Tod Nelson's guest appearances

Tod Nelson

The Fretboard Journal Guitar Podcast

Cult of Startup Podcast

Sam Jones

Steve Earle

Aaron Draplin

Eric Johnson

Chris Young

David Crosby

John Pizzarelli

Jerry Douglas

Larry Crane

Joan Shelley

Chris Thile

Sam Bush

Chris Martin

Sarah Jarosz

Joe Henry

OwlTail

Tod Nelson was one of the first ten employees at Amazon. He started out packing books and, by the late 1990s, served as "punk rock editor" during the launch of that site's music store. After five years of working for the quickly growing company, he left and started a family on California's Central Coast. He'd eventually serve as the first executive director of Cal Poly’s Center for Innovation &amp; Entrepreneurship.  Beyond his work life, Tod has been a lifelong guitarist and guitar collector with a passion for all-things-Gibson. He's also a survivor: In recent years, he's had not one but two lung transplants. Tod's love for music and musical instruments has helped carry him through his recovery, culminating in his most recent project: A Song A Day for Acoustic Guitar. He's teaching himself one new song a day for the entire year... and he's looking for suggestions on what tracks he should attempt next (his current repertoire is available as a  Spotify playlist here). Feel free to shoot me suggestions for Tod via podcast@fretboardjournal.com. I've known Tod for over 20 years, but until this conversation, I had no idea just how important the guitar was to him or his recovery. I hope you enjoy this chat. It's unlike any other we've done to date. I hope you enjoy it. The Fretboard Journal's 48th issue is now available. Click here to read up on it and start your subscription. Don't forget, we now host an entire family of podcasts, about everything from lutherie to home recording:  Luthier on Luthier;  The Truth About Vintage Amps;  The Truth About Recording &amp; Mixing;Acoustic Voices; and  Sweep the Floor. This episode is sponsored by Mono Cases, Folkway Music and Retrofret Vintage Guitars.   Extra thanks to Calton Cases and Martin Guitars for sponsoring all that we do. 

Tod Nelson was one of the first ten employees at Amazon. He started out packing books and, by the late 1990s, served as "punk rock editor" during the launch of that site's music store. After five years of working for the quickly growing company, he left and started a family on California's Central Coast. He'd eventually serve as the first executive director of Cal Poly’s Center for Innovation &amp; Entrepreneurship. Beyond his work life, Tod has been a lifelong guitarist and guitar collector with a passion for all-things-Gibson. He's also a survivor: In recent years, he's had not one but two lung transplants. Tod's love for music and musical instruments has helped carry him through his recovery, culminating in his most recent project: A Song A Day for Acoustic Guitar. He's teaching himself one new song a day for the entire year... and he's looking for suggestions on what tracks he should attempt next (his current repertoire is available as a <a href="https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6nRchznpUvhgaYpRhoGsDF?si=5zcMJSaeR0qCTdfGrZmZjw&amp;dl_branch=1&amp;fbclid=IwAR1XjfYP_lgJtU77Wql6Jf9D0ziQJfs093bYMvlOHbYtMz9Effsx4tjMwB8&amp;nd=1" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Spotify playlist here</a>). Feel free to shoot me suggestions for Tod via <a href="mailto:podcast@fretboardjournal.com">podcast@fretboardjournal.com</a>. I've known Tod for over 20 years, but until this conversation, I had no idea just how important the guitar was to him or his recovery. I hope you enjoy this chat. It's unlike any other we've done to date. I hope you enjoy it. The Fretboard Journal's 48th issue is now available. <a href="https://www.fretboardjournal.com/features/fretboard-journal-48-whats-inside/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Click here</a> to read up on it and start your subscription. Don't forget, we now host an entire family of podcasts, about everything from lutherie to home recording: <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/luthier-on-luthier-with-michael-bashkin/id1208172851" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Luthier on Luthier</a>; <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-truth-about-vintage-amps-with-skip-simmons/id1442046563" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> The Truth About Vintage Amps</a>; <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-truth-about-recording-mixing/id1545628110" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> The Truth About Recording &amp; Mixing;</a><a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/acoustic-voices-a-guitar-podcast/id1547322420" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Acoustic Voices</a>; and <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sweep-the-floor/id1547312048" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Sweep the Floor.</a> This episode is sponsored by <a href="https://monocreators.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Mono Cases</a>, <a href="https://folkwaymusic.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Folkway Music</a> and <a href="https://retrofret.com/default.asp" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Retrofret Vintage Guitars</a>.  Extra thanks to <a href="https://www.calton-cases.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Calton Cases</a> and <a href="https://www.martinguitar.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Martin Guitars</a> for sponsoring all that we do.

Podcast 336: Tod Nelson

Today’s guest is Tod Nelson, the 8th hire of Amazon and now the Executive Director of the Cal Poly Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (cie.calpoly.edu). In this interview we talk about what the early days of Amazon were like. In addition we address topics that range from PR stunts to unorthodox hiring practices to Jeff Bezos leadership style on down to what you learn from packaging someones books. If that isn’t enough, we dig deep into the following questions:  How to manage explosive growth? Why you have to sometimes just show up, roll up your sleeves and work your ass off? Why you needed to think big at Amazon when came to implementing new processes? Why you should never hirer someone less talented than you? How entrepreneurship is best taught at the university level? How to maintain company culture while scaling?  Thank you for listening! Keep in touch with me @CultOfStartup on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat &amp; Twitter.

Today’s guest is Tod Nelson, the 8th hire of Amazon and now the Executive Director of the <a href="http://cie.calpoly.edu/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Cal Poly Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship</a> (<a href="http://cie.calpoly.edu" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">cie.calpoly.edu</a>). In this interview we talk about what the early days of Amazon were like. In addition we address topics that range from PR stunts to unorthodox hiring practices to Jeff Bezos leadership style on down to what you learn from packaging someones books. If that isn’t enough, we dig deep into the following questions: <ul> <li>How to manage explosive growth?</li> <li>Why you have to sometimes just show up, roll up your sleeves and work your ass off?</li> <li>Why you needed to think big at Amazon when came to implementing new processes?</li> <li>Why you should never hirer someone less talented than you?</li> <li>How entrepreneurship is best taught at the university level?</li> <li>How to maintain company culture while scaling?</li> </ul> Thank you for listening! Keep in touch with me @CultOfStartup on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/CultOfStartup/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Facebook</a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/cultofstartup/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Instagram</a>, <a href="https://www.snapchat.com/add/cultofstartup" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Snapchat</a> &amp; <a href="https://twitter.com/cultofstartup" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Twitter</a>.

Scaling the Largest Online Retailer with the 8th Employee of Amazon, Tod Nelson