Lunch Place Chooser ft. Suman Koirala

VO: Get ready for your semi-regular dose of random ideas from the guys at Codelation. We like to talk about big ideas companies that are winning, and those that aren't along with current events in our crazy world of software startups. So come along with Erick and Josh, who challenge you to think big, start small and turn your ideas into something on this episode of, from idea to done.

Josh: Hey everyone, I'm Josh.

Erick: and I'm Erick.

Suman: and I'm Suman.

Erick: Today's idea is what the heck are we going to do for lunch? And I'm here with one of our other co-nerds and first guests on the show, Suman. Suman, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Suman: Uh, I'm me.

Josh: Okay. Uh, everyone assumes a software engineer here at Codelation, a noticeable introvert who might use up his word allowance on this podcast.

Erick: I'm pretty sure he's going to do that, but each week, um, you and I will go get some lunch somewhere and we run into that dreaded question, like where do you want to go to eat? And so you decided just to create a web app to help us answer that question. Can you talk a little bit about this lunch place chooser?

Suman: So we never know where to go for lunch. So I built the app using Google maps and places API, Ruby, and rails, and some JavaScript.

Josh: So, uh, how does it work though? I mean, what's the experience of using it? Do I have to go enter my zip code or what do I do?

Suman: When you first load the app? It tries to access your location. If it cannot, you can enter your current location too.

Josh: And a location really can just be like any address.

Suman: Yes.

Erick: And so, yeah, we actually, we use this on Monday and it was amazing. It took us to this really great Indian restaurant and I've been there before, but I honestly, I never would have thought of that without the app.

Josh: Wait Suman you built an app at work to help you go take breaks?

Suman: No, I built it on the weekend.

Erick: Good answer. Good answer. And so, as a giant nerd, I also had a special request and I made, I asked you to make the app be like Yoda and talk like him. I'm a fan of the fact that you were actually able to make this happen. How did you do that?

Suman: Uh, there was a website that translated English into yoda speak.

Josh: Okay. I see that. So you had some phrases translated into Yoda, what's next cling on or something else? Really nerdy.

Erick: Let me think he could do this and I love it. And so this thing, honestly, I worked amazing and I love that the force helped us pick where to go to lunch.

Josh: Erick, the force is Google places, API.

Erick: You don't have to be a downer. And we can talk about terrifying dad on a different episode. And I actually saw I'm looking forward to the next time. Like we want to go to lunch. I'm like, I don't know where we want to go. And so thank you Suman for walking 20 feet to help us record this episode.

Suman: You're welcome.

Josh: So thank you for listening this episode of no idea of where to go. If you know a startup that could use advice, have them subscribe and leave a review on iTunes.