Hi, and welcome to the first episode of Old School New Tech. I'm Ran Aroussi and some people know me as Code Daddy, and uh, we'll get to why in a minute. For the record, I didn't give myself that name. This show is for business owners, operators, people who are building something real, who aren't trying to build the next hot tech startup, but still know that if they don't understand tech, they'll get left behind. If that sounds like you, cool, you're in the right place. I'll be honest, I didn't wake up one day and, uh, thought to myself. I should have a podcast that came out of dozens, probably hundreds of conversations that I've had with business owners over the years. Some ran 30-year-old businesses and some are just starting out, but they all say the same thing. I know I need to use tech better or more tech but I don't know where to start, and that's totally fair. Most of the content out there is either full of jargon or is trying to sell you on the latest, shiny thing, or it's aimed for tech people, you know, developers, startup founders, people who are already living in that world. But what about the rest of the world? What about real businesses? The ones fixing teeth, uh, shipping freight, designing kitchens, running events? What about them? The great news is that you don't need to be a coder to build a great business today, but you do need to understand how tech fits into what you're doing because otherwise you are just flying blind. And that's why this podcast exists. It's, uh there to be a guide for business owners who aren't tech nerds, but still want to play smart. At this point you're probably thinking, who am I to be talking about this? Well, I've, been building stuff online since the late nineties. Uh, my first business was actually a web, uh, development firm that I started in 97. Uh, web development firm is kind of a, maybe an exaggeration because back then, we were just coding HTML with Notepad and using FTP to, put those files on a server. There wasn't, this notion of a web application yet. but since then I've had my hands into a bit of everything. I ran marketing agencies and advertising companies I've built enterprise software. I've launched SaaS platforms, and I've built open source tools like, uh, yfinance for example, that, uh, if you've ever pulled stock data into Python, you've probably used. So I've been the developer, the designer, the founder, the CTO, the CEO, the product lead. I've shipped things fast, I've shipped things slowly. I've failed. I've succeeded. I've learned, and over time because of that, people started calling me Code Daddy, not necessarily because I'm the best coder out there, but because I get it, I know how code fits into business. I know how to make tech useful, strategic and profitable. If I'm honest, that's what I do best. I'm connecting the tech stuff with the real world stuff. I currently run a company called Automaze that's a software development studio where we help businesses bring their ideas to life. Sometimes that means building a product from scratch. Sometimes it means helping a team automate their customer onboarding. Sometimes it is just jumping in as the CTO on demand when a founder needs a second brain, and I'll be honest, working with clients at Automaze, is what actually pushed me to start this podcast'cause I kept seeing the same patterns. Smart people, great businesses, stuck in the same places. They're either using tools that don't fit or drowning in manual work, and they're afraid, rightfully so, by the way, of messing something up if they try to modernize or change the underlying technology that they're using. So I thought, okay, what if we just had a space to talk about this kind of stuff? You know, in plain English with no fluff, no pitch deck energy, just useful stuff from someone who's been in the trenches. So here's what you can expect from old school, new tech. Some episodes would be just like this one, me walking you through an idea, a trend or a tool I think you should know about. Others would be interviews, with business owners and operators and builders who are doing real work and figuring out how to use technology along the way, We'll be talking about things like: What automations can actually do for small businesses and how AI fits into traditional industries, which tools are legit and which are just noise. And we're gonna have real stories of people who've modernized their operations and are seeing results. think of this like sitting down with someone who've done this thing before and can help you avoid the usual landmines. There's not gonna be any buzzwords, so don't expect any episode with a title like"10 x or ROI with this one weird trick". So none of that stuff. It's gonna be just honest conversations with practical takeaways look, whether you like it or not, every business is now a tech business. Just think about it, right? does not mean that you need to build an app or start hiring developers. But it does mean that your systems, your workflows, your tools, they matter. They're part of your infrastructure now, just like rent or electricity. And if you ignore that, you're giving up leverage, you're literally leaving money on the table, maybe even risking the whole business. But if you lean into it, even just a little, you can buy back time. You can reduce stress and grow faster without hiring a small army. And the best part, you don't need to become a tech person to pull it off. You just need to know what to look for and where to start. So here's what's coming next. I plan on dropping new episodes weekly. Some will be short and tactical, like,"Hey, here's a tool I've been using that can probably save you 10 hours a week". Others will go deeper. There'll be interviews with folks who have done the work and have stories to share. So if you're trying to future proof your business without falling into the startup echo chamber, this show is for you. One last thing before I go. If this feels like something that could help you or someone you know, do me a favor. Subscribe to this podcast. Leave a quick review, share it with a friend or a colleague, and if you are a business owner with a story about how you've used tech to solve something, reach out. I'd love to bring you on. That's it for episode one. You can find me on X at aroussi. A-R-O-U-S-S-I. Find me, fight me. We'll have a good time. That's it. I'm Ran, your Friendly neighborhood, Code Daddy, and this is Old School New Tech. I'll see you soon.