Ignight-ing Boulder

Categories life
Team @ignighter spent this past weekend in Boulder, visiting our mentors & friends from last summers Techstars program. It''s been exactly one year since we made the trek from the east coast to Boulder, joining the 2008 mentorship program. Wow. what a weekend. I''d forgotten how much Boulder is the type of place that will just humble you. Beyond the natural beauty in the town & the Read the article >>

First Time Startup CTO Tips #1 – Log Everything

Categories startups, technology
-- This post is part of a series of tips on lessons learned & experiences I''ve had as the lead developer (CTO if you want to be fancy) of the online dating startup, at Ignighter.com. Though these tips are focused primary at consumer startups, they ring true elsewhere too. For a full list of these tips, see 10 things I''d wish I''d known as a lead developer at Techstars. -- My 3nd week on Read the article >>

10 Things I wish I knew as a Lead Developer at Techstars

Categories startups, technology
Last summer, I had the pleasure of joining Adam & Dan from Ignighter, at Techstars.  I was their lead developer.  Techstars is a seed-stage mentorship driven startup incubator, and it was my job to get Ignighter.com off the ground, and into the hands of 20-somethings everywhere. In the spirit of passing along what I''ve learned, I''d like to share a few things I wish I''d known about starting Read the article >>

Why do so many entrepreneurs run?

Categories essays, fitness
Reading a post by Rustin Banks on the parallels between Entrepeneurship & Tennis got me thinking. Just like Tennis, there sure are a lot of parallels between Running and Entrepeneurship. That must be why so many startup folks I''ve met over the past year are runners too! And, by running, I mean distance running. 5 miles and over. Come to think of it, many of my favorite folks from Techstars Read the article >>

Developer Interviews @ Startups

Categories startups
Over the last year I''ve found myself in an exciting new situation. I''m interviewing candidates to be the developers & designers of a team that''s looking to turn online dating upside down. As with many first-time Lead Developers, at first I wasn''t completely sure what to look for in a new hire. But, after sitting in on 20 or so interviews, some good, most bad, I have a reasonable idea of what Read the article >>

How much is a themed Google logo worth?

Categories investigations, technology
Google periodically updates their corporate logo on their homepage with a themed logo. Typically, this themed logo will coincide with a current event or news item in the country they launch the logo in. For example, in USA, the Google.com homepage over the last few weeks, has had themed logos celebrating both the 40th anniversary of the first episode of Sesame Street and the anniversary of the invention Read the article >>

Twitter IS Human-Powered Search

Categories life
While Google is my go-to for almost everything search, there are some situations when keyworded-search just doesn't do. Google's Pagerank algorithm may find answers that are most relevant to the entire web, but sometimes I want to know what people in my field, in my area, or from my past, are using. Those people know my tastes, or at least seem to have similar tastes to me. In short, I want to know Read the article >>

How to Find Interesting New Twitter-ers

Categories life
I've been onboarding some of my offline friends to twitter lately. It's funny how the best brands make you into an evangelist for their platform, isn't it? Anyway, I've found that after they get past the initial idea, and decide to sign-up, their biggest point of friction is finding new interesting people to follow. Here are the best twitter-er finding tools I've found so far. - http://wefollow.com/ Read the article >>

What music have you been listening to lately? Please share. #musicmonday

Categories life
One of my favorite things about integrating twitter into my life, thus far, has been how powerful the platform is for giving & getting recommendations of new habits, products, or hobbies, from a trusted network of friends & colleagues. And, there's a part of me that loves music. discovering it. listening to it. digesting it. feeling it. dancing to it. and, sharing it. I'm going to try an Read the article >>

The amazing value of the Techstars network

Categories life
About a year ago, I was given an once-in-a-decade career opportunity: Join Adam Sachs & Dan Osit to help start Ignighter.com, an online group dating website, at Techstars, the startup incubator program based in Boulder, CO. Techstars typically takes a small equity stake in your company in exchange for a small amount of seed money, a summer of office space, mentorship, and connections. While Read the article >>