Big Bang Technology Blog

8 Things We Need to Work with an Angel Investor

2009-07-14T14:09:36Z

Everyone wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die. A lot of people want angel financing, but it always comes with strings attached. Here's the story of how we came to an understanding with our investor using basic, high-level ground rules as a starting point for negotiations.

When we received an offer from an angel investor for them to finance the development of a product that we would own together, we were skeptical. About a year before the offer, we were hired as sub-contractors building a project for the same investor. Since we were junior members of the team, we weren't empowered to make any decisions. Unfortunately for everyone involved, the old project turned out to be a mess.

Inevitably, we burned out, and the team of contractors disbanded one by one. By the time we concluded it was time to take off, all parties were consumed by mistrust. Building software isn't worth being miserable, and we were ready to give up 80% of our income and eat the red pill. But our investor wasn't ready to give up. He asked us what we would need to stay on board and start again from scratch, in fact he challenged us to give him a reason to walk away.

The least we could do was take a shot at it. Here's the email we sent him a few days later.

Dear Angel,

Thank you for your time today. Here's the list of our needs:

We don't want to engage the clients that you maintain (no side projects, marketing sites, or sales meetings).

We need to have secure financing, every month, without fail.

We need to establish expectations for this product together, and stick to them.

We need two stakeholders in this project (Us, and you). Only expert opinions should be considered when evaluating new features.

We need to make and our own product, and own a fair portion of it.

We need to know our operating budget.

We need to resource this project as we see fit.

We need to trust that these commitments will be honoured.

If we can address these eight needs that we have, there's no reason we shouldn't be able to do work together.

Best,

Max

Turns out he thought our list was pretty reasonable. If anyone's wondering why they haven't seen much of us lately at some of the great conferences and meet-ups, it's because we've been busy working. We're looking forward to getting back out into the community and talking about our new project, just as soon as we release this beta.

Twitter Developer Diary

2009-07-11T16:11:46Z

From the looks of things I'm not going to be writing a lot of essays like Max. I'd like to still be active though, so we started Big Bang Developer Diaries. We may not talk specifically about the project we're working on, but at least we're talking. Inspired by Brent Simmons.

The Meaning of the Small Corporation

2009-07-07T19:40:23Z

A few thoughts on creating a technology start-up, from a guy who understands that it takes discipline and humility to serve and nurture your company into maturity.

When I started Big Bang with Cameron I knew I was going to work hard, I knew I was going to challenge myself, and I knew I was going to go a bit crazy. I didn't know how much it would take to succeed, or what kind of existential crisis it was going to throw me into.

Working for someone else is easier than working for yourself. You get to concentrate on what you know how to do, you know what your purpose is. You have a role within the organization, and you fulfill that role to the best of your ability. If you do your job well, you get a raise. If you don't do your job well, you get fired, unless you're a damn fine bullshitter. Pretty simple.

But when you start a company, you become responsible for creating an environment, a culture, and carving a space in the world for you to occupy and grow out of. In other words, building a company from scratch is a long and terrifying journey, full of opportunities. Opportunities to fail, to succeed, to learn, and to create.

A corporation is both an abstract thought and a tangible entity. As an entity, a corporation is a legally sanctioned association of individuals, which exists independently of its members. But as a concept, I believe a corporation is a prism through which we can channel our creative energy thus producing artifacts which are greater than the sum of their parts.

A corporation isn't something you start to get rich. It's something you shape, nurture, and build. And if you build it well enough, and give it the strength and identity it needs, it will carry itself and its members through unbelievable paths and roads. A corporation has an identity all of its own, an identity that is created through the contributions of its members.

A corporation needs to be served in order to succeed. It demands discipline from its members, and it requires diligence from those who care for it. Discipline means that I get paid a little and work a lot. Diligence means that I have responsibilities to my company that require me to consistently sacrifice in its best interest.

How we're serving our corporation

Minimize costs (aka pay yourself as little as possible): Corporations need money to become great. People that enrich themselves at the cost of their company leave their own hands tied. Financial independence (even if it's only enough to keep you going for a month or two) enables you to stand up for what you believe in, say no to bad clients, avoid developing banner ads, even let you build that product you've been dreaming of.
Experiment and fail quickly: Building a corporation in this sense is like cultivating a garden. You nurture the good plants, and remove the weeds. Take your war chest, and put it towards many, small experiments. Let them fail, and let them fail quickly. The worst regrets are the risks you refuse to take.
Invest in your environment: A corporation is nothing without a great environment to create in. Buy as few things as you can, but when you do buy a necessary item, buy the best. This includes designing the best workshop, hiring the best lawyers and accountants, and taking the time to eat right and exercise. Your environment feeds back into your practice, and defines what you create.
Educate your members: Educating yourself is not a luxury left to established firms. Education gives you the power of knowing the practical and theoretical context you need to build something relevant. It could be reading books, going back to school, or talking to your mentors. Do it before work, after work, or during your lunch break. The day we believe that we are educated enough, is the day we fool ourselves into accepting mediocrity as an acceptable standard.
Take care of your members: Whether it means taking out insurance, contributing to medical or educational expenses, allowing for time off, or simply being a good friend to the people you work with, always try and be a source of strength for your colleagues. The big secret is that nobody has all the answers, and we all feel the same stress.
Push yourselves: The members of your company need to become better to survive. Whether you're a PM or a Coder, insist that everyone you work with become smarter. Force yourselves to accept the challenge of producing professional artifacts. Don't settle for doing the least acceptable amount of work, and don't be afraid to point out your colleagues' greatest weaknesses. Think about it, and acknowledge you have the opportunity to produce the most amazing work you've ever imagined every time you sit down at your desk.

The big point is, we don't think we'll ever become great if our attitude is "What can my company do for me." It's not about money, it's not about prestige, and it's not about only doing the work you want to do. It's about capitalizing on the fact that humans can accomplish marvelous feats. If we're going to build the company I know we can build, we're going to get our hands dirty. We're going to work for little pay, and we're going to ensure that we're strong enough to do what we know is right.

Mobile Orchard Beginning iPhone Programming Workshop in Toronto

2009-06-25T20:29:42Z

On July 9th and 10th, Dan Grigsby, creator of Mobile Orchard, will be leading an iPhone Dev Workshop as part of Future Ruby. You can check Dan's twitter page to see if you like his style. Dan's not a T.O. boy, so when Stephen from Zetetic put us in touch, I was more than happy to do my part and help spread the word. Good luck Dan, I'm sure the rest of the Toronto tech folk will make you feel right at home.

Tools for Event Organization

2009-06-22T15:06:05Z

As an event designer, I use a number of tools to help organize and execute various events in the tech/web community. While I won't be able to talk about all of them today, I'd like to focus on a few that I REALLY like.

Organization

I've used a number of organizational tools to manage the event design process. One tool that I love to use the most is Things ($49.95 USD), developed by Cultured Code.

One of the great things about, well, Things is that it allows me to breakdown different events into projects, and within those projects I can create tasks related to that specific event. I can track ticket sales leads, sponsorship information, or any other type of content. One thing it doesn't do is allow for the importing of documents (Word, PDF, etc) or store information in the cloud. Fortunately, CulturedCode created a slick iPhone app ($9.99 USD) that syncs your data across your iPhone and laptop/desktop. I have no real complaints about Things at all, except for the lack of the document importing/cloud data storage functionality.

Another application that I like to use is Evernote (free, with the option to upgrade to a paid account) to store data like attendee registration lists, catering information or anything that is relevant to the day-of. Evernote is a great tool, because not only can you store content on your phone (iPhone, Palm Pre, Blackberry, Windows Mobile), it syncs your data into the cloud and into the software application. As if that isn't enough, there's also a web-clipper extension for Firefox and a USB key version of Evernote.

The free account only allows you to store 40MB of data, while the premium account ($5/month or $45/year USD) allows you to store 500MB of data. Check out http://www.evernote.com/about/premium/ for more information.

Wrap-up

Post-event engagement is an important part of the process that some event organizers neglect. Understanding what your attendees thought of your event is critical to learning how you can improve future events. I've setup a Google Docs form to get feedback from event attendees to gain insight on what they thought of the event, the speaker, and the content. I like to ask attendees what they would improve, as it gives them a sense of ownership.

Which tools do you use to organize and curate events? What tools or services do you use for post-event engagement? I'd be curious to hear your thoughts! Hit me up on Twitter.

Expression Engine the Song

2009-06-16T12:32:17Z

I wrote this song for the folks at Ellis Labs for making such an amazing CMS. Expression Engine is crucial in a big way. Listen to it right here, and enjoy.

Four Questions for a Technology Start-Up

2009-06-09T23:27:18Z

Here are four questions that have been agitating me lately. They're not meant to be insurmountably philosophical or life-changing. They're more like nerd pick-up lines. Some have said that four is an arbitrary number, and it is. I feel however, that an even five would fit no better. Hopefully they'll put your craft into perspective and show you how many more questions we have yet to answer.

If there was no internet (gasp), what sort of things would you design?

Would you be inventing a new solar panel or a shaping a mahogany table? Would it even be an object? Perhaps you would be molding a process or a policy? Creating analogies which contain your virtuous characteristics can help you reflect on the digital tools or processes that you're developing now.

If your company was a country, what kind of government would it have?

How would your government make decisions? How would it protect itself and its identify? Processes, pay scales, conflict resolution, and purpose are all derived from the same values which define a government. Would you be a Scandinavian vision of democracy? Or would you be like a well intentioned dictator? I like to think that we try and incorporate different elements of different political theories, so we should be flexible. Let's not forget as well that revolutions happen as well.

If you could spend 10,000 hours becoming an expert on one thing, what would it be?

The question du-jour at the office these days. We all want to be experts. Rumour has it that becoming an expert takes ten thousand hours of practice. How can you find out what you want to focus on for such a large amount of time, and how do you go about doing it. Sometimes I think life would be easier if I wanted to be an expert in something simple, like pizza for example. As of today, I haven't identified my 10,000 hour goal. It's just a matter of time though, because it can't hide forever.

What are you not willing to do for success?

Here's a tricky one. There's a lot of ways to make a buck out there. Every single one of them is challenging. And only some of them take you where you want to end up. Choose wisely, and never worry about next month's rent.

Community Building 101: Some Thoughts

2009-06-02T13:11:51Z

Traditionally a "community" has been defined as a group of interacting people living in a common location. Currently there are dozens of different types of communities, and even many more definitions of what "community" really is. I'd like to post some thoughts on community building, as it is the core of what Refresh has set out to do; build a community and promote it.

If you are responsible for building a community, I'd like to offer you some advice. You don't have to take it, you can throw it away and ignore it if you like. It comes with no strings attached, and I won't be offended.

But if you are serious about building your community, please pay attention because it makes the difference between having advocates and having people not take you seriously.

If your users engage, engage back.

There's nothing more disconcerting than to engage a community builder into a question, only to be completely ignored. Community builders, there's a very good reason why your email client and why Twitter includes a reply button. USE IT! It's free, it takes only a few seconds and you'll feel alot better. And most importantly, you're building a 1-1 relationship with that person that can later translate into offline interaction, which means sales, advocacy, love and more.

Rule of thumb? It's about the people, stupid.

There's no such thing as conflict of interest in community building.

Like the saying goes, if I had a nickel for every time I heard someone use "conflict of interest" in the same sentence as community building, I could have retired years ago. If people want to help you build your community, citing "conflict of interest" is an irresponsible way of refusing said help. A great example of not citing conflict of interest was the #hohoto event that took place last Christmas. Each person involved in the planning brought different skills (maybe some brought the same) to the table, and many more brought their ideas and suggestions. But not once did they ever say no or dismiss any idea. The result? A packed house, an amazing crowd, and they raised over $25,000 for the Daily Bread Food Bank. All that was done in 13 days.

Rule of thumb? Don't say no. Ask for feedback/opinions/assistance, and your users will do more for you than you ever expected.

If you're a community builder, you're in the public eye.

I don't really need to explain why this is important, but I will anyways because so many community builders forget this very important rule. If you are going to address an issue on a blog post, a forum, Twitter, or any other medium, know that 1) Google will find it, and 2) People will talk about it, retweet it, call you out, expose you and make you sorry you were ever born. People today have finely tuned BS receptors and amazing research skills. They will use both to their advantage. Remember that before you hit the submit button on that blog comment.

Rule of thumb? Watch what you say. The past always comes back to bite you.

We asked this question of our Twitter followers: What are the characteristics of a "good community builder"? The responses we got were very interesting:

Kevin Richard: "non restrictive, disclosure (no false pretenses), facilitating rather than forcing conversation, interactive" and "basically not being a corp. shell. The manager listens and responds to the users instead of just pushing out info."

Darius Bashar: "they must be authentic, and have a lot of LOVE. They must also be anti-ROI minded.", and "It is about relationships and about truly listening to your users!"

Dan Codesta: "A good community builder is one who sees an opportunity to fill a need until time comes to 'hand it up' to more capable hands."

Aidan Nulman pointed us to a blog posting about community organizing by Ryan Holiday. It got us thinking: What can we do to make our world better? How can we help our local and global community thrive and be more sustainable? What can we do to help each other succeed, both personally and professionally?

What do you think? What are the characteristics of a good community builder? Hit me up on Twitter, I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts.

Community Building 101: Building A Community on Twitter

2009-05-23T14:00:05Z

Twitter is a powerful tool for building relationships, if used properly. Used improperly, it can wreak havoc, destroy perception of your brand, and even open you up to litigation.

As a community builder for Refresh Events, I use Twitter almost exclusively (Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google are also part of our toolbox) to reach out to the community and generate awareness of our organization and its events. However for today, I would like to focus on how to use Twitter to build a community.

Is it secret?

Protecting your Twitter updates is akin to telling everyone about your amazing product/service/company, but then introducing a barrier to entry. Seems counter-productive, doesn't it? Imagine if you will someone (let's call him Joe) tweets about how much they love your product. One of Joe's friends, Michael sees his tweet, and is immediately intrigued. When Michael clicks on your name, he is presented with:

Twitter is an excellent tool for building relationships; protecting your updates prevents you from building those relationships and gaining visibility. It also discourages people from following you.

Rule of thumb? Don't protect your updates if you want to build a community on Twitter to complement your offline community.

Sign on the dotted line

Now that you've opened your Twitter account to the world, you'll want to make sure people know you're on Twitter. This doesn't mean you should put your Twitter account on a billboard (unless you have the budget for it!). But you should put your Twitter account on:

Your website
Your business card
Your email signature

Rule of thumb? Twitter is a tool - use it like you would use any other tool to drive awareness, create relationships, and if done correctly, build reputation.

Help me, Obi Wan Kenobi

Many companies use Twitter as a customer contact vehicle. Among these are JetBlue, Comcast and many others (Brands, take note of how they service their customers). I would like to focus on two particular companies and how their use of Twitter has gained them popularity, increased awareness and improved their brand reputation.

I was recently made aware of Hyatt Concierge (hat tip to @jaygoldman), a Twitter-based customer contact account dedicated to helping their customers with hotel reservations, locating tourist attractions, restaurants (outside the hotel, no less), and is monitored 24/7 by Hyatt staff. While this is nothing new, what's unique about their use of Twitter is they don't promote their brand. Instead, they actively support their customers through listening to their questions and providing assistance. Post-sales support is also provided via their Twitter account.

Freshbooks is another example of an amazing company who provides stellar service to their customers through Twitter. They actively listen to their customers, provide support, gather feedback and frequently give back to the community. I recently had a question about their service and within minutes, I received 2 responses from Andrew Peek (@drupeek) and Rayanne Langdon (@rlangdon) with working solutions. Rayanne also made herself available to answer any questions I had by way of a phone call.

Rule of thumb? Make yourself available to people, answer their questions, don't shout about your brand 24/7, and you'll build an army of advocates.

Sharing = caring

Like most people in tech community, I read a number of blogs and RSS feeds. If I read something I feel is interesting, valuable, and important, I have a personal and professional responsibility to share that content with others. Why? Because it shows you're keeping up to date with technology and you're building a reputation as someone who gives back to the community.

That's not to say you should tweet about EVERYTHING you read; doing so will get you unfollowed rather quickly by a large number of people. Instead, pick and choose carefully what you want to share. If you think people in your network would find it relevant to what THEY do (not what you do), it's well written, or it tackles an important business/social/etc issue, I would encourage you to send it out. More often than not, it will fuel discussion between yourself and others.

The wonderful people at RedWire (of whom I am a big fan) do this quite frequently. Their target market is entrepreneurs, and so they often tweet entrepreneur-related content (how to start a business, budget planning, and so on).

Rule of thumb? Share. It's good for your karma, it shows people you care and you never know who you're helping!

Mind your P's and Q's (aka learning how to say "Thanks!")

Thank your new followers. I don't really need to explain why this is important, do I? It's just plain ol' good common sense, and people love to be recognized! Do it as often as possible.

Similarly, thank people for helping you. Again, it's common sense. If someone does something to help you in real life, you should always say thank you. The same law applies in the online world.

Rule of thumb? A simple "Thank you!" goes a long way.

These are but a few of the ways you can start building a community on Twitter. Next Monday, I will have more tips for you in the ongoing "Community Building 101" series.

Agree? Disagree? Hit me up on Twitter, and let's talk.

Red Pill Blue Pill

2009-05-20T22:44:38Z

Will we eat the red one and go for a ride, or the blue one and forget we had the chance?

Catch-404

There is an element which binds many independent web development and software companies together. For those of us who never took venture capital or angel investment, that binding element is the reality of working for clients in favour of developing internal ideas.

Two fears consume us: The fear of a lifetime of client work, and the fear of meeting basic human needs (food, shelter, clothing). But two forces move us forward: the passion to create, and the hunger to survive. The goal of the independent software shop is to design excellent solutions to specific problems of interest. Unfortunately, when you focus on client work, the domain is pre-determined, and clients hold the purse-strings.

Red Pill Blue Pill

Yesterday we gave notice to our masthead client that it's time for us to move on. This client represented about 80-90 percent of our income. It wasn't personal, it was about the software. Everyone in our industry knows what that means. After some careful thought and a few lengthy conversations, we decided we cannot afford to wait any longer.

As Barack Obama said on the day he declared his bid for the Presidency,

"I recognize there is a certain presumptuousness - a certain audacity - to this announcement. I know I haven't spent a lot of time learning the ways of Washington. But I've been there long enough to know that the ways of Washington must change."

We cannot afford to wait any longer: It's time to create the software we became developers to make.

Easy Now Coach

Let's relax with a few good questions:

Are You Crazy? Yes. Crazy like a FOX.

Are you scared? Yes, but not for the reason you might think. I'm scared of what Cameron's going to say when Justin and I move in live off of tuna fish, top-raman and tap-water.

Are you taking any more client work Mr. Desperado? Maybe, if we have to. But only if it smells right. And only if it meets but does not exceed our minimum monthly operating expenses. We're very good at keeping our operating expenses low.

Do you need our help? Yes. We will definitely need everyone's help making sure we can devote time to producing amazing software. I've already asked the community to help me out with a survey we're doing, and we will ask again. In return, we will do our part to support everyone around us. Read about it here and here.

Here's another promise I can keep: If we ask for your help, we won't waste your time.

Community Building 101: Let’s Start The Conversation

2009-05-18T21:40:36Z

There are many traits to a good community builder: authentic, non-restrictive, interactive (no pun intended here), good listener.

But there is one trait that is very important to a community builder, and it's one that ALL community builders should have: the ability to LISTEN, and LISTEN WELL.

Cameron posed of me a thought-inspiring question last week: If you could spend 10,000 hours doing one thing, what would it be? I walked home that day from the office (a full 7 kms) with his question running through my head. I thought about this question for a few days and after much contemplation, it occurred to me I had the answer to his question. The answer had been there all along, all I needed to do was separate the wheat from the chaff.

For the past 10 months, I've been building a community. A group of technology savvy folks who desperately needed a community to call their own. A community of inspiring, motivated, entrepreneurial and innovative people. I am incredibly proud of the community I've built so far, and most of you know it as Refresh Events. That being said, we have much more work to do in order to accomplish the other goals that we have laid out in our roadmap.

So to answer Cameron's question: Community building. It's a lofty goal, yes, but let's break it down for a moment.

What's it all about, Alfie?

Upon giving Cameron my answer, I explained to him one of the ways I can begin to be a better community organizer is to overcome my fear of public speaking. It's true; I'm terrified of public speaking. I'll be the first to admit it. But then again, who isn't afraid of talking to a crowd? We hammered back and forth some ideas on how to work on my fear of public speaking, but then he said something I'd never thought of before. He said, "Maybe it's not your public speaking skills that you need to work on first, maybe it's your LISTENING skills."

This was my "A Ha!" moment of the week. All along I was talking to people thinking I could solve their problems by talking them through (programmers call this "rubberducking"), but in order to effectively solve a problem you need to be able to LISTEN and LISTEN WELL.

Want to talk? I'll listen.

You've heard it here first and you can take it to the bank. I pledge to spend 10,000 hours learning how to be an effective community builder. The first step is to learn how to be a better listener. So here's my promise to you:

If you want to talk, send me an email. My email address is justin@refresh-events.ca. Prefer to call me on the phone? My telephone number is 647-236-1925. Want to meet me for a coffee? I plan to work every Friday from Dark Horse Espresso Bar (215 Spadina Ave) from 12p-5p. Come by, sit down, and let's talk. It can be about anything you want. People you admire, a blog post you've read, a book you love, or anything else under the sun. The floor is yours.

Technology Start-Up 101: The Tools of the Trade

2009-05-18T19:12:44Z

A craftsperson is only as good as the tools she uses. And since we, as independent web developers, consider ourselves to be craftspeople, the same statement applies to us. In fact, as web developers, we build tools ourselves. Take a peek at what's in my toolbox.

We started our company in June of 2008, and since then we've used a number of different applications for both technical and process-related work. Some of them have been desktop apps, most of them web-based, and not all of them created equal.

I can't speak to the technical side of things, because I'm not a coder. It'd be great if Cameron could do a run-down of his digital tool box, but alas he's a busy man these days.

What I can speak to, though, are the process-related tools that help us run our business. Our tools are made by companies of varying sizes, from mega-corporations to mid-size software venders to open-source independent ninja coders. Some of the apps are free, but most are paid.

A note on how I use my comptuer

These are some basic tips that Cameron passed has passed on to me throughout the last year. I love watching nerds use computers, it's an elegant thing.

System Preferences: I suggest that everyone explore the system preferences app and learn how to control your computer.

Spotlight vs Dock: I don't use the dock at all. It also has been stripped of all inactive applications. I use command-spacebar to launch spotlight and spell out the name of the application I want to use. After you get used to thinking what you want to do instead of seeing what you want to do, you open apps at the speed of thought - it's faster.

My application tool-belt is large and in charge

Hit-List: For personal task-management software, this is my personal favourite. We're sort of a mixed-bag when it comes to this decision. Cameron uses Omnifocus, Justin uses Things; they're all great apps and it doesn't matter what you choose. What matters is that you use them every day.

Fluid is a "site specific browser," but really it's an app that lets you run a web-based app just like a native desktop application. So the whole process is I think of the app I need to use, I launch it from the spotlight, and even if it's a web-based app I can make the tool-choosing experience fast and consistent.

Basecamp (which we chose in favour of Backpack) is great if you have a group of civilians who are geographically dispersed and need to share documents and knowledge. It's also a nifty tool to track web content moving through the production pipeline.

Campfire (made by the same folks that make Basecamp) replaced Adium because sand-boxed IM conversations among a web development team is equal to throwing piles of money out of an open window. Campfire let's you share and search one secure chatroom, and it helps you understand more of what your colleagues do for a living.

Pivotal Tracker replaced Unfuddle because it's devastatingly effective. Pivotal is elegant, with the minimum required amount of features. It is truly a wonderful piece of software and I'd love to see that model applied to other disciplines. I showed it to my Bay street lawyer buddy and he was like, "whoa, we could totally use this too."

If Cameron were writing this, I'd have him explain why we use Github instead of Unfuddle to host our code. From what I gather, Github is all the rage these days.

Skype lets me have infinite amounts of long distance in the US and Canada for about 3 bucks a month. Last month Fido hit me with a long distance bill and I realized something had to give. It works great.

1Password is a browser plug in that remembers your login credentials for all of your sites, and allows you to create super-duper complex passwords that you could never hope to remember. And while it doesn't fully address the fundamental problems with the username/password model of online identification, it can prevent Phishing and other forms of identity theft.

Go To Meeting is a screen-sharing tool for geographically dispersed teams.

iCal and gmail calendars, when synced to your iPhone, provide a constant state of organizational bliss.

Text Edit is my text editor of choice because it's so lightweight.

Expression Engine is our turn-key CMS of choice for basic websites. Anything less would be uncivilized.

Skitch is a free screen-capturing application that lets you mark-up and share screencaps quickly and easily. An indispensable tool for reporting bugs and other issues.

Address Book replaced Highrise because we figured out how to archive email properly using gmail and Mail for Mac.

Firefox is my personal browser of choice.

iTunes, XM Radio, and Airfoil define the mood of our office on a daily basis.

Garage Band is the application I've been using lately to make music. You don't need crazy software to make great tunes.

Tweetie is how I prefer to use Twitter, which is the app I use to stay in touch with my network, although I still check my facebook once in a while.

And I can't forget to mention that everyday we watch Countdown with Keith Olbermann while we eat our home-made office lunches.

Wow, that's a lot of apps. I probably use about 12-15 on a daily basis. I'd love to hear about the tools that other web-developers use. If you decide to share, ping me and let me know.

Yeah Baby I’m a Web Developer

2009-05-15T14:34:30Z

Yeah Baby I'm a Web Developer

I wrote this little ditty for anyone who's had trouble explaining what it is they do for a living if you work in the wonderful world of the internets. Love it? Hate it? Let me know.

My Beta (My Beta)

2009-05-11T22:41:56Z

Check out Max's newest song on the battlescripters record label.

Hug a Nerd, Fire Your Social Media Analyst

2009-05-04T20:48:22Z

An open to letter to anyone who's interested in the internet, but isn't sure how to start the ball rollin'

Dear anybody,

The internet is huge these days. It's ginormous. It gets sorta tricky when I think about how much it allows us to do. Before, the internet was interesting, but not a necessary part of a person's day-to-day life. Life before google, wikipedia, expedia, craigslist, and facebook was different. Writing an email was enough to make us say "wow." But now, the internet is part of everyone's vocabulary and everyone's daily interactions. The bank, the newspaper, the bookstore, the grocer - all have ways to interact with me over this computer I bought and hooked up to the web.

Here's the dilemma: The internet-age has supposedly arrived, and yet we're still in its infancy. Everyone - people, companies and organizations are struggling to fit in when it comes doing things online.

How do I participate? How am I supposed to start?

Let's say you're a little restaurant on queen west. Or you might be an NGO or a community center, you might be a busker with an iPhone or an intern at an art gallery. You might just be yourself. You could be in a cubicle, behind a desk, under a roof, or in a park. You could be anyone, as long as you're willing to take a risk. All you need is an internet connection, a purpose, and a little bit of time.

Maybe you heard about twitter from a friend and signed up two months ago - but you don't understand why there's only 12 people following you, and why most of them are insurance companies. You've been on facebook for a year now, but you really didn't get the newest redesign. Maybe you started a blogger account awhile back that has one post entitled "This is a test."
You signed up, but you didn't really jump in. Now, on top of the new york times and paying my bills online and looking up that recipe for that chicken casserole, you realize you don't have time for all these accounts, for all these services and all these different passwords and logins. And wait a second, you're not quite sure what this whole internet thing is about in the first place.

Maybe it's just creepy.

What was supposed to be simple turned out to be really confusing. Twitter is full of @'s and the RT's and the fancy desktop gizmos are cool but how does anyone get any work done? Who cares what quizzes your ex-coworker took on facebook, and what about my privacy? Egad, the internet is a pain in the ass. Chances are you just decided to forget about all those accounts you set up. And now you're bitter and you have a sour internet taste in your mouth. Twitter is for egomaniacs, facebook is for shut-ins, blogs are for basement wackos and disillusioned hipsters.

That's tough for us technologists to hear, because we work very hard to make useful, fun software. But honestly, it happens all the time, and we're all in this together. It's ok though Mr. Busker, I don't blame you for being suspicious. No prob Mr. Chef - I'd rather you spent more time cooking too. In fact, Mrs. NGO manager, I empathize with you, and I want to let you know that the internet doesn't have to be a brick in the face. Regardless of your scarred relationship with the internet, as much as you hate twitter and the rest, you still know that social media is happening with or without you.

So how do you get into the net without hating it and its applications?

If you're a bigger company, maybe you hired a social media analyst who filled your boardroom with words like "synergy," "collaboration," and "market conversations." Maybe you wanted to punch them in the kidneys. We don't suggest hiring analysts unless you have a real need for real research. In other words, if you're a fortune 500 company, skip this blog post (it probably looks weird in your browser anyway)...

But if you're a small company like a hotel or a restaurant, or if you're a musician, baker, restauranteur or clothing maker, or even if you're just yourself - then I have an idea that you can use. Toronto is home to an awesome community of web programmers, designers, interactions designers, database analysts, and other people with funny-sounding professional titles that make up the world of the web. We're your neighbors, your fellow dog-walkers, your sister's brother-in-law, we're all over the place these days, all you have to do is keep an eye out.

But we, the technology community, use the internet in a disproportionate amount compared to the average person. Of course, I have no concrete data to back up my claim, but I'm almost postive that it's true. And so therefore, technologists control a disproportionate amount of online promotional capital. We do most of the talking online, we check our twitter feeds before most people are out of bed, and if we find something interesting, the first place we turn to share it is across our online networks.

We care about what we say online. We manage our relationships using twitter and we talk with people we've never met in person on a daily basis. We hear about news before it breaks on television, and we always find the funniest websites that I know you love. We, the tech community, have gone so far off the deep end applying the web to our lives that most of us must come across as… weird.

The best part is we're nice people. In general terms, we love talking to people who don't belong to Internet Anonymous, because it helps put our work into perspective. And we love the challenge of explaining something as complex and confounding as twitter to someone who's never seen it before. Our day job, after all, is taking very complicated sets of information and making them simple and understandable for everyone. But most of all, we believe in the web so much that it would be our pleasure to help you get acquainted.

Hug a Nerd

Here's my advice: Make friends with the local nerds that hang out in your restaurant, in your bakery or in the park by your busking spot. Say hello, engage them, and ask them to show you a bit about what they do for a living. If you're a company, find a way to support your local development shops by outsourcing locally, sponsoring community events, and heading out to a pub night. You'll be amazed at how much the community can give back. And remember, if you can get us talking about your ideas, you can be sure they'll reach around the world, fast. The big point here is that you don't need an analyst, you need a friend to nerd-out with.

Remember you can share your thoughts with me anytime you feel at ease.