part.https://www.linkedin.com/in/raulproenza/https://www.atomiccoders.com/────────────────────────────────LISTEN ON ALL PLATFORMSSpotifyhttps://open.spotify.com/show/1V4SjmlnG2sntDnck8UrGWApple Podcastshttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/strictly-from-nowhere-a-podcast-experiment-by-cause/id1804380172iHeart Radiohttps://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-strictly-from-nowhere-a-po-315649122/YouTubehttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWAstEyCK6YsKVTTRsQr37wSUPPORT THE SHOWPatreonhttp://patreon.com/StrictlyFromNowhereCONNECT WITH USLinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/strictly-from-nowhereWebsitehttps://strictlyfromnowhere.com────────────────────────────────FOLLOW JUSTIN ABRAMS | @cuzzinjustinLinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/cuzzinjustin/Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/cuzzinjustin/Xhttps://x.com/cuzzinjustinTikTokhttps://www.tiktok.com/@cuzzinjustinFacebookhttps://www.facebook.com/cuzzinjustin24Websitehttps://www.cuzzinjustin.com────────────────────────────────FOLLOW MIKE RISPOLI | @mike_rispoli_ctoLinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-rispoli-cto/Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/mike_rispoli_cto/Xhttps://x.com/michael_rispoliTikTokhttps://www.tiktok.com/@mike_rispoliWebsitehttps://michaelrispoli.com/────────────────────────────────CAUSE OF A KIND | @causeofakindWebsitehttps://www.causeofakind.comLinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/cause-of-a-kindInstagramhttps://www.instagram.com/causeofakind/Xhttps://x.com/causeofakindTikTokhttps://www.tiktok.com/@causeofakindNewsletter Signuphttp://eepurl.com/gcc-yjNewsletter Archivehttps://us16.campaign-archive.com/home/?u=847ea1526d6523a41ef1eb5a5&id=48d53e9627OPEN SOURCE PROJECTSCodeDojohttps://github.com/Cause-of-a-Kind/code-dojo-coreOCR Ruby GEMhttps://activestorage-ocr-demo.fly.dev/COMMUNITY INITIATIVESLong Island Technologistshttps://www.longislandtechnologists.comhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/long-island-technologists-networkinghttps://www.instagram.com/longislandtechnologists/───────────────────────────https://coakstudio.comBrought to you by Cause of a KindA boutique software development and startup studio from Long Island, New YorkStand up. Show up. Build.

Michael Bromley started Vendure as a solo open source project in 2017 because he looked around the e-commerce space and could not believe what he saw. The tools were outdated. The stacks were legacy. And nobody was building what developers actually needed. So he built it himself.David Höck found Vendure while running his agency and saw a raw diamond. The code was beautiful. The website was terrible. He reached out to Michael on LinkedIn in German not knowing the guy was British. And the rest is history.Together they built Vendure into the enterprise e-commerce platform without the trade-offs. Open source at the core. Fully customizable. And intentionally boring. No hype cycles. No reinventing the wheel every release. Just software that works and keeps working.In this episode we go deep on the zero to market journey, the decision to turn down VC money, the pivot from agency to product company, and why boring technology wins every single time.Key TakeawaysDo not innovate on stuff that does not matter. Save your innovation for the 20% that sets you apart.Boring technology is a competitive advantage. Stability beats hype at enterprise scale.They turned down VC funding because it would have bent their vision to fit someone else's narrative.Bootstrap means you answer to yourself. That clarity is worth more than any check.The agency years were not wasted. Every hard project built the muscle that now powers the product.AI is a multiplier for product companies. They built three months of features that would have taken years before.────────────────────────────────LISTEN ON ALL PLATFORMSSpotifyhttps://open.spotify.com/show/1V4SjmlnG2sntDnck8UrGWApple Podcastshttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/strictly-from-nowhere-a-podcast-experiment-by-cause/id1804380172iHeart Radiohttps://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-strictly-from-nowhere-a-po-315649122/YouTubehttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWAstEyCK6YsKVTTRsQr37wSUPPORT THE SHOWPatreonhttp://patreon.com/StrictlyFromNowhereCONNECT WITH USLinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/strictly-from-nowhereWebsitehttps://strictlyfromnowhere.com────────────────────────────────FOLLOW JUSTIN ABRAMS | @cuzzinjustinLinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/cuzzinjustin/Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/cuzzinjustin/Xhttps://x.com/cuzzinjustinTikTokhttps://www.tiktok.com/@cuzzinjustinFacebookhttps://www.facebook.com/cuzzinjustin24Websitehttps://www.cuzzinjustin.com────────────────────────────────FOLLOW MIKE RISPOLI | @mike_rispoli_ctoLinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-rispoli-cto/Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/mike_rispoli_cto/Xhttps://x.com/michael_rispoliTikTokhttps://www.tiktok.com/@mike_rispoliWebsitehttps://michaelrispoli.com/────────────────────────────────CAUSE OF A KIND | @causeofakindWebsitehttps://www.causeofakind.comLinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/cause-of-a-kindInstagramhttps://www.instagram.com/causeofakind/Xhttps://x.com/causeofakindTikTokhttps://www.tiktok.com/@causeofakindNewsletter Signuphttp://eepurl.com/gcc-yjNewsletter Archivehttps://us16.campaign-archive.com/home/?u=847ea1526d6523a41ef1eb5a5&id=48d53e9627────────────────────────────────OPEN SOURCE PROJECTSCodeDojohttps://github.com/Cause-of-a-Kind/code-dojo-coreOCR Ruby GEMhttps://activestorage-ocr-demo.fly.dev/────────────────────────────────COMMUNITY INITIATIVESLong Island Technologistshttps://www.longislandtechnologists.comhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/long-island-technologists-networkinghttps://www.instagram.com/longislandtechnologists/────────────────────────────────Fin Forecasting - Never Lose Money On A Project Againhttps://www.finforecasting.comhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/fin-forecasting────────────────────────────────Brought to you by Cause of a KindA boutique software development and startup studio from Long Island, New YorkStand up. Show up. Build.