One of my problems with blogging (and honestly, just about everything I do) is that I have a big, grandiose vision of what I want as an end result. Then, when I start to work on it, I directly extrapolate the time my first few steps take over the whole project, and end up thinking that the big vision will just take too long. For instance, I have several draft posts with nothing but a title and a link I want to discuss, but since writing is harder than reading, I leave them as drafts. Because of this, I end up sticking with things I know how to do well because I can start quickly, make predictable progress, and work towards a finished product. Two things where this works well: reading books (I read tons, 1-2 a week of all sorts) and programming in C#. I found .Net when it came out in 2001. I was in college programming in C++ and biting back swear words after every SEGFAULT, and I was completely tickled at the thought of a language where you didn’t have to manage memory. I started programming C# in my spare time and every job I’ve had since I graduated has been .Net related.

Fast forward to 2006 when I interviewed for a job, completely bombed and realized that I just wasn’t that good of a programmer. There was no question that I was smart and could figure anything out, but I had only worked on little problems. Some of my jobs dealt with big systems but I worked on a small, self contained part of them. My side projects hadn’t been anything significant so they didn’t stretch my capabilities much either. So I realized that not only had I not learned any Computer Science theory since I left college, but I was actually regressing as a coder (no more writing web crawlers, chess programs, programming languages, or operating systems)! I realized that this was a first class ticket to unhappiness and out of the computer profession and I decided to change.

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As I’ve mentioned in a couple of my posts, I’m working on a startup. This wasn’t technically true until this week. Before, I had an idea for something to do but I hadn’t even done anything resembling working on it. Now, I’ve at least done something resembling work! So far I have:

• setup the virtual server on my shared hosting account
• setup a couple email addresses
• setup a gmail address that those addresses forward to (I have no interest in running a mail server)
• picked a name (will be discussed later on the startup blog)
• registered the domain
• setup WordPress to blog
• wrote a welcome post on the site

So, I know at this point, the suspense is killing you, right? Right!?! Ok, here goes. The statup is called SmallPunch and it’s the motto is:

“SmallPunch is a job search tool that Doesn\’t Suck.”

Why did I start with these tasks? Why am I messing around with blogging when “wrote the code” and “got feedback from users” are conspicuously absent from my list above?

I’m a single founder (who’s married), so that’s two strikes for time. I also have a day job, a commute, and a baby, so I have 1-2 hours a day to work, max. That means about 10-15 hours a week, as opposed to the 100+ that a pair of hackers working full time have. Since I have to deal with a 10x disadvantage in working time, I need to leverage my time as much as possible. That means that I need to build assets that work for me.

So what does announcing SmallPunch on this blog do? I mean, I only have 4 or so readers. But, those 4 readers are the GoogleBot, the YahooBot, the AskBot, and the MicrosoftLiveBot. That means that by writing in advance, I can have some established links and organic search results sprinkled in when it comes time to launch. Look for the SmallPunch blog for details about the startup, and here for more about the process used to create it.

In then next post, I’ll announce some of my plans and schedule for SmallPunch as a startup.

As a sort of reference to me/resource to others, I started a page on this site to chronicle the research and recommendations I find while working on my own startup. Hopefully anyone that finds this can work faster by taking advantage of the research and work I’ve done. Having said that, I haven’t even searched The Google to see how many of these are out there. I’m meticulous enough that I’d want to do my own research and find my own opinions anyway, and now matter how thorough I try to be, not everything I learn will make it onto the page anyway.

This will be primarily a guide to setting up a work, development, and deployment environment for your product. I’ll probably put in some stuff about how to figure out what to make, but my guess is there are more people with ideas than people with IT infrastructure experience but no ideas. This is an attempt to reduce the transactional friction involved, and to help people get working on their own projects sooner. Let them focus on where they’re going to create value.

So without further ado, I am officially unveiling my gift to the startup world,

Startup A Startup

The first section is up and it’s about Source Control. Enjoy!

P.S. I just realized that this is also a progress report for me, so by making it available, I have pressure to continually show progress. Now that I’m on the hook, I wish I had thought this through a little more earlier!

Since I’m beginning to work on my own startup, I figure part of the job is to throw my voice into the conversation going on around startups. Since I’m not very far along (basically, I have an idea, a preliminary design, no name, a little research, no code, and no website), the best I can offer is a synthesis of my observations. I’m in Chicago (suburbs actually), which is not a startup hub by any means. Sure there is some activity, including some very influential voices, but no one would confuse it with the Bay Area, or even Seattle or Austin. I’m definitely going to write about Chicago soon, but right now that’s too big of a bite for me to take.

The Bay Area, on the other hand, has been sliced and diced and analyzed by so many people that one more voice won’t hurt. The usual answers are:

1. More Programmers
2. More VCs
3. More Big Companies

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Mike Sabat at Shelfmade.net recently wrote a post on his blog entitled “29 Years Old, Start a Business or Have a Baby?” Mike is a new acquaintance of mine, and I’m very excited about the startup he’s working on. (Go check out Shelfmade – I want him to succeed so I can use his product) Part of starting a startup is generating awareness of your company, and blogs are a great way to do that. One strategy is to write “linkbait” or “Digg-bait”, which is something inflammatory that people will get people talking and have them link to your article, which will lead others to the rest of your site. Well Mike, I took the bait.

I’m a fiercely proud father of a wonderful two year old girl and a husband of four years. I live in a 1,800sf house in the suburbs and I have a good job. Oh, and I’m 27 years old, and beginning to start a startup, so I’m in a similar position as Mike but in an entirely different lifestyle. Let me fill out his scorecard from my perspective: [Read more…]