is.gd at command line...
Saved this on my PATH as shrink_url…
#!/bin/sh curl "http://is.gd/api.php?longurl=$(echo $@ | sed 's/ /+/g')"
Which lets me do this:
$ shrink_url http://current.com/items/90029658_death-star-destroys-enterprise.htm http://is.gd/xHYe
Pipe to clipboard and you’re ready to paste into a browser. I suppose I could also enclose the result in a $() call to my favorite command line Twitter client, but I’m not feeling that fancy yet.
$ shrink_url http://current.com/items/90029658_death-star-destroys-enterprise.htm | cb $ cb http://is.gd/xHYeRead more...
Yet more XBox Live avatar fun...
On this page, Microsoft actually encourages linking to their cache of your avatar image. These actually update as you change your avatar, too.
So here’s a group shot of me and my friends, as we appear on Live currently, apparently with a strong wind blowing from the left…
Read more...Notes from Anil Jain (Slipstream Labs) - The Harsh Realities of Entrepeneurship
Anil Jain of Slipstream Labs came to Gangplank today for a brown bag talk. Here are my notes:
Ideas are a dime a dozen - it's ability to execute that's key.
People matter most.
They are root cause of failure (or success).
Motivators vary, weaknesses vary.
Be careful who you choose to collaborate with!
Misconstrued expectations are a key danger.
Risk is inherent in every decision you make.
Ask questions of others who've done it before
Don't rush into anything.
What are tradeoffs in a decision? Write down pros and cons.
Failure is necessary.
Learning the hard way helps future decisions.
Machiavelli:
"It ought to be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to take
in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success,
than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things.
Because the innovator has for enemies all those who have done well
under the old conditions, and lukewarm defenders in those who may do
well under the new. This coolness arises partly from fear of the
opponents, who have the laws on their side, and partly from the
incredulity of men, who do not readily believe in new things until they
have had a long experience of them."
Important abilities:
Healthy tolerance for ambiguity.
Change is constant, especially if you're the one bringing it
about.
Foster belief.
Get others on board with your idea.
Employees, attorneys, the media, and more.
It's the difference between having people help you and
facing closed doors.
If you don't believe in the idea yourself (if you're in
it for the money), you won't convince anyone.
Conviction is not Arrogance.
Entrepreneurs need a certain amount of stubbornness,
but if you don't respond to outside feedback, you'll
fail in real-world conditions.
Glamour is fleeting.
The initial excitement wears off quickly.
You need perseverance to last through the hard/painful parts.
Even if people tell you, you won't understand HOW hard it is till you
do it.
Kurt Vonnegut:
"I want to stand as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out
on the edge you see all the kinds of things you can't see from the
center."
Drama is inevitable.
The future is ambiguous.
People are illogical and unpredictable.
Drama is the result - be prepared.
Example:
A founder was expressing doubt to investors behind the backs of
rest of board. Rest of board didn't know why investments
started slowing, and when they found out they had to work to
restore faith.
Your personal life:
At some point in time, your family/friends will NOT understand what
you're doing.
Supportive or no, they will eventually question your plan.
Especially when doubt is introduced by money shortages,
partners leaving, etc.
It's not their fault - you need to keep the faith and get them back on
board.
Work/life balance is a myth.
The two cannot be separated for an entrepreneur.
Being an entrepreneur is a life choice.
You'll be checking your Blackberry while changing
diapers.
The list of things to do will grow just as fast as you complete
items (or faster).
There is always work to do.
If you're asking yourself "what do I do now?", you're missing
something.
Tasks you can always do more of:
Analyze competitors.
Seek more funding.
etc.
If you don't want to be involved with this business the rest of your
life, either don't start it, or have an exit strategy.
There is no formula.
Anyone trying to sell you one is lying or delusional.
Instead, rely on common sense.
Learn lessons from others, but don't copy verbatim.
You should not necessarily do everything Michael Dell
did (but feel free to borrow some ideas).
Capital
How much do I need?
What resources do I need and how much will they cost?
What types and sources should I seek?
What am I willing to do to get it?
Customer funded development:
Give a customer a good deal, with contract that you keep
ownership of developed product (or portions thereof).
Professionalism matters.
It's good to be scrappy and get things done on a shoestring.
But you have to be professional.
Maintain standards of quality:
In product.
In communications.
With customers.
With vendors.
With investors.
Instinct alone is dangerous.
Be aware of what your gut is telling you - we are animals that run on
instinct. But it should only be part of decision making process.
You may miss feedback that shows reality of situation.
Partnering is a double-edged sword.
Gives you access to partner's contacts, skilled workers, etc.
But you give up control, more communication overhead, etc.
If any company has right of first refusal on your business, no other company
will invest in the research needed to buy you.
If other company decides they like you, company with first refusal
would just buy you.
Open source software may not be for you.
Unless your chief goal is philanthropy...
Capitalism is good, understand it.
You've invested time, money, and research on a product.
You and your shareholders should get a return on your
investment.
What is the objective benefit to us?
What are we in business for, and does this deal fulfill those goals?
Simple microeconomics principles provide guideposts.
Opportunity cost
Price the market will support
Value proposition to potential customers
Greed kills.
It leads to bad decisions.
Asking too much.
Not offering enough in return:
To investors.
To customers.
Know what you know.
Know your strengths.
Helps you sell to investors, customers.
Know your weaknesses.
Get partners who are stronger in those areas.
In a strong wind, even turkeys can fly.
Any company can succeed when economy is strong.
Almost any partner is good enough when cash flow is good.
More skills and dedication are needed when you encounter
trouble.
Hire slowly, fire fast.
Hiring - Past success not indicator of future potential.
Partners that worked well in prior jobs may not work well with
your company.
Do they believe in your product?
Will they work well with your investors and partners?
A customer in the hand is worth a thousand in the plan.
Attractive to investors.
Shows proof of what you're selling.
Read more...
Me with Jason Seifer and Greg Pollack (The RailsEnvy guys) after their talk at RailsConf Thursday.
If you’re a Rails developer and haven’t been listening to their podcast, you need to start!
Read more...Notes from RailsConf - Starting Up Fast: Lessons from the Rails Rumble...
Hosted by Nick Plante (Nth Interactive)
Would’ve liked to give attributions for these quotes, but it wasn’t practical. Sorry!
Rails Rumble:
48 hours to design, develop, and deploy a micro-app.
Public voting.
Panel:
Joe Fiorini
Grand prize winner, 2008
meetbetween.us
Team of 4
Ben Scofield
Solo Division, 2007, 2008
Forever Home (down)
Chris Saylor
Grand prize winner, 2007
tastyplanner.com
Team of 4
James Golick
Most Useful, 2008
"What Does This Error Mean?" site
"How is the Rumble like working on a normal Web project? How does it differ?"
Time constraint means you won't be building a social network, etc.
What can you cut out? Do you need a login system, for example?
People likely to visit site, make snap judgement on first page, and
leave again.
"Is it possible to build a real product this way? Have you continued to
develop your entry apps?"
Real Simple Magazine did a couple hacknights later. Someone contacted
them to acquire it later.
Joe got approached by yellowpages.com, though nothing has materialized
yet.
No matter how great your initial idea is, you don't REALLY know what
you want to build until you start.
Getting app active and getting feedback is great.
"What sort of up-front planning and design work did you do?"
Complete wireframe on pen and paper (digital wireframes not allowed),
assignment of tasks to developers.
"None."
5 or 10 stories in Pivotal, not much.
Color selection, finding stock photos.
"How much time did you spend in prep, and does that affect the spirit of the
Rumble?"
You can plan as much as you want if you're not creating digital assets.
Much of this is on the honor system.
"We didn't want to spend 48 hours thinking, [so we planned up front]."
Moderator: We want to encourage use of the sea of third-party plugins
that are out there.
"We got shit marks for design, probably because we didn't do any."
"How did you plan for the 80/20 rule? (20% of small tasks take 80% of the
time.)"
We ensured that even if there were small tasks we hadn't completed, we
could still deploy.
Ben Scofield expounds: Version he was working on at deadline had a bug,
but version control let him back out to a stable version.
We talked about features we wanted up front. Got a backlog going. Our
mantra: "Think of Google". Try to have nothing but a search box and a
couple buttons.
A 48-hour competition is a terrible place to mentor someone. Make sure
you know all the
"Did you use automated testing when you built your application?"
No. TDD can make you faster for big apps, but it slows you down on
small ones.
Yes, some.
Yes. Automated tests are great for catching regression. It's just a
good development practice.
Testing is a method of design. If I need to get something done quickly
and can't test, I do 'design by wishful thinking'.
Write the code the way you want to see it, then go implement
it. [Sounds like comment-driven development to me.]
Don't let them fool you. You can still win if you don't do testing.
"What plugins/gems/tools did you find most helpful?"
Plugin by James Golick helped build RESTful contollers without need to
code.
Starter apps - Bort, Blank.
Moderator: Rails 2.3 Templates offer starter-app-like functionality.
Factory Girl, Shoulda, Mocha. Make Resourceful.
New Relic RPM - it helped us at one point when LifeHacker post
generated 2000 hits during voting period. MySQL fried, not Rails, and
RPM helped spot that.
Almost everyone used Campfire. Inline paste, inline images, chat
history are nice.
Basecamp.
Pivotal Tracker. Super-lightweight tool to keep organized without
eating our time.
"How did you find other people to work with and decide that you could work with
them? Is it anything like finding co-founders for a startup?"
Talked to good friends first. At last minute, had to call every local
Rails developer we knew to replace a dropout. Worked out well.
Find a well-rounded team. Sysadmin, DB design, graphic design,
developer.
Good friends from local developer community. Wound up hiring two of
them.
Local user groups. Refresh to find designers. Ruby User Groups for
developers.
"What was the most rewarding part?"
Getting to work with awesome people. Did screencast too. It was a lot
of fun.
Getting to know people better. Getting to release a completed app- so
often, real life interferes with completing a project; not here.
You get so bogged down working on large apps for an employer. This
reminds you what's great about coding.
Moderator: "Launching shit is awesome."
"How much sleep did you get?"
4 each.
6 each.
4-6 each. One member went to concert, but coded in car on way there
and way back.
6 hours per night.
You don't have to work 44 of the 48 hours, just set realistic
expectations.
Read more...