Josh Melick
SVP Product & Data
at App Science
I love building great products, great companies, and working with great teams. Over the past 15+ years, I have founded two startups, exited both, and held high-impact roles within two businesses that reached large, successful exits. I love working with and alongside other founders, dreamers, and builders.
I’m a strong leader with a high level of customer empathy, deep technical understanding, and the ability to develop high-level strategy while also digging into the details of product, sales, engineering, or operations. Ambiguity, complexity, and pressure bring out my best work.
Throughout my career, I have been a frequent speaker at events, a podcast guest, and a guest writer on a range of topics. I am a builder at heart and constantly working on my latest project — companies, houses, motorcycles, or just a better way. You’ll also find me around the world on regular adventures — my family calls me a high-risk junkie.
I hold an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from UC Davis and completed my undergraduate studies in Engineering Physics.
Articles by Josh Melick
7 Steps to Build a Product That Sells Itself
In our latest session from the Mucker Growth Series featuring Ethan Smith from Graphite, we explored AEO, a significant new approach for optimizing visibility in AI-driven search, particularly relevant as...
The Founder’s Mental Health Playbook: What I Learned After Nearly Burning Out
A hard-won guide to staying mentally healthy while building a startup I founded Stitcher, the podcast platform, in 2007 and ran it for seven years until we sold in 2014....
Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) for Early Stage Companies
In our latest session from the Mucker Growth Series featuring Ethan Smith from Graphite, we explored AEO, a significant new approach for optimizing visibility in AI-driven search, particularly relevant as...
Startup Guide to AI Visibility: Be the Brand ChatGPT Recommends
Introduction Today, users aren’t just searching on Google. They’re asking ChatGPT, Claude, Google’s Gemini, Perplexity, and other AI systems for advice. AI visibility is the new frontier of brand awareness....
Practical Uses of AI & Automation for Startup Operations
In a recent Mucker Growth Series session, we invited Rock Vitale, Founder & CEO of Easie, to share how he’s helped early-stage teams move from manual, fragmented workflows to streamlined,...
2025 New York Tech Week Recap Of Mucker Sessions
Last week during New York Tech Week 2025, we joined more than 1,000 events hosted by founders, investors, and VCs. This post is a full Mucker recap of the three...