Apr 6, 2020

When Cody Nault decided to pack up and move from Portland, Oregon to Silicon Valley in pursuit of his dreams with nothing to his name but his coding expertise, a car and a few essentials— he never anticipated the thousands of social media followers he’d inspire along the way.

Today, Cody sits down for a conversation with Arwin and Sissi. He shares his past experiences with homelessness and the story of how he used his talents in tech to build his first company and escape poverty by the age of 20. His choice to live minimalistically out of his car is something he says, that has pushed him to grow in ways that will surprise you. 

Listen in to hear the motivations behind his jump into the unknown and how he’s navigating startup life on the streets of Silicon Valley. Find out how he’s meeting friends and potential business partners, staying safe. He shares why most of us are looking at homelessness all wrong and the key to consistent progress. The secret? Never getting too comfortable.

Episode Timeline:

• [00:00] Intro
• [00:42] Meet Coder Cody Nault
• [01:34] Why moved to Silicon Valley with no job or place to live
• [05:52] Sharing the journey on video and gaining a following
• [08:02] Being confident enough to take a leap of faith
• [10:00] Experiencing homelessness as a teen and needing challenges to grow
• [14:37] Using meetup.com, networking and making friends for survival
• [21:29] Meeting interesting people and potential partners
• [23:07] Embracing the Silicon Valley garage dream
• [25:46] The experience of living out of his car and his take on homeless stereotypes 
• [36:51] Discipline and setting yourself up to be accountable
• [41:08] Creating a lifestyle of progress
• [44:37] What advice Cody would give his past self
• [47:12] What he wants to know from his future self
• [48:42] Contacting & working with Cody 
• [51:50] Outro

Resources Mentioned:

• Udemy.com
• Meetup.com

Standout Quotes:

• “We're taught growing up that stability is key. If you can work a job long term, that's like the most important thing but with people working in technology, a lot of times we kind of see this situation where if somebody sits in the same job for more than five or six years, they start getting stale. They stop learning. Yeah. They get really narrow minded and, and I really didn't want to become that person.” - Cody Nault [02:35]
• “I've done this before, I've moved to an area and I did it from absolute poverty. But there was no proof, all you have is my story. And so, I'm like, you know what, I'm gonna do this again. But I am going to do it from middle class going up instead of poverty going up. You know, I want to do this again. But this time, I'm going to document it.” -Cody Nault [11:22]
• “So I realized that even when things were really bad, and like, I had less money than I had now. And I was living in my car, not by choice, like, I could still build a life for myself.” -Cody Nault [12:16]
• “It's like the more stuff and the more comfort we create, yeah, the less we want to push ourselves. Because there's always that safety, there's that spot where we can just chill and turn off.” -Cody Nault [40:04]

Connect:

Find | The Fight 2 Finish Podcast

On Instagram: @f2fpodcast

On Apple Podcasts

On Stitcher

On Spotify

Find | Cody Nault

On Tik Tok: @codythecoder

On Instagram: @cody.the.coder

Find | Arwin & Sissi G

On Instagram: @mat_marauder

@gisforwarrior