John Mills is the CEO and co-founder of a nonprofit called Watch Duty. His problem is this: How do you build an app to warn people when they are in immediate danger from a natural disaster? Watch Duty has millions of users and played a key role in the Los Angeles fires of 2025. In the show, John talks about how he built his app with the help of an army of volunteers, and why the government hadn’t already built something like Watch Duty.

In this episode, John explains: 
Why one-quarter of Los Angeles residents downloaded Watch Duty during the 2025 fires
Why the all-clear message matters almost as much as the initial warning
How they are expanding into flood warnings
How to decode firefighter’s radio chatter, and his favorite bit of jargon 

Connect with us:
Follow Jacob Goldstein on LinkedIn, X and Instagram
Email us at problem@pushkin.fm 
Follow Pushkin on Instagram, LinkedIn or X 
Listen to Jacob’s other show, Business History 
To listen to the show early and ad free, sign up for Pushkin+

John Mills is the CEO and co-founder of a nonprofit called Watch Duty. His problem is this: How do you build an app to warn people when they are in immediate danger from a natural disaster? Watch Duty has millions of users and played a key role in the Los Angeles fires of 2025. In the show, John talks about how he built his app with the help of an army of volunteers, and why the government hadn&rsquo;t already built something like Watch Duty.
In this episode, John explains:&nbsp;
<ul>
<li>Why one-quarter of Los Angeles residents downloaded Watch Duty during the 2025 fires</li>
<li>Why the all-clear message matters almost as much as the initial warning</li>
<li>How they are expanding into flood warnings</li>
<li>How to decode firefighter&rsquo;s radio chatter, and his favorite bit of jargon&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
Connect with us:
<ul>
<li>Follow Jacob Goldstein on <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacob-goldstein-888a2441/">LinkedIn</a>, <a href="https://x.com/jacobgoldstein?lang=en">X</a> and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/jacobjgoldstein/">Instagram</a></li>
<li>Email us at <a href="mailto:problem@pushkin.fm">problem@pushkin.fm</a>&nbsp;</li>
<li>Follow Pushkin on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/pushkinpods/">Instagram</a>,<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/pushkin-industries/posts/?feedView=all"> LinkedIn</a> or <a href="https://x.com/pushkinpods?lang=en">X</a>&nbsp;</li>
<li>Listen to Jacob&rsquo;s other show, <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/business-history/id1844409167">Business History&nbsp;</a></li>
<li>To listen to the show early and ad free, sign up for <a href="https://www.pushkin.fm/join-pushkin">Pushkin+</a></li>
</ul>

Every week on What's Your Problem?, former Planet Money host Jacob Goldstein talks with entrepreneurs and engineers tackling the biggest challenges at the forefront of technology. How do you make a trip to space as routine as a plane flight? How do you turn solar energy into clean fuel? How do you use AI to stop deadly infections before they spread? We hear a lot these days about how the world is getting worse. What's Your Problem? learns from the thinkers and doers trying to make our future better.

iHeartMedia is the exclusive podcast partner of Pushkin Industries.

Every week on What's Your Problem?, former Planet Money host Jacob Goldstein talks with&nbsp;entrepreneurs and engineers&nbsp;tackling the biggest challenges at the forefront of technology. How do you make a trip to space as routine as a plane flight? How do you turn solar energy into clean fuel? How do you use AI to stop deadly infections before they spread? We hear a lot these days about how the world is getting worse. What's Your Problem? learns from the thinkers and doers trying to make our future better.
iHeartMedia is the exclusive podcast partner of Pushkin Industries.

What's Your Problem?

Every week on What’s Your Problem, entrepreneurs and engineers talk about the future they’re trying to build – and the problems they have to solve to get there.

How do you take a drone delivery service you’ve built in Rwanda and make it work in North Carolina? How do you convince people to buy a house on the Internet? How do you sell thousands of dog ramps to weiner dogs all across America when a pandemic breaks the global supply chain? 

Hosted by former Planet Money host Jacob Goldstein, What’s Your Problem helps listeners understand the problems really smart people are trying to solve right now.

iHeartMedia is the exclusive podcast partner of Pushkin Industries.

Racing Wildfires to Warn the Public

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/1bcf376e-f08c-4cbe-b5b3-b47400f386e7/transcript