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

A lost episode, finally found and worth the wait. John and Kris get into the real conversations founders rarely have out loud.

Topics covered:

• Recording in person vs. remote - why it changes everything from the conversation to the edit
• Zoom fatigue and the surprising reason video calls wear you out
• The compounding effect: Atomic Habits applied to building a podcast (and a business)
• Hiring contractors vs. in-person employees - the messier, harder reality
• Patience as a founder - why wanting things to move faster creates its own kind of damage
• Open loops, stress, and why celebrating closed wins matters more than we admit
• The cost of being a yes-person when your time is your most valuable asset
• What's fueling the fire: books, podcasts, community events, and people showing up

Mentioned:

• Atomic Habits – James Clear
• Ready, Fire, Aim – Michael Masterson
• $100M Leads – Alex Hormozi
• My First Million Podcast
• Momentum (coworking space, South Bend)

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