Developer on Fire
Developer on Fire
Episode 390 | Brian Pontarelli - Emotional Response
Brian Pontarelli is founder and CEO of FusionAuth, a Denver-based software company that provides a free identity management platform. Brian start programming at 8 on an Apple 2e using Apple Basic. He taught himself Pascal, Assembler and C during middle and high school. Initially thinking that he had enough programming for a while, we started studying electrical engineering at the University of Colorado, only to quickly realize that differential equations and circuits gave him recurring heartburn. He switched to electrical and computer engineering midway through and started helping teachers review books, teach classes and tutor students. After college, Brian coded at various companies including XOR, US Freightways, BEA, and Orbitz. Growing up in a family of entrepreneurs, Brian always knew he would start his own company. In 2007, Brian quit his day job and took the plunge into starting a software company. Outside of work, Brian is an author and a regular speaker at numerous conferences and meetups.
Chapters:
- - Dave introduces the show and Brian Pontarelli
- - How Brian got started in software
- - FusoinAuth and what Brian is trying to do
- - Origins of the idea of FusionAuth
- - Becoming an entrepreneur
- - Brian's story of failure - scaling up an organization without the need to do so
- - Balancing writing software and running a business
- - Teaching, communicating, speaking, and writing
- - Living in the Denver area
- - Brian's book recommendation
- - How Brian stays current with what he needs to know
- - The importance of emotional response
- - The things that have Brian most excited
- - Brian's top 3 tips for delivering more value
- - Keeping up with Brian
Resources:
Brian's book recommendation:
Brian's top 3 tips for delivering more value:
- Think about your users
- Stop thinking about code so much
- Have fun
