I make things. Mostly for computers & phones.
Being a founder is hard. There are a lot of unknowns. We all have companies we look up to. An image in our mind of what we want our businesses to be. Someday, maybe. But the businesses we look up to should only be a source of new ideas, not playbooks. We can’t force our companies to be something they’re not.
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Something I didn’t understand before I got my first tattoo almost 2 years ago was how it changes you. Obviously, it changes your skin. But that’s not what I mean.
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Downforce is the opposite of lift on an airplane. I’ve begun to think about the ways we can create "downforce", of a sort, in how we work.
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All of us make excuses for why we aren't living the life we want right now. “When ________ happens, then I’ll ________.” Let's start rejecting those excuses.
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A quick lesson in how to play company politics.
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How to best get your new customers acquainted with your product.
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Why I'm skipping client-side analytics on this website and my future products
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My favorite phrase to help me just figure it out and do the work.
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A honest recap after I shutdown one of my failed projects.
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Is creativity actually just a form of idea excavation?
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Software designers should be as close to the code that users touch as possible.
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How can anybody help you if they don't know that you need help?
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In my blog post last week I mentioned that it seemed likely my full-time income beginning in February would be coming from Hermes (a match-making service for designers/developers looking for jobs in Chicago). As of yesterday, I’m a lot less certain about that. Actually… I’m almost entirely positive that it won’t happen by February. And so I’ve found myself struggling to keep my head up, to keep looking forward.
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Who cares, right? Yet another retrospective about someone’s dumb year. And you’re right, this is probably worthless. But I learned a lot this past year, and I hope what I’ve experienced might help a few other people who are curious about what it’s like to try to build anything on their own.
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My front bicycle wheel was shaped like a Pringles chip. It was unfixable and completely useless. A local told us that the nearest bicycle shop was no closer than 125 miles away. Dehaan, my co-adventurer, sighed.
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Like a death of the heart Jesus, where do I start? But you’re still the one pool Where I’d happily drown LCD Soundsystem – New York, I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down
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Two weeks ago I gave notice to my job that I would be leaving at the end of the year. On January 5th, I am moving to Chicago to focus on my solo projects and freelancing.
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Even though I’ve seen most of Stanley Kubrick’s films and read a fair bit about him, I was surprised to recently discover that he always did the hand-held camerawork for his films. It was less a surprise to the extent that he, famously demanding and meticulous, had a specific vision which needed to be realized, but more-so a surprise that he would take on the task himself instead of delegating to his crew.
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Marco Arment wrote a short, but and interesting, post about creating lasting value through his lifetime. It is something we should all aspire to do. With my posts here I try to capture truths which I feel are not beholden to this moment, but can be referenced at any point in time and still be informative and valuable.
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Small experiments regularly grow into big and important ideas. Don't ignore them.
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Sharing your process and tools doesn't hurt you, but makes the whole stronger.
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In today’s world, where we are hyper-connected to one another in more ways than ever, it seems that we often forget that humans are the primary consumers of the products and services that we all provide. We regularly release things to the world that we wouldn’t recommend to our own friends, and provide service and support to other people in ways which we would be offended to receive. We are now equipped with more tools and knowledge to produce the best products ever possible, and provide the most human interactions ever possible, directly to people all over the world. So why don’t we act like it?
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