I wrote a few months ago about my eventual move to Colorado. After much effort, we’re finally here. My wife and I drove the 1520 miles from Blacksburg this past weekend and we’re trying to get settled. On my prior post both here and on my climbing blog, many asked where I was planning on […]
Lessons From a Failed Startup: Create Administration Tools Early
The lessons learned from the failure of my company are going to be in no particular order, so I decided to start with one that I’m already applying to my next project – creating admin tools as early as possible. With FeedCraft, we took the approach of getting the application launched as quickly as possible […]
The formula for building web applications
I read this article on Mashable (via Fred Wilson‘s tweet) and had to post this quote on building web applications: Determine a basic need -> Create a service that satisfies it in the simplest way possible -> Open it up. It sounds simple, but it’s not; determining a basic human need, like the need to […]
Better emailing
If only everyone knew how to email efficiently, maybe so many wouldn’t have to claim email bankruptcy. Email overload is an ever increasing problem and Chris Brogan writes an excellent post on how to write email that gets answered. There are some great tips in there, especially the “one decision per email”: It seems counter […]
Identifying your passions for success
I woke up on my birthday this past Saturday morning and thought about the day ahead. What did I want to do today? I think it says a lot about where your passions lie, when on a day you can legitimately do most anything you want (a birthday and a Saturday), on how you plan […]
Lessons From a Failed Startup: The Overview
Many say you learn more from your failures than your successes. I believe this to be absolutely true in business as well as most other aspects of life. And you can also learn quite a bit from the stories of failures from others. So, as promised when I announced that my company was shutting down, […]
Corporate Twitter usage for marketing
I’ve praised Twitter many times already, but we’re starting to see more companies use the service effectively for marketing and customer support. Silicon Alley Insider posts a list of the top corporate Twitters worth following. At the top of their list are @comcastcares, @zappos, @jetblue, and @southwestair While many bloggers have praised Comcast for its […]
Some social networking privacy tips
The Associated Press lists some good social networking privacy tips: Provide enough information for your friends to be able to identify you, but not so much that someone could use information to steal your identity. Consider making your profile private so people you don’t know can’t “scrape” information and images from it. Even if your […]
The advantages of being a student entrepreneur
The other day I had the opportunity to have coffee with a student entrepreneur from Virginia Tech. This is the second such meeting in a month and I hope it’s a sign of future trends. Over the past two semesters, I’ve met with three entrepreneurs, all at the end stages of their undergraduate education, and […]
Colorado trip and the startup community in Boulder
As I mentioned in my last post, I recently spent ten days in Colorado both looking for a place to live and attending a few events. It was an exhausting trip, but we made a lot of progress on all fronts. Unfortunately, I was sick immediately following my return and have been playing catch up […]