Matt Johnson: When Web3 Is Worth It and Learning to Lead

In high school, Matt Johnson followed in the footsteps of his older brother, pursuing similar hobbies like sports and music. After joining a band, Matt realized they needed a website. Mirroring his brother, Matt learned to code, built a website, and changed his college major.

Following graduation, Matt dove into business ownership, buying out the company he interned for with a business partner. That once small operation has grown to a team of over 100 and as of July 1st, Matt will be Midwestern Interactive's sole owner. Like Chuck and Robbie, Matt made the switch from programmer to business owner and is committed to his role as a people and business leader. 

In this episode, Matt talks with Chuck and Robbie about learning to love coding, Matt's philosophy on tech and business, what's valuable and what's fluff with Web3, and why Matt took up golf after putting coding on the backburner.

Key Takeaways

• [00:29] - A brief introduction to Matt. 
• [01:24] - A whiskey review. 
• [08:34] - How Matt discovered coding. 
• [12:17] - Matt's (and Robbie's) music career. 
• [15:14] - How Matt decides what tech to work with. 
• [16:33] - How often Matt actually codes as a business owner. 
• [22:56] - The very last piece of billable code Matt wrote for Midwestern Interactive.
• [26:39] - How Matt views the value of Web3.
• [34:40] - What golf and programming have in common.
• [39:23] - What other businesses Matt runs and how those ventures came to be. 
• [44:20] - What Matt thinks of YAML. 
• [44:58] - How Chuck and Robbie strategize with tech and testing. 
• [52:42] - How Matt produces consistently strong outcomes. 

Quotes

[14:25] - "It's pretty crazy, right? You leverage the tools for what you love to do, and then you fall in love with the tool. It's a really interesting thing. I remember the idea of telling a computer what to do was just baffling to me. I can just create my own anything." ~ Matt Johnson [https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-johnson-71a059b3/]

[18:26] - "When you are running a business you have to be able to be the right person for the job at any given moment. And you have to have that ability to change your priorities to meet the priorities of the people setting the priorities." ~ Matt Johnson [https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-johnson-71a059b3/]

[18:57] - "When you base your decisions on what's right, it's a whole lot easier to go to sleep at night. And getting good rest is very important in the progression of your business." ~ Matt Johnson [https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-johnson-71a059b3/]

Links

• Matt Johnson [https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-johnson-71a059b3/]
• Midwestern Interactive [https://midwesterninteractive.com/]
• W.L. Weller Antique 107 [https://www.buffalotracedistillery.com/our-brands/w-l-weller/w-l-weller-antique.html]
• Pappy Van Winkle's Whiskey [https://www.oldripvanwinkle.com]
• Maker's Mark [https://www.makersmark.com/]
• Buffalo Trace Distillery [https://www.buffalotracedistillery.com/]
• Old Forester 1920 Prohibition Style Whiskey [https://www.oldforester.com/products/old-forester-1920-style-prohibition-whisky/]
• Total Wine [https://www.totalwine.com/]
• Bart Paden [https://www.linkedin.com/in/mediaphish/]
• Christ In Youth [https://ciy.com/]
• The Jordan Howerton Band [https://www.jordanhowerton.net]
• Myspace [https://myspace.com]
• Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALS Lead and Win [https://www.amazon.com/Extreme-Ownership-U-S-Navy-SEALs/dp/1250067057]

Veteran web developers RobbieTheWagner and Charles William Carpenter III host this informal, whiskey-fueled fireside chat with your favorite web devs. They discuss all things web development including JavaScript, TypeScript, EmberJS, React, Astro, SolidJS, CSS, HTML, Web3, and more. They take a unique approach and focus on getting to know the human side of developers and their hobbies outside of work, all while sampling a new whiskey that they rate on their unique tentacle scale.