John Machacek, Chief Innovation Officer for the Greater Fargo Moorhead Economic Development Corporation, has worked with countless startups throughout our community over the years. He knows their ups, and their downs, but most of all, he knows the questions to ask them. Here are John Machacek’s 10 questions for Nick Horob, Founder, Nerd Out.
1. Will you please tell me your elevator pitch for Nerd Out?
I’ve been having more conversations with AI than with friends lately, and I don’t love that. That’s why I’m building Nerd Out, a place where ideas actually connect you to people. It starts with a free note-taking app that uses links instead of folders, syncs across devices, and lets you collaborate in real time. From there, we’re adding courses and communities, so your ideas don’t just sit in a vault. They spark conversations and build connections.
2. Will you please elaborate more on where your ideas can connect with each other and with other people?
I’ve gotten into note-taking quite heavily over the last few years, and some of the more popular notetaking tools like Obsidian use this link and tag-based organizational methodology, but the syncing between devices isn’t great, and there’s no collaborative feature. So, we’re making both multi-device syncing and collaboration first-class citizens in Nerd Out.
3. If I remember correctly from a past LinkedIn post of yours, did this Nerd Out note-taking tool somewhat come about because you were building it for yourself first?
As I mentioned earlier, I use a variety of tools that I like, but none of them really had everything that I wanted. So, I was fortunate enough to cross paths again with a great developer, Brian Pattison, and decided to bring him on to help me bring this note-taking vision to reality.
4. And in the same vein of “building it for yourself”, I’ve seen you post a lot about how you’ve used tools to code and develop things, and you advocate for others to learn how. Such as the term Vibe Coding. Can you please tell the readers a bit more about vibe coding, so to speak?
I’ve done a pretty crazy amount of “vibe coding” over the last six months. I find it incredible to think up an idea and have a fully functioning application live in five or ten minutes. I personally use a platform called Bolt. new. It’s awesome.
I haven’t mentioned it yet, but I have an overall passion for business and entrepreneurship. One of the things I wanted to challenge myself with after leaving Harvest Profit was writing more content, so I’ve started a daily email newsletter called Nerd Out On Business, where I profile one company per day with a goal of giving people actionable insights rather than stock tips.
I’ve used Vibe Coding to build a couple of tools to help me manage that newsletter, and I use them nearly every day. I feel like we’re just entering the golden age of where anybody can build the digital tools that they want and need for their lives and businesses.
A bit more of an actionable step would be, if you have an idea, go to ChatGPT, give it your idea, and have it ask you some questions. The questions tend to be pretty good. Then ask ChatGPT to turn that into a prompt for you, and then take that prompt and throw it into Bolt.new. It’ll be pretty impressive.
5 . Regarding the newsletter, can you explain a bit more about that, please? And be sure to mention a plug for how people can find it and subscribe.
Over the last 20 years, I’ve spent a ton of time on Yahoo Finance, and I’m not really looking for investments. I’m just trying to learn about businesses and what they do, what their financial statements look like, and how they make money.
I also wanted to challenge myself with some consistent writing. So, I decided to take this personal passion for learning about different businesses and business models and write a daily email on it. That’s how Nerd Out on Business got started. I started earlier this year. I think I’ve written about 120.
It’s free and meant to be a quick 2-3 minute read. Sign up at NerdOutOnBusiness.com.
6. In addition to building new tools, since you’re all about using effective tools, what are some others beyond Bolt.new that have impressed you lately?
A couple of tools that I find myself using a lot are Wispr Flow and Gamma. Wispr Flow is a really neat voice-to-text tool that I use a crazy amount. I just hold down a key on my laptop and speak, and it cleans up the grammar, formats it—it’s really amazing. I thought the voice-to-text on my iPhone was good until I started using Wispr Flow.
I hesitate to even tell you about this one. Gamma is a tool for creating presentations. It’s amazing.
One of my professional weaknesses is that I have zero ability to create a good-looking presentation, but at the same time, I value good-looking designs and presentations. That was a big issue for me until I found Gamma.
About Wispr Flow
Wispr Flow is an AI-powered voice dictation tool designed to let people write and communicate hands-free, seamlessly converting speech into text across emails, documents, and everyday apps. Built for speed and convenience, it emphasizes natural, low-effort dictation—allowing users to speak normally, even quietly, while the software accurately transcribes and formats their words in real time. By reducing the need for typing and context-switching, Wispr Flow helps professionals stay focused, productive, and in flow throughout the workday.
About Gamma
Gamma is an AI-powered platform for creating visually engaging presentations, documents, and webpages without the friction of traditional design tools. It allows users to turn ideas, notes, or text prompts into polished, interactive content quickly, handling layout, visuals, and structure automatically. With built-in collaboration and easy sharing, Gamma helps teams communicate ideas clearly and beautifully— making it simple to go from concept to presentation-ready content in minutes.
7. Now that this time you have 10 years of that entrepreneurial journey behind you from your prior software startup Harvest Profit, have you noticed or thought about the difference in your brain or in your habits or anything from then to now?
To be frank, the advances in AI over the last year have had a profound impact on me and my work.
I definitely have what I would call entrepreneur ADHD. I have no shortage of business ideas, as you can likely tell via these questions. AI really just is a big jug of gas to pour onto that Entrepreneur ADHD. It’s amazing, but it makes it a bit hard to step away from it.
In addition, after leaving John Deere, I have a ton of time on my hands. So, I really have to try hard to put guardrails around my time and effort, so I’m as productive as possible. This is definitely still a work in progress!
8. Speaking of John Deere, you sold your first startup to them. After going through that process, do you have any tactical or operational tips for others, or things you feel like you did right or could have done differently?
First of all, the people at John Deere were great, and my experience was awesome. I’m fortunate to be one of the few people who sell a business and have next to no regrets.
A tactical tip for everybody would be to have a central repository for all of the key documents in financials for your company. I would do a quick Google search for “due diligence checklist” and find some examples of due diligence checklists that have been used in the real world. Set up something in Google Drive or OneDrive that mimics what this checklist looks like and keep it up to date. If somebody ever wants to learn about your business, then that’s the path you want to go down. You will already have a huge head start in gathering the information that’s necessary.
Furthermore, you’re likely to impress your suitor, and I would be surprised if this organization of your business’s information wouldn’t lead to a higher. It’s a win-win-win.
The one regret I do have is that I’m not really a natural manager. I’m more of an individual contributor. When I started working at John Deere, everybody on my team became a direct report to me. Those managerial duties took away from my creative duties, and with the benefit of hindsight, I should have brought somebody on before the transaction to be more of a manager/ operator.
9. Well, aside from that one somewhat pseudo regret you just mentioned, if you could talk to Nick from years ago, what kind of hindsight advice would you give yourself?
A huge benefit for me personally has just been sharing information and ideas on platforms like X and LinkedIn. I hesitated doing that for a number of years, and that was a mistake. In my opinion, the number one thing you can do to grow your business is try to add value to others and find a platform that enables that.
10. To wrap up the interview, what can we do as a community to help you and Nerd Out succeed?
Nerd Out’s note-taking platform likely won’t be live by the time this interview is published. It’s going to come sometime in Q1 of 2026. But if anybody has any interest in business, please sign up for nerdoutonbusiness. com. In addition to the company profiles that I mentioned, I also give updates on the different projects that I’m working on, and so I’d love to have you as a subscriber.
Also, back in the day, I used a course called “The Business of Farming” to help fund the final development push for my software product, Harvest Profit. To help bootstrap and “dog food” Nerd Out, I’ve launched a cohortbased course called AIonYourFarm. com. If you or your customers are in agriculture, check it out!
Nerd Out on Business
About John
John Machacek has been helping local startups with the Greater Fargo Moorhead Economic Development Corporation for over a decade. Before joining the GFMEDC team, Machacek’s career path has varied in areas such as banking, accounting, and management in the non-profit, food & retail sectors.
