Simone Giertz on Her Robots and Returning to Work After Brain Surgery

Simone Giertz describes herself as a maker/robotics enthusiast/non-engineer. She’s also known as the Queen of Shitty Robots. She runs a YouTube channel about those robots and is a cohost on Tested with Adam Savage from MythBusters.

https://www.youtube.com/simonegiertz
https://twitter.com/SimoneGiertz
https://www.patreon.com/simonegiertz

Tested with Adam Savage – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiDJtJKMICpb9B1qf7qjEOA

The YC Podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon.

https://twitter.com/craigcannon

Y Combinator invests a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups (recently 200), twice a year.

Learn more about YC and apply for funding here: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/

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Topics

00:00 – Intro

1:10 – “Whatever feeds the ego kills the soul.”

3:50 – Maintaining passion for your work

6:45 – Building a sustainable business as a creator

8:30 – Shipping a real product – The Every Day Calendar

17:30 – Being scared to step away

19:00 – Generating ideas

20:15 – Finding out she had a brain tumor, having surgery, and sharing it

25:30 – Returning to work after brain surgery

27:30 – Learnings from taking time off

28:30 – Asking for help

30:00 – Evaluating how she’s spending her time

31:45 – Giving herself permission to try other things

33:50 – Challenges as a creator and entrepreneur

35:30 – Not feeling guilty about play and pursuing the things you enjoy

40:30 – Becoming less disciplined in certain areas over time

42:15 – Ali asks – How to get started when dealing with imposters syndrome?

42:35 – beep boop asks – What’s your favorite robot?

43:15 – Beste asks – Are there any moments where she is bored and feels like giving up on creating new things?

44:25 – Khawar Shehzad asks – What thing do you wish you knew when you started your career?

45:35 – Olaf Doschke asks – What would have happened if Simone’s toothbrush helmet wouldn’t have gone viral?

48:05 – Johnathan Nader asks – What is the best version of yourself?