The Dream Series

Live Your Dream Now - The goal of this talk is to inspire people to pursue projects they are passionate about now and abandon false hope for a future where they might maybe get started. This is not Tony Robbins aspirational fantasy but ground level practical advice on how to succeed wrapped in a narrative of a life littered with failures. The talk explores Josh's personal history from youthful explorations with technology through an unsatisfying professional career to life as an indie developer.

Effective Strategies for Dropping Out (App Edition) - The follow up to "Live Your Dream Now" this talk goes into how specifically to change the course of your career. The goal is to help people prepare for and execute major changes in their career or personal life. The focus is on how to leave a big company job to go indie, but the tactics apply to all sorts of life changes and career transitions. Before you get any wild ideas about quitting your job watch this talk.

Everything I needed to know I learned in ACM - This is the collegiate version of the "Live Your Dream Now" talk. Reframed to inspire people who have not yet entered the professional world, the goal of the talk is to help students understand that there is no fundamental difference between how they pursue projects outside of class and how they pursue them in the "real world." This talk is not available on-line due to the low quality of the recording. You can contact me directly for a copy.
 

The Art Series

Roll Your Own MFA (or À La Carte Education) - In this talk Josh shares his efforts to self-educate in the Arts by combining workshops, conferences, tiny schools, and other part-time experiences. Josh reveals his two year plan to get an MFA without getting an actual degree and shares some of the advantages and disadvantages of his approach. The talk culminates with a course catalog that anyone can use to help create their own educational program. 

Effective Strategies for Dropping Out (Art Edition) - The follow up to "Live Your Dream Now" this talk goes into how specifically to change the course of your career. The goal is to help people prepare for and execute major changes in their career or personal life. The focus is on how to leave a big company job to go indie, but the tactics apply to all sorts of life changes and career transitions. Before you get any wild ideas about quitting your job watch this talk.
 

The apple series

Finding the Intersection - The goal of this talk is to inspire creative people in all disciplines to become more multi-disciplinary in their work. The talk explores the differences and similarities between artists and engineers and presents strategies for improving collaboration. The overarching narrative is an attempt to understand what Apple means when they say their best work is done at "The Intersection of Art and Technology."

Tales from Indie Tech Support - The goal of this talk is to inspire empathy in those interacting with customers particularly in a support context. This humorous exploration of Josh's life doing technical support as an indie developer reveals critical lessons about how to understand and manage customer support. Learn about his biggest wins and ridiculously bad failures attempting to support his own line of products. 

Deprecated Incorporated - The goal of this talk is to help developers deal with the rapid rate of change on Apple platforms and the problems that can arise from that change. Whether it is an API change that breaks your existing code, a platform bug that makes your app malfunction, or a policy change that endangers your app, this talk explores many examples of things gone wrong inside the reality distortion field.
 

The Business series

I have no idea what I'm doing - The goal of this talk is to help people understand when the right time to start a business around a particular new technology or idea is. Everyone has a story about an idea they had that someone else beat them to making a million dollars from. In this talk Josh presents two models as a framework for deciding when to start developing a particular idea or product. The talk also offers strategies for what to do in the meantime if your ideas are ahead of their time.

How I Failed Part #1: Launching - The goal of this talk is to help indie developers launch their apps more effectively. It explores successes and failures I had launching apps including Magic Window, Earthlapse, and Ow My Balls! As of 2015 some specific aspects of the talk are no longer current. However the overarching message is as relevant as ever. This talk mostly focuses on the App Store. 

How I Failed Part #2: Monetization - The goal of this talk is to help indie developers properly monetize their apps. In the talk Josh presents a comprehensive model for thinking about app monetization including free, paid, in-app purchases, sales, and subscriptions. This is a must watch for developers trying to figure out how to make actual money off their apps. As of 2015 some specific aspects of this talk are no longer current. 

How I Failed Part #3: Timing is Everything - The goal of this talk is to help indie developers decide when to release their apps. The talk looks at the yearly "Apple Calendar" of announcements and releases and identifies when the best times to launch are. While the talk is specific to the Apple platform many of the concepts in the talk are universal. This talk is not available on-line due to the low quality of the recording. You can contact me directly for a copy.

Don't Go to San Francisco - The goal of this talk is to inspire European developers to continue building companies in Europe rather than go to the US. The talk breaks down common fantasies about working in the US and Silicon Valley and presents a strong case for staying put in Europe. It also includes practical advice for those traveling to the US to do business or raise funding. This talk is not available on-line due to the low quality of the recording. You can contact me directly for a copy.

Performance History

6/26/17 - New York, NY - NYU ITP - This is Your Brain on AI

6/17/17 - New York, NY - NYU ITP - Revealing Migraine through Art & Science

6/11/17 - New York, NY - NYU ITP - Roll Your Own Studio

6/4/17 - New York, NY - NYU ITP - Roll Your Own MFA

8/22/2016 - Denver, CO - 360iDev - Effective Strategies for Selling Out

6/19/2016 - New York, NY - NYU ITP - Roll Your Own MFA

6/12/2016 - New York, NY - NYU ITP - Effective Strategies for Dropping Out (v2)

4/6/2016 - Toronto, ON - DevMonth - Still Here (v2)

8/16/2015 - Denver, CO - 360iDev - Still Here

7/15/2015 - San Francisco, CA - Mobile Web+DevCon - I have no idea what I'm doing (v3)

6/10/2015 - San Francisco, CA - AltConf - Deprecated Incorporated

4/25/2015 - San Francisco, CA - 360intersect - I have no idea what I'm doing (v2)

4/22/2015 - Portland, OR - PDXCC - Magic Flowers History

11/19/2014 - Portland, OR - RefreshPDX - I have no idea what I'm doing (v1)

11/15/2014 - Portland, OR - PDXCC - Finding the Intersection (v3)

7/16/2014 - Chicago, IL - Mobile Web+DevCon - Tales from Indie Tech Support (v3)

6/5/2014 - San Francisco, CA - AltConf - Finding the Intersection (v2)

5/16/2014 - Tallin, Estonia - GameFounders - Don't Go to San Francisco

5/14/2014 - Tallin, Estonia - Interplay - How I Failed Part #3: Timing is Everything

5/9/2014 - Tallin, Estonia - GameFounders - How I Failed Part #2: Monetization

5/8/2014 - Tallin, Estonia - GameFounders - How I Failed Part #1: Launching

5/7/2014 - Amsterdam, NL - Appsterdam - Finding the Intersection (v1)

1/29/2014 - San Francisco, CA - Mobile Web+DevCon - Tales from Indie Tech Support (v3)

12/13/2013 - Washington, DC - MoDevEast - Tales from Indie Tech Support (w/Robi Ganguly) (v2)

10/22/2013 - Tallin, Estonia - GameFounders - App Economics 101

10/21/2013 - Tallin, Estonia - GameFounders - Launching & Lifecycle

10/12/2013 - Urbana, IL - Reflections/Projections - Everything I needed to know I learned in ACM

9/10/2013 - Denver, CO - 360iDev - Effective Strategies for Dropping Out

7/17/2013 - Boston, MA - Mobile Web+DevCon - Succeeding in the App Store

6/13/2013 - San Francisco, CA - AltWWDC - Tales from Indie Tech Support (v1)

4/17/2013 - Seattle, WA - 360intersect - Live Your Dream Now

4/27/2013 - Seattle, WA - 360intersect - Tales from Indie Tech Support (beta)

4/12/2013 - Tallin, Estonia - GameFounders - Tales from Indie Tech Support (new)

4/9/2013 - Tallin, Estonia - GameFounders - Succeeding in the App Store: Selling

4/8/2013 - Tallin, Estonia - GameFounders - Succeeding in the App Store

11/6/2012 - Tallin, Estonia - GameFounders - Succeeding in the App Store Part 2

11/5/2012 - Tallin, Estonia - GameFounders - Succeeding in the App Store Part 1

7/18/2012 - San Francisco, CA - Mobile Web+DevCon - Winning the App Game

9/2010 - Mountain View, CA - Appbackr - Winning the App Game

8/2010 - Palo Alto, CA - PlugAndPlay Tech Center - Winning the App Game