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👋 Hello, world!
I'm passionate about online education and the creator economy.
I'm a technical founder — I founded an audio startup, Awesound.
I work on Corporate Strategy for Stripe.
I've tweeted ~4,000 times. I hope this site is a more navigable summary of some things I'm doing and currently thinking about.
About
My startup
At the end of 2014, I quit McKinsey to create an audio platform.
Awesound has evolved into a company I'm proud of. I help story-tellers and educators make a living.
Awesound lets you securely sell audio from any website. It's used by podcast, audiobook and education companies.
It's small but profitable. Much-loved by current publishers. Growing mainly by word of mouth.
Read more:
AwesoundMe
I'm now in San Francisco, California 🇺🇸 (Click to expand)
I'm Irish. Recently moved from Dublin. I've lived in Cork, London, Puerto Rico, Ericeira (Portugal), Boston and California. I’ve visited 41 countries. I love everywhere 🌎 . I've a soft spot for America 🇺🇸.
- Born 1989.
I believe in the power of role models.
Awesound is one way I can help people find role models, but I'd like to do this more.
- I'm often described as high-energy.
I love meeting new people – nearly always energizing.
- If you ask people who know me what I'm like, they'll probably mention this. I'm in my element at conferences, weddings, etc.
- I love talking to customers. (Even if it's doing front-line customer support.)
I see the good.
- I'm optimistic by choice, but try not to be deluded. Honestly evaluating probabilities beats naïvely hoping for the best in the name of optimism.
- Separately, and more consistently, I have a "good news" filter for my attention. A negative story needs to meet a high bar for relevance for me to give it much time. I prefer to focus on building than complaining.
- You tend to see what you look for, so I look out for cool, positive things.
- I used to be the definition of extrovert, but COVID lockdowns have made me really get to know my introverted side.
Interests
Talk to me about
Technical
Building a podcast and audiobook platformIntegrating Stripe- Learning to code
- Self-publishing audiobooks
Business / pleasure
- Podcasting (set up a call via GLG)
- Working with creators and educators
- Evaluating startup ideas
- Management consulting (my last job)
- Founding a startup, bootstrapping, getting a small bit of funding from YC, getting distracted from customers by awards 🤦♂️, iterating based on customer feedback
Personal
Mental wealth, personal motivation, positive thinking, re-framing
- I'm one of the happiest and most motivated people I know. It's a very personal thing, but I've worked on mental management. Your brain is a muscle you can train. I have my wobbles, but I've learned to train my muscle a lot over the past decade.
- If you’re in a funk, let me see if we can find a new way of looking at things, a more helpful narrative, or some tactical immediate actions.
- Talking to strangers
Your relationship(s)
For some reason, I'm very interested in this topic, and I've had lots of deeply personal discussions about relationships. I'd be glad to be your sounding board, or just listen.
- Life decisions (I'll be your sounding board and ask questions)
Teach me about
The creator economy- Music production
- Micropayments
A.I.
- I have GPT-3 access, but I'm not really using it! What should I be building?
- What books, videos, podcasts or courses should I study?
- Crypto, DeFi
- Aging
- Becoming a better interviewer and asking better questions – for podcasts etc.
- Being a better friend.
- Staying in touch with friends.
- Being a better romantic partner.
Electronic music production
Posts
On this site
Fun (coding) projects Tech recommendationsUse Notion for your websitePredictionsEnd-of-day survey / journalBooks recommended to meWhat I believeCVPrivate notes to selfI have a few ideas of other pages to add to this site
- Podcasts I like
- Startup ideas for you to run with
- Books I've read and highlights
- Investment learnings and/or thesis
- Unsolicited thoughts on relationships and other topics
- Advice to my younger self / Life learnings / advice to someone 10-20 years younger than me
- Fav. tweets
- Fav. quotes (here's a starter list)
- End of Day or End of Week — employees
- Chess
- Chrome extensions
- Chrome custom shortcuts
- Brave vs Chrome
If you've other ideas, do let me know!
External links
- Beginner? Learn to code: CodeWithMosh.com
- I've learned a lot from the people I follow on Twitter.
This website
About this websiteCredits
Cover photo: Kilkee, Co. Clare, West of Ireland
I've taken hundreds of photos of this patch of the coast, but this pic is from Mark Lawson. (Notion has a handy Unsplash integratration to boot.)
Notion → Next.js website: main libraries by NotionX / Travis Fischer
See Use Notion for your website for more details.