Three things you'll learn:

1. The simple star reward system Joel and his wife built that's teaching their girls how to earn things — and why it's working better than threats ever did
2. Why Joel says letting go of control is the single best thing he's done for his mental health as a working dad
3. How a community of dads changed the way Joel shows up at home — and why he says don't do this alone

What we cover:

00:00 — Introduction
Joel, VDR at Barracuda, husband, and dad of two girls aged six and three

00:00 — The star system
How Joel and his wife built a reward system that teaches values, earns trust, and keeps the house from falling apart

00:00 — Board games over screens
Why Joel's family is deep in their Disney and board game era — and how they got there

00:00 — The community piece
How Joel found DadGood, why he stays, and what it means to finally have a group of dads who get it

00:00 — Walking in the door
What it actually feels like to go from sales mode to dad mode in sixty seconds — and how Joel makes the switch

00:00 — Letting go of control
Why Joel says this is the most important thing he's done for himself as a father

00:00 — The hundred calls moment
When his six-year-old started asking how many calls he made that day — and what that moment meant

00:00 — Parting words
Don't do it alone. Go further together.

About Joel

Joel is a VDR at Barracuda Networks and a father of two girls — Kennedy, six, and Mickey, three. He is a husband, a community builder, and a working dad figuring it out one star chart at a time.

• LinkedIn: [Joel's LinkedIn]

About Working Dads

Working Dads is the podcast for fathers figuring out work, family, and everything in between. Every week host Johnathan Grzybowski sits down with working dads — founders, executives, investors, and everyday fathers — for honest conversations about the guilt, the grind, the marriage, the money, and what it actually takes to build a career and a family without dropping the ball on either.

No gurus. No highlight reels. Just real talk.

🎙 New episode every week
📩 Subscribe to Built During Bedtime — our weekly newsletter for working dads
💬 Join the community — Slack and Facebook group

Subscribe & Connect

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📺 YouTube: [link]
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👥 Facebook Group: [link]
🔗 LinkedIn: [link]
🌐 Website: [link]

For dads figuring out work, family, and everything in between.

Nobody prepares you for this.

Not the guilt of leaving for work when your kid is still asleep. Not the pressure of providing for a family while trying to build something that actually matters. Not the identity crisis that hits when you realize you're not just the guy who grinds anymore — you're somebody's dad. And that changes everything.

I started Working Dads because I lived that. I'm co-founder of Penji, husband to Emily, and dad to a two-year-old who already has more energy than I do. I've been bootstrapping a company for over a decade and I still don't have it all figured out. But I've learned that the most dangerous thing a working dad can do is try to figure it out alone.

So every week I sit down with founders, executives, investors, and everyday dads who are in the thick of it. We talk about the real stuff. The marriage conversations you keep avoiding. The financial pressure nobody admits to. The moment your kid looks up at you and you realize you've been somewhere else even though you've been standing right there.

We've also got Built During Bedtime — my weekly newsletter for working dads. The one thing I write after my daughter goes to sleep. Straight to your inbox. No fluff.

And we've got a community. Slack channel and Facebook group full of dads who get it. The kind of guys you can be honest with. The kind of friendships that actually go somewhere.

Come find your people.

Working Dads. For dads figuring out work, family, and everything in between.