Rich and I are spending the day hacking on our new project. It’s nice to take a day every now and then to really work for a long stretch on an idea. Since we have day jobs this really gives us a change to inject some progress into the site. And a chance to be eye to eye and flush out any points of confusion. I’m really excited by the idea and the some of the solutions to the problems we’ve encountered. Reminded me of a great quote by Jack White from the White Stripes…
“A lot about the White Stripes is about constriction and keeping us boxed in. Being extremely stripped down to the most minimal components, mostly revolving around the number 3. You see that [we use] three colors: red, white and black. But also vocal, guitar and drums, or vocal, piano and drums; and, keeping ourselves limited. I think there’s more creativity where there’s less opportunity. Instead of trying to bring more musicians into the band or more tracks when we record or more time spent in the studio, it’s best to explore the creativity with limited means. You get more out of it; something more interesting happens.â€
Here’s to working under constraints (weekends, late at night, two people, big ideas).
jake TR Site
Starting a web company is hard work. You need to have an idea, a blog, then code it, test it, make it look pretty, incorporate, host the app, get a lawyer, launch, market it, support it, and maybe even hire some people.
Before the days of the internet this took many people, now a days sites can be launched by one or two people with very little capital. This is the boat third rail is in. Currently, we are in the middle of our latest and most promising project. This is what we do best but just around the corner comes the “hard part” for people like us. Business crap *yuck*.
I just joined the Web 2.0 (Entrepreneurs) group on facebook and noticed people were talking about this process from a business perspective. “I’m a business guy with no tech skills, what do i do?”
I guess our position isn’t so bad after all since we can get pretty far or even all the way without help. If we didn’t know howto code we’d be screwed. I’m tempted to try and find someone to help out with the business side of things but it would have to be the right person…
anyway back to work…
jake TR Site, business, marketing, startup
When you are working on a “big idea” distractions seem to pop up all the time. A lot of times they seem like “easy wins” or “weekend projects” but they always end up becoming a time suck. Within an application this is often called scope creep and almost every project I’ve ever been involved in has had it in one form or another, so this time I’ve been extra careful to keep my eye on the prize. But guess what!? Just wasted 2 days working on a quick and easy facebook app idea only to find out that their platform dosen’t support iframes in the profile page (doh).
It was only a few hours of time but not I’m feeling frustrated and unmotivated to get back to work on the “big idea”.
This wasn’t scope creep but idea creep. We have a lot of ideas and sometimes it’s hard to keep them out, this one slipped through the crack.
my bad.
jake TR Site
The web is going crazy right now. There are sooo many deals going on right now its sick.
I suggest you subscibe to this blog: alarm clock to keep track of it all.
It’s a good time to be a startup.
jake TR Site, funding, startup
Great post today by the 37signal folk, drawing a paralell between the popular chefs and open software companies, like Bobby Flay and Rachael Ray.
The more they give, the better off they are. The more they open up, the better off they are. The more they let you inside their kitchen the better off they are. These chefs have built empires by making their knowledge available to the public. They are astute business people.
Thats exactly what sites like facebook and 37signals are doing, buy releasing their core software components.
We at third rail are in complete agreement and are releasing our building blocks as we build them.
Keep an eye out for our next recipe soon!
jake TR Site, business, open source
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