Big episode. Kris crossed the line. John's running out of tokens again. And there's a lot of ground to cover.

Topics covered:

[0:00] Intro & Back From Summer
[1:17] Kris Installs Codex (Finally)
[3:36] Founder Fellowship: 5 Vibe Coders Walk In
[6:20] Hot Take: Will You Even Need to Learn to Code?
[9:36] Getting Unlocked vs. Getting Generic Answers
[11:06] AI Art in Client Brochures — A Trust Problem
[13:23] Automating Social Media with Box Out
[17:34] Trial Reels, Algorithm Games, and Quantity Over Timing
[20:09] Onboard Your Own Product — On Repeat
[23:50] Fireside New Site & Automated Weekly Emails
[26:34] GStack: Build a Feature From Scratch With Bumpers
[30:11] Building a Founder Fellowship Tracking App
[33:47] Todoist + MCP — Logging the Admin Work That Doesn't Count
[35:28] Flare Performance Reports Every Morning
[38:49] What's Shipping at Fireside This Week
[41:10] OpenAI Astra: Burned a Week of Tokens Before Breakfast
[48:14] The Virtuous Loop: Codex Fixed 18 Months of Bugs
[52:00] Recommendations: GStack, Astra & Leaders Eat Last

Mentioned:

• OpenAI Codex / Astra
• GStack (Gary Tan / Y Combinator)
• Flare: app performance monitoring
• Box Out
• Speaker Deck
• Fireside.fm
• Momentum Founder Fellowship
• UserList — lifecycle email
• Todoist + MCP integration
• Cloudflare (for building lightweight apps)
• Jesse Hanley / Bento
• Grok / Grok Bot

Like, follow, and leave a comment. First one's still up for grabs.

Sometimes the thing that's slowing you down isn't the business, it's the nasal spray. John's back, feeling good, and firing on all cylinders. Kris is deep in the work of letting go. This one's equal parts founder therapy and technical nerd session.

Show Notes:

(0:00) Intro: Starting with the Wins
(0:39) It Was the Flonase (John's Back)
(2:39) Collecting Validation: Save the Wins Too
(5:11) The Fireside New Studio: What's Working
(10:04) Delegate or Die: Letting Go Without Losing Control
(12:33) New Segment: Sparks Fly (Hot Takes)
(13:05) Hot Take: AI Art Is Ruining the Print Shop
(20:01) Hot Take: Codex Isn't All Bad
(24:59) Vibe Coding: What Nobody Tells You
(28:29) Fan the Flames: Try More Than One AI
(30:07) The Busy Light Saga
(35:28) Embers: Momentum Startup Cohort
(37:22) Embers: Podcast Art & Thumbnail Strategy
(38:20) Surviving a 5-Hour Railway Outage with Claude
(44:45) Flare, Box Out Click Tracking & What's Next

Check Out John's Stuff:

• Fireside.fm: https://fireside.fm
• Flipper Cloud: https://www.flippercloud.io

Check Out Kris's Stuff:

• Momentum – Coworking space in South Bend: https://momentumsb.com
• Access Imprints – Screen printing & embroidery: https://accessimprints.com
• The Hardest Thing Podcast: https://hardestthingpod.fireside.fm

John (https://x.com/jnunemaker ) and Kris (https://www.instagram.com/kristopherpriemer) talk about the real side of running multiple businesses: open loops, hiring pains, patience, and what actually keeps founders going.

Show Notes:
(00:00) Intro & Catching Up
(01:39) Into the Fire: Idea Week Debrief
(02:58) Coworking Pivot: Why Private Offices Win
(06:42) New Category Thinking (Grüns Gummies)
(08:12) How to Fund the Build-Out
(08:52) Into the Fire: Health, Friendship & Hell Yeah or No
(11:06) Who You're Around Changes Everything
(12:23) Fan the Flames: Graham Weaver's Asymmetric Life
(14:07) Personality Isn't Permanent & Leadership Presence
(16:23) Cornelius Vanderbilt & the Art of No Grudges
(22:21) GStack: Gary Tan's AI Dev Workflow
(24:36) Using Claude to Fix WordPress Bugs
(26:33) YouTube Rabbit Holes & What John's Feed Looks Like
(28:29) Embers: Fireside, Flare & Flipper Updates
(33:05) Building an AI Watchdog That Redeploys at 3am
(38:23) Daily GitHub Summaries for $20/month

Check Out John's Stuff:

• Fireside.fm – Podcast hosting for serious podcasters: https://fireside.fm
• Flipper – Feature flag management: https://www.flippercloud.io

Check Out Kris's Stuff:

• Momentum – Coworking space in South Bend: https://momentumsb.com
• The Hardest Thing Podcast – https://hardestthingpod.fireside.fm