work Actions Speak Louder Than Words We've all heard this adage a million times. I've been saying it at home, and at work, a bit over the past few months. My son is a decent carbon copy of me (poor kid!), and if you know me, I'm generally a man
company When Are You No Longer A Startup? In the past six hours, the topic of whether or not a company is a startup, or not, has come up a half-dozen times. I've been meaning to post my thoughts on the topic. Gnip [http://gnip.com/] (a social media company [http://gnip.com/]) is a high-growth
parenting Kids & Jay Walking I just got back from Tokyo, Japan where walk/stop signals on the streets are strictly adhered to. That fact sparked up the age-old conversation here in the US around adherence to these signals while raising kids. As parents, do we adhere to the letter of the law all the
management Deliberate Action I was just responding to an internal email thread at Gnip [http://gnip.com/] and the following came out. As I re-read it, I thought it might make a good blog post. Here it is. One of the most valuable things we have is our deliberate, conscious, and directed trajectory.
company Trajectories My company, Gnip (a social media company) [http://gnip.com/], blew the doors off of 2012 [http://blog.gnip.com/gnip-2012/]. The business grew tremendously, we saw concrete manifestation of an ecosystem we've visualized since the beginning, and the product lit up business after business with the public
carbon Car Shares: My 2012 Expenditures We're a family of four and we own one car. We live/work/school all within walking distance of our house, in Boulder, CO; that's by design, not accident. I'm a huge advocate of car share/ride share, and public transportation, programs. Personal/daily
home Machines Are Talking To Me My personal email inbox has these three messages in it. One is from a piece of hardware in my house (Twine [https://twine.supermechanical.com/]) whining about dying. Another is from a piece of software in ether reminding me to mess with another piece of hardware in my house (my
startup Community Anchors: Dojo4 During Tuesday meditation at Dojo4 [http://dojo4.com/] this morning something hit me in the context of "community." A few months ago my daughter had a section in her 2nd grade class wherein they discussed "community." What makes a community? What does a community need to
startup Startup Life - The Book The next book, Startup Life [http://startuprev.com/lifebook], in the Startup Revolution [http://www.startuprev.com/] series is coming out in short order (you can pre-order now). My wife and I contributed to this one. Startups are a unique beast when it comes to career paths, and the blend
management Techniqued v. defined About a decade ago, a colleague of mine used this word to describe an odd interaction we'd just had with someone else. It has stuck with me ever since, and I've been compelled to share it a few times over the past couple of months. As
management Speak the Unspoken Gnip (a social media company [http://gnip.com/]) grew a lot in 2012. We did a lot a of things really well (we have an experienced, proven, management team), but I personally botched a least one thing. I let certain aspects of process and reasons for doing certain things go
company Product or Services? What Kind of Company are You? At Gnip (a social media company [http://gnip.com/]; where I work) we are, of course, always working to "do the right thing," when it comes to how we build software. There is a lot of great work and discussion going on these days regarding the assurance that
management Zero Chance "We have zero chance." I overheard someone say this the other day. Basked in innovative and dynamic communities (Boulder & San Francisco), I hadn't heard those words uttered in a long time. In fact, I can't remember when I last heard them. It caused
hiring Too Many Software Chefs? When we started Gnip (a social media company [http://gnip.com/]) nearly five years ago, it was a blank slate. I vowed to only hire the best, most experienced, software builders & artists. Sure "best" is subjective, but we'd define it ourselves and nail it. "
conference Hosting A Conference: Big Boulder 2012 If you've considered putting on a conference at your company, you might glean something from our experience. My company, Gnip (a social media company) [http://gnip.com/], held its first conference this summer (Big Boulder [http://bigboulderconf.com/]). You can also read about it on the Gnip blog
boulder "Startup Communities" by Brad Feld A "publisher's draft" of Brad's latest book (release date in coming weeks) called "Startup Communities" [http://amzn.to/S1A9AZ] appeared on my desk the other day. I just finished reading it. What an awesome book! Brad [http://www.feld.com/] put to
boulder Daily Camera Building Re-development If you are responsible for leasing/buying commercial office space for your Boulder-based company, read on. My company, Gnip (a social media company) [http://gnip.com/], recently signed a new lease downtown, so the process is still fresh in my mind. This coming Thursday, July 26th, evening, the Boulder Planning
design My 3 Steps To Software I had three distinct moments that committed me to a life of being up close and personal with software. April and I were just lying in bed talking about when we first met, and how she "had no idea what I was going to be when I grew up.
On Hiring A COO By external measures, Gnip [http://gnip.com/] ("the social media [http://gnip.com/] API") is a 4.5 yr old raging success. I'm a technical co-founder in the company. I'm a first-time CEO, and have been for two years now. A year ago I
company Overwhelmed With Joy WARNING, this post runs into high corny factor in a hurry. I'm also going pretty stream-of-consciousness-style because I'm too tired to polish and think clearly. some of the exalted Gnip team24 hours ago Gnip's (the social media [http://gnip.com/] API) Big Boulder conference
life My Life In Scrabble Letters Something hit me hard yesterday when I was playing Words With Friends with my son. I'm always grappling with how to approach life/business. When am I pessimistic? When do I approach something with passion and vigor? When do I shy away from something? When do I lock
Parenting & Technology: An Update I haven't been posting about raising kids in this technically dense world as much as I'd like. Here are some quick thoughts... Stuff in the house * We're a heavy Apple house. * A few mac laptops. * A central/common-area big screen iMac in the "
management CEO: Helping or Hurting? A thought provoking exchange with someone on the Gnip [http://gnip.com/] team last night, wound up revealing a behavior I've developed, unconsciously, as CEO. As CEO of a 25+ person company (Gnip's at around 40) you can't deep dive on as many challenges
urls Unspeakable URLs: Y! Japan's Stronghold While in Japan a couple of weeks ago I had a fascinating conversation with a local software/web person about URLs, Japan, and the mystery (to me) that has always been Y! Japan (Y! Japan is a joint venture between Y! US and Softbank). Now I get it. Imagine a
programming Radioactive App Store Updates & User State This whole post applies to desktop browsers and cookies too, but the use case is underscored on a mobile device because user input is relatively more difficult. > As a mobile app user (e.g. iOS apps) I want to tell an app as little about myself and my preferences/
