anguslong
Joined 17 years ago
Karma
82
Submissions
32
Member since
Sep 23
Recent submissions
Comment · 15 years ago
At least one startup's doing just fine vs. Blackboard. Instructure Canvas just closed series B, is CEO'd by former Mozy founder and is LMS of choice for a growing number of schools (and soon to be @ Auburn if twitter's to be believed).
They avoid litigation (apparently) by open-sourcing their stack and charging for hosting/integration. Rails-based goodness.
[not affiliated - but was just identifying LMS options for a client]
Comment · 15 years ago
tl;dr Contractor develops psyops backend for the cloud. Creates fake persona pool. Uses anonymizer/chameleon for IP obfuscation, vmware/virtualbox instances for each persona, enables deploying to vps around the world. Uses system to age personas via social/email accounts and salt with rss, social & checkin data.
RFP: https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id...
Comment · 15 years ago
Amazon is sending me a copy.
I hope it's as helpful as the classic "If You Want to Write" by Brenda Euland -- which was written in 1938, but has aged very-very well. Originally found this book via Guy Kawasaki on his list of great books for entrepreneurs & creative types.
Comment · 16 years ago
Joe Ades -- passed away last year after many years selling on the streets of NYC. He was profiled a few times, but this article sheds more light on his life and business:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/27/magazine/27ades-t.html
One heckuva salesman.
Comment · 16 years ago
Looking forward to following behind the scenes on this. Saw the initial tweets about WPEngine and mighty interested in the 'lessons learned' re: using social for first block of customers.
From the comments: SmartBear's measuring initial success as $360k ebitda ($30k a month). While arbitrary, seems a smart goal. Makes for a sustainable and salable business (with room for a bit of R&D and bonus structure).
Oh, and Austin FTW.
Comment · 16 years ago
Mark Bittman, food writer at NYT strikes a balance between food hyperbole and science that appeals to me. (e.g. full appreciation of health, weight, environment, pleasure trade-offs)
His personal goal of "vegan until 6" is an example. Veggies & fruit during the day, then a balanced dinner with protein.
A bit more detail and links to his sources (books): http://www.theglobeandmail.com/books/article967801.ece
Comment · 16 years ago
Good post. Another way to put it?
"Hitched to Someone Else's Dream" http://www.inc.com/magazine/20080901/hitched-to-someone-else...
"I got sucked into his enterprise -- our livelihood now depended on it -- and though I had little input into its direction, I stood to lose everything if it failed."
Article echoes much of what my wife has dealt with in 15 years I've been building companies.
Comment · 16 years ago
Ok, Colbert (and smart MSFT product-placers) - I'll bite. Today is officially "Bing for a Day" here. I just set my Chrome default engine to Bing for the first time. Should be fun -- wondering if I'll miss the Goog in the next 24 hours.
Comment · 16 years ago
"gets engineers to prioritize stuff"
Yes. And jives with Kayak.com founder's Big Red Phone tactic:
"About a year ago, I bought a red telephone with a really loud ringer for the office. Whenever a customer calls the help number on our website, that phone rings. The engineers initially complained about it. They said, "That's so friggin' annoying!" And I'd say, "There's a really simple solution: Answer the friggin' phone and do whatever it takes to make that customer happy. Then hang up, unplug the phone, walk it down to the other end of the office, and plug it in down there."
http://www.inc.com/magazine/20100201/the-way-i-work-paul-eng...
Comment · 16 years ago
Another way of saying same. If employees are in your future, focus on revenue per employee (RPE).
Napkin math: sub-$100k RPE and your wee company is nominally profitable after salaries, fixed & variable costs. Greater than $100k per employee, profits scale nicely.
While nice to talk about the Goog's RPE ($1 mil '08), I prefer to "fish" for company ideas a little closer to Earth. For inspiration, Inc 5000 companies with 50 or fewer employees, sorted by revenue:
http://www.inc.com/inc5000/2009/search_results.html?showrank...
Comment · 16 years ago
Room for profit is the key. Comments from local folks in-the-know seem to say this has been investigated here in the ATX, and there isn't room for profit.
Alas, your garage idea might be the next step. (maybe a mobile geek-hut in the garage, with solatubes for a bit of natural light?)... hmmm
Comment · 16 years ago
Just celebrated my 1-year anniversary here in Austin, Texas. Took 8 years to convince wife to make the move. Been fantastic so far. Article is right-on in many regards:
Business/startup/tech climate is strong. (btw: norm is mucho less of the douche than SXSW crowd)
Housing: we moved from Seattle. Home prices roughly half (in 'burbs, near exceptional schools). Taxes are roughly double -- a big reason for low home prices, besides all the cheap land.
Lifestyle: Austin's very similar in people-climate to Seattle. Active, outdoor-loving, low-key, friendly folks.
Climate: summer unbelievably hot, rest of the year, pretty fantastic (for a Seattle boy).
While I've seen a bit of the Red-State stereotype, personal freedom and a live and let live attitude (personally, in government, and business) is much more the norm -- and perhaps much of the reason for riding the recession a bit smoother.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ranguslong