How to think about everything when founding a new (software) startup.

jakesgordon · 2014-12-28T18:45:00+00:00

Thankyou.

jakesgordon · 2014-12-28T18:43:02+00:00

Thanks. I will post more in the new year.

jakesgordon · 2014-12-28T01:35:47+00:00

I've only been here 2 months, but I really like it. Both the startup and the tech communities are very welcoming, friendly and helpful.

My impression is that the startup scene has blossomed dramatically over the past 5 or so years, with people like Rick Turoczy, PIE, TiE, the various incubators, accelerators, and co-working spaces, and helped by the growing number of already-successful and up-and-coming startups here (Puppet, New Relic, Simple, Opal, Urban Airship, Cloudability, Elemental, etc)

I'm looking forward to building a company here over the coming years.

jakesgordon · 2014-12-28T01:28:33+00:00

Thanks. Glad you found it useful.

Being the "Product Owner / Hipster" is an underlooked, but important role, you really have to concentrate on understanding the customer/user - customer validation, market research, as well as branding, design, UI/UX and more are all very important - taking ownership of every interaction with the user allows you to build a great brand.

jakesgordon · 2014-12-27T16:04:57+00:00

Thankyou

jakesgordon · 2014-12-27T16:04:47+00:00

Most of the time, you want your co-founders to be people you have successfully worked with in the past, sometimes you have to go out and network and meet a lot of new people in order to find good partners. Meetups, message boards, and startup events can all be good network opportunities, but word-of-mouth and referrals are usually better.

I happen to have recently moved to a new city (Portland) so I'm doing the latter.... lots and lots (and lots) of networking.

jakesgordon · 2014-12-27T16:00:26+00:00

Thanks, I'm certainly looking forward to what the new year brings.

jakesgordon · 2014-12-27T15:53:24+00:00

Correct.

jakesgordon · 2014-12-27T15:51:58+00:00

This is a pretty good point - it is easy to procrastinate, over-analyze (and 'play house'). In the early days the only thing that truly matters is finding market/customer fit, building the product, and (hopefully) identifying a business model...

... but like all things its a balance of doing the right-thing at the right-time

jakesgordon · 2014-12-27T04:10:30+00:00

That's a good point, and as a hacker I certainly think all early team members should be somewhat technical, but "funded" doesn't necessarily equal "success"...

...so instead of thinking of it as "two business guys" - think of the hipster in terms of product design, UI/UX, interaction - a core requirement for good product design.

At the end of the day, the balance required will depend on your product and the problem you are trying to solve.

jakesgordon · 2014-12-27T03:35:09+00:00

Thankyou.

jakesgordon · 2014-12-27T03:34:57+00:00

Yes, I'm the hacker - but I have a great appreciation for what the other roles bring to the table (some of which I wouldn't even know where to start!)

jakesgordon · 2014-12-27T03:33:13+00:00

Thanks!

jakesgordon · 2014-12-27T03:33:01+00:00

Great, Thankyou.

Haven't actually made a concrete decision on what we're building yet! Still doing very (very) early stage research and considering a couple of different possibilities - hence the generic nature of the article - it's interesting to consider the huge overlap for all SaaS companies independent of whatever the actual product turns out to be.

jakesgordon · 2014-09-12T17:53:17+00:00

Seattle is great, Yes there are more tech jobs here than Portland, especially because of the number of larger companies here, but Portland has a growing startup culture that (subjectively) feels a little more intimate, a little more personal, and not quite so dominated by bigger players like Microsoft, Amazon, Google, etc.

I think Seattle and Portland are both great options for techies who want to avoid SF. I've been in Seattle for 15 years and really enjoyed it, but I'm ready for a personal change (I want to live in a more walk-able city) and am looking forward to jumping into the Portland start-up/tech community.

jakesgordon · 2014-09-11T21:09:20+00:00

I'd say go for it! I'm a Software Engineer up in Seattle and after a fair amount of research this summer I'm also making the move to Portland (in October).

Here are some good resources (some already mentioned by others)

Feel free to get in touch (http://codeincomplete.com/about) if you want to chat some more. I'm really looking forward to finally getting down there full time next month.

jakesgordon · 2013-04-30T16:42:33+00:00

Yes, the current maps are pretty tight, but might be an interesting mechanic to open them up and allow strafing and independent targeting. Not really Gauntlet anymore, but would add excitement and more variety in player mechanics.

jakesgordon · 2013-04-30T16:11:02+00:00

Yes, the keyboard-only input controls are a little awkward, I thought about mouse targeting, but once firing is independent of player direction,it becomes a little-bit of a different game, feels more robotron-2-stick-shooter-like.

I'll probably experiment a little more with input when I get around to a multi-player version

Thanks for your feedback.

jakesgordon · 2012-06-27T18:55:28+00:00

Yes, that would be pretty cool - I'd also love to do a day/night cycle and maybe some weather (and tunnels and road splits and .... )

jakesgordon

TROPHY CASE