Facebook is getting me down
posted by pete on March 25th, 2009
Facebook created massive value and engendered passionate fans by popularizing an orthogonal, passive view into the lives of people you can’t see every day. It was precisely the low time investment required to keep tabs on your friends (and the cute girl you met on the weekend) that made it addictive.
Sadly, by taking people who are used to an algorithm finding all of the important stuff — then, replacing it with a fire hose spewing endless crap — the average person will come away with less and be frustrated. In particular, getting rid of “your friend X became friends with Y” has removed the most viral aspect of their product offering.
By ditching all of their hard-won user experience wins and emulating a medium that requires visualization tools to effectively use, they’ve teleported us to the end of a race to the bottom. This is probably the worst part: Twitter and Facebook weren’t ever really competing! I use them both for completely different things, and there’s been precious little duplication of posting amongst my friends.
Just because Facebook status updates (which significantly predate Twitter, for the record) and tweets are both short, doesn’t mean they are the same thing.
Ironically, there was a company that tried to beat Twitter by adding photos, videos, and file sharing. They were called Pownce, and after getting very little uptake, they pulled the plug in December.
I keep hoping that I’ll wake up and they’ll have reverted back to the old version. Mark Zuckerberg seems willing to compromise on his terms of service, but rolling back the homepage to an earlier version would be an order of magnitude harder.
Not to mention a serious splatter of egg on Zuckerberg’s face. A guy can dream though, can’t he?
In search of genius
posted by pete on March 22nd, 2009
Mike’s pre-Unspace coworker Ray Acayan left a really good comment on my last post about the challenges of breaking free of corporate bureaucracy to pursue your dreams.
I totally empathize with his position, but I encourage Ray and anyone else sitting on the fence to accept that sacrifice and work ethic are the only differentiators when it comes to success, regardless of how you define it. When Ryan, Anthony and I started Unspace, we had no assets (okay, we were charming!) and I was actually $100,000 in personal debt as a direct result of my rock band’s recent implosion. Building this company was hard.
The great news is that the climate for start-ups in Canada is 100% different now than it was in 2004; first, we have an amazing tech community. The importance of networking cannot be overstated, and someone new pretty much just has to show up and be passionate about something.
Secondly, the government and investment infrastructure is finally starting to catch up with the exploding “Spadina tech grotto.” There’s literally dozens of interesting tech companies within two blocks of Queen and Spadina. We’ve had 19 DemoCamp events for Obama sakes! Or how about Friday’s Over $1 billion in stimulus for Canadian startups? That’s not pocket change, folks.
Ray also says “we will find that geniuses are truly everywhere.” I do have to disagree with Ray here.
Not only do I not believe this to be the case, but I think any discussion which uses words like “genius” and “prodigy” need to be responsible and use them to mean what they mean in the dictionary. When I speak of genius, I am most definitely alluding to the Alan Turings, Isaac Newtons, and Da Vincis; one in a billion thinkers that redefined their world. When I speak of prodigies, I am talking about Bobby Fischer, Thelonious Monk, and Tiger Woods.
It Hampton a genius? Most definitely not. Is Nathan a prodigy? I believe so, yes… and I suspect that history will agree with me.
My concern is that we constantly dilute the words we use to describe our society’s most brilliant. While it’s true that there exists a greater potential in today’s world to recognize these special people, I would argue that there are also just a lot more people on the planet — and people in the West are only now doing the math and realizing that the next five Einsteins will likely be Chinese.
Finding genius talent should always be your #1 goal. Almost everyone will fail in this search, and have to settle for people who are merely in the top 0.1%. Given the 6.76 billion people currently on the planet, that’s a pool of 676,000 non-geniuses that each could change the world if you gave them the right environment.
Stop thinking about surrounding yourself with smart people as a business opportunity, and start seeing it as your new moral and civic responsibility. Be humble and success will run behind you to catch up.
The best of intentions
posted by pete on March 20th, 2009
I was recently asked to contribute 500 words of advice for an upcoming book on starting a web development company.
In truth, I was completely stumped on what to say. There’s a certain permanence to a book that I find vaguely unsettling. After all, the 3rd edition of Agile Web Development with Rails was obsolete before it shipped yesterday. How sad is that?
I went with the only thing people will still be dealing with in 30 years, which is people.
Even if your first days as a business are free-wheeling and informal, you owe it to your future self to make good decisions early on. Partnerships are incredibly difficult and often do not end well; if you have the vision, then do not be afraid to be a leader. That said, start small and only hire people when it is absolutely necessary. Hire on personality first and always check out their online presence. Better yet, ask trusted friends for leads and introductions. We like to hire musicians as they are generally creative, interesting and well-rounded. Keep in mind that people do not start out as experts… sometimes you meet someone with raw talent that needs to be nurtured. Be that mentor to the right people and part ways with people that are not fitting in.
The team you assemble will decide whether you are competent or legendary. Make sure that every addition is smarter than you or has a talent you do not have. A’s hire A’s, but B’s hire C’s. Cultivating those “rock star” talents — the top 0.1% — is your goal. These individuals are not just faster with less supervision: prodigies will think of solutions that the average person would not come up with no matter how much time you give them.
Avoid “off-shore” development at all costs. Any money that you save is offset by delays, misunderstandings, and incompetence. You cannot outsource genius.
Be respectful, kind, and listen more than you speak — especially when you disagree. Lead by example and own your mistakes. Solicit feedback and reward those who believe in you.
Incorporate early and hire a bookkeeper part-time to keep your expenses and financial information straight. Just because you can fill out your own incorporation documents does not mean that you should! You will also need an accountant, as they will save you more in taxes than they cost to hire. You did set aside money for corporate taxes and kept all of your receipts, right?
Be frugal and minimalist in your acquisitions, but spend money on good laptops and comfortable chairs (your shovel and cart).
Get a business line of credit. Try to spend money that you earn instead of money that you invest or borrow. Avoid venture capital if at all possible! It’s more trouble than it’s worth.
While your technology is important, there is no such thing as the perfect tool for every job. The smartest minds are generally enthusiastic about open source software, and not just because it’s free. Unspace decided early that we wanted to be the Ruby on Rails “A-Team,” and that was the best decision we ever made. However, you should ask your developers what they want to use. If you make it clear that they can make (and take responsibility for) technology choices, then you will foster a passionate, happy environment.
Encourage your team to eat well, exercise, and get eight hours of sleep every night — but do not be their mother.
Finally, be bold! Act first, take risks, and (if necessary) apologize later.
FutureRuby early-bird tickets on sale 11am TODAY
posted by pete on March 9th, 2009
FutureRuby isn’t another Ruby conference; it’s a conference for Rubyists.
It’s also the official follow-up to RubyFringe, which was very well received.
Talking about how great RubyFringe was feels vain and awkward, but suffice to say we’re proud that our insane idea for a small Rails shop to shake up the conference scene worked.
That said, we know we can do a lot better.
Only 150 tickets up for grabs. Only 50 of them are available at the discounted rate. Like SXSW, the price will slowly increase and there are no tickets available at the door, period. In other words…
Click here to go and get your ticket, right now.
Update: Early-bird tickets sold out in five hours. Awesome!