Category Archives: Startups

MileLogr is already worth $1674 – Applying Lean Startup

April 17, 2012
Startups
7 Comments

Last Fall while driving to a meeting I was struck with this idea for a service that would help self-employed people and small businesses track automobile mileage in order to get a tax deduction. As I was leaving the Borg I found myself driving all over hell and back meeting with business partners, startups I was advising, and business events such as Lean Startup Seattle meetings. I knew the mileage was deductible but keeping track …Continue reading →

You are Thinking of Your Career Trajectory Wrong

April 8, 2012
Career, Clarity of Thought, Leadership, Mental Models, Organization & People, Startups
15 Comments

Most people think about their career trajectory as being like a bell-curve or that of a cannon ball fired from a cannon. Something like this: For 99% of all successful people, this is completely the wrong way to think about it. For that other 1% (the Bill Gates & Mark Zuckerbergs of the world) it might work. For the rest of us, there’s a mental model that will help keep you sane, help you appreciate …Continue reading →

Experience = Stuff / Time

April 2, 2012
Branding, Customer & Product, Leadership, Mental Models, Mobile, Startups
9 Comments

The real value in creating new businesses is in delivering customer experiences. The ubiquitous nature of the web, devices, and social networks means successful companies in the future will understand this. The question is “what do people mean when they say ‘experience’”? This post provides an answer. Over the years, I’ve developed a mental model that helps me and my teams think about new businesses from a very customer focused perspective. I refer to it …Continue reading →

Brand is a Critical Part of the End-to-End Experience

April 1, 2012
Branding, Business, Customer & Product, Mobile, Startups
4 Comments

A commenter on another of my posts asked me to explain further why I think “brand is as much a part of the end-to-end experience as the user interface, device, OS, apps, and services.” I took it as a challenge to actually get my thoughts on the subject down in writing. So here we go… I use the following mental model when thinking through end-to-end user experiences: Or, since this is not real math, in words: …Continue reading →

Get Off Your Butt and Start Startuping

March 21, 2012
Startups, Uncategorized
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This message is for those of you who are either “Stuck” in a great paying job at BigCo in the Seattle area (Microsoft, Boeing, Amazon, Starbucks, etc…) Living near Seattle & trying to figure out what to do with your life after “calling in rich”. In either case, I’m guessing, you are: Smart. Love technology. Have an entrepreneurial spirit. Want to get involved in startups, but haven’t figured out how. A group of us in …Continue reading →

Learn Angel Investing in Seattle

February 7, 2012
Startups
1 Comment

It wasn’t long ago that I couldn’t even spell “Angel Investing”. I knew I wanted to get involved in startups.  I wanted to put some of my money to work in a way where I could be ‘close to the action’. But I had not idea where to start. And then I was doing angel investing, but I was just doing it stupidly. If you are like I was I highly recommend you make it …Continue reading →

Seattle Startup Internship Opportunities

February 1, 2012
Leadership, Startups
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When I was in college I did an internship with a big company (IBM; working on submarine sonar systems) and learned amazing things (including that I didn’t want to work for IBM <g>). I also did a short internship for a professor writing Fast Fourier Transforms in FORTRAN. In addition to running my own little software company that I had started in high school, these internships were hugely valuable to me later in my career. …Continue reading →

Use the 520 Bridge Toll to MAKE money

January 3, 2012
Startups
10 Comments

If you are self-employed or travel for business (not commuting) the IRS will allow you to deduct 55.5 cents a mile. The only trick is you need to track the business miles you drive and be able to produce a detailed log for your return. I have a whacky product idea that will make it brain-dead-simple for people to generate a mileage log at tax time. If I see enough interest it may push me …Continue reading →

Looking for a Software Developer Intern

November 22, 2011
Kindel, Startups
3 Comments

I am working on a whacky startup idea (unrelated to any of the startups I’m advising or my yet to be announced ‘real’ startup). It’s highly speculative at this point and while I’m willing to put time into it, I’m not willing to spend much money. Someone suggested I try to get a CS student to help as an internship. So yesterday the following was posted on the University of Washington CS department intern-job board. …Continue reading →

Wanna Invest in the Seattle Startup Community?

November 5, 2011
Startups
13 Comments

Do you love the idea of startups? Do you want the Seattle Startup scene to thrive? Do you want to invest in early stage startups but don’t know how to get started? I’m committed to helping make Seattle a world leader for creating new technology businesses. I’ve jumped in by doing my own angel investing, mentoring and advising, and of course working on my own startup. But as I’ve done this, I can see that …Continue reading →

My Best Hiring Stunt To Date

October 27, 2011
Leadership, Organization & People, Startups
9 Comments

I’ll be doing some serious recruiting soon. I will only hire the best, and attracting the best requires them noticing jobs are available. This got me thinking about “best-practices” for driving recruiting. Watching others lead, and as a manager myself, I’ve seen that no one way is “the right way.”  As a manager, it depends on who you are as a person.  I’ve seen successful teams get built around the “serious boss man” and I’ve …Continue reading →

Formally Advising The Buddy Platform

October 24, 2011
Mobile, Startups
2 Comments

I love startups. I love developers. I love Seattle. Given that my own startup will be based in the Seattle area (news on that coming soon!) it is important to me that the Seattle startup scene thrives. I’ve thrown myself out to the community and have been blown away by all the great people and fantastic ideas. I’ve lost count now of how many early stage folks I’ve met with in the last 6 months. …Continue reading →

I sincerely tried, but I still hate Linux

October 21, 2011
Startups
51 Comments

Before you read further, go read this post by David Gewirtz: Why I’ve finally had it with my Linux server and I’m moving back to Windows I guess I’m an idiot too. About 6 months ago I made the decision to leave Microsoft after 21 years. I knew I was going to build a startup, and I knew that the developers I’d want to hire were, to say it kindly, not familiar with Windows. It …Continue reading →

How Often Do Startups Join Together?

October 5, 2011
Startups
5 Comments

In talking to and mentoring dozens of startups I’ve noticed that many of them are in similar spaces; working on the same general problem, yet not quite competitors. Almost complimentary. This raised a question for me: In the history of the modern startup universe, how common is it for really early stage (say 2-5 people with only friends & family funding) ventures combine with others? I ask because it seems to be a good idea …Continue reading →

Filtering My Angel Investments

October 3, 2011
Startups
1 Comment

I love early stage startups. So much so, that I will sometimes invest my own money when the startup is not much more than a few bright people with an idea. This is called angel investing. I have the following currencies I can offer early stage companies: Money Time I decided long ago that I would separate those two currencies. I did this partially because , when I worked at Microsoft, it was impossible to …Continue reading →

Crowd Sourced Design Works

September 26, 2011
How To, Startups
1 Comment

I have updated the look and feel of the Kindel Systems, LLC website and this blog using a crowd source design. And I like how it turned out. Now that I am no longer working for a big corporate giant I have a bunch of endeavors I am working on (including my yet-to-be-announced new company). I’m doing consulting, angel investing, serving on boards of directors/advisors, and several other things that either generate income or assets. …Continue reading →

Be Either an App or a Platform, Not Both

August 24, 2011
Business, Leadership, Platforms, Startups, Technology & Execution
9 Comments

If you think the thing you are building is both an “app” and a “platform” you will fail. Oh, and if you think it’s going to be a just a platform, you will fail too. (Update: April 6, 2012 – I updated this post with some typo fixes and minor tweaks). A recent story on Hacker News gave me an excuse to write down my thoughts on this subject. I’m reposting here in order to …Continue reading →

After 21 Years: Goodbye Microsoft

August 8, 2011
Kindel, Startups
55 Comments

Today I announced that after 21 years I am leaving Microsoft to build a new company. I’m not yet ready to disclose details about the new venture but I can say I will be staying in the Seattle area to build it. It has to do with sports, advertising, mobile, social-networking, and, of course, the cloud. I’m insanely excited to get started. Subscribe here or follow me on twitter if you want to hear more …Continue reading →

90% of the Decisions You Make Don’t Matter

August 6, 2011
Clarity of Thought, Leadership, Startups
8 Comments

In my post The 5 Ps: Achieving Focus in Any Endeavor, I noted that “90% of the decisions you make don’t matter; real success comes in being able to identify the 10% that do and focus on those.” The best, most effective leaders can free their teams up to get stuff done by making lots of decisions quickly and enabling those decisions to stick. We all regularly hear criticisms of ineffective leadership voiced as “Decisions …Continue reading →

The 5Ps: Achieving Focus in Any Endeavor

June 14, 2011
Clarity of Thought, Leadership, Startups
19 Comments

Always have a plan. Always. A great, simple, framework for any plan is the 5Ps:  Purpose, Principles, Priorities, People, and Plan. This framework applies to software development projects, job searches, building a garden, or a phase in your life. I have personally found the 5Ps a useful tool for small projects (e.g. prepping for a VC demo/presentation) as well as large-scale projects that include 1,000s of people. The 5Ps : Purpose, Principles, Priorities, People, and …Continue reading →