SXSWi: ValleySpeak for the Rest of Us: Developing Apps Outside InternetVille
Fantastic photo by LaughingSquid via Flickr.
Do I really need to provide an intro? My two heroes.
- Dan Cederholm (SimpleBits)
- Brian Oberkirch (Small Good Thing)
Location. Does it matter where you are?
“Daddy, where do web apps come from?” – Jackson
- Location doesn’t matter (except when it does)
- There are some amazing virtual companies being created
- What it takes is the right people
- You can build great web apps anywhere in the world
- Silicon Valley happens to be where more people do it
- What makes the valley different?
- Talent
- Startup mojo
- Infrastructure/funding
- Don’t think about funding. Think about making great stuff.
- Community
- What we outside the Valley would like to replicate
- SuperHappyDevHouse
- The valley doesn’t understand people
- Knowing your users > Who you know
- Build your tribe
- Come bearing gifts
- Building Blocks: Vitamin, Co-working, A List Apart, Distributed tools (Skype, Basecamp)
- Tundro
- Cork’d: Dan & Dan hadn’t really met each other when they started
- Didn’t meet until after it was done
- IM, phone, Skype, Basecamp
- Location doesn’t matter
- You can successfully work with people virtually
- Dan works by himself, 10×10 office with no windows
- The benefit of being able to sit next to someone and bounce ideas around is huge
- How did they hook up?
- Knew each other through blogs, worked on a couple projects together (freelance)
- Skills overlap on lots of things, IA, copy writing
- No easy answer for how to find people (friends, people online)
- How do you add to the number of people you know to work with?
- Conferences, Twitter, Flickr (who’s doing what?), Barcamps
- Hosted Boston-area designers meetups
- How did Cork’d come about
- The user was them - they wanted to use it
- Started off using Flickr to share wines
- Very “Getting Real” - no mockups
- One main template outside of Rails
- Dan B dumped it into Rails
- Built on top of that
- SVN made building with the two of them easy to do in real time
- Downsides to not sitting together?
- Not able to collaborate on other types of projects
- Not wine experts, but now talking to wine companies
- You should really be passionate about the subject
- What’s the status?
- Sidetracked by interest in site that stalled development (that sucked)
- Chugging along
- The user was them - they wanted to use it
- Cork’d: Dan & Dan hadn’t really met each other when they started
- Does being remote hurt?
- Hasn’t worked with a company in Boston yet
- If he had to go to meetings, he couldn’t get any work done
- Physical meetings take up a lot of time
- It helps being virtual
- Etsy: In Brooklyn
- Don’t get distracted by issues that are important to alpha geeks
I expected a lot of this panel, and it did not disappoint. It was great to hear Dan talk about not only the process involved in creating Cork’d, but also how “lonely” it can get, working by himself out in Salem. One of the highlights of this panel was the folks I met afterwards, but I’ll write more on that later.
If you ever get the chance to hear either of these guys talk, go. I love hearing Dan talk about CSS. I love hearing Dan talk about business. I would go to a panel where Dan was discussing Guided By Voices. Or ukulele. Brian, to quote Josh Porter, is the ultimate “aggregator.”
[...] Adam Darowski (so glad to get to meet you, dude!) [...]
[...] Traces of Inspiration ¬ª Blog Archive ¬ª SXSWi: ValleySpeak for the Rest of Us: Developing Apps Outs… SXSWi: ValleySpeak for the Rest of Us: Developing Apps Outside InternetVille (tags: sxsw 2007 startup springnet **) Share and Enjoy:These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. [...]
[...] Traces of Inspiration » Blog Archive » SXSWi: ValleySpeak for the Rest of Us: Developing… - SXSWi: ValleySpeak for the Rest of Us: Developing Apps Outside InternetVille [...]
[...] Traces of Inspiration » Blog Archive » SXSWi: ValleySpeak for the Rest of Us: Developing… - SXSWi: ValleySpeak for the Rest of Us: Developing Apps Outside InternetVille [...]
[...] Traces of Inspiration » Blog Archive » SXSWi: ValleySpeak for the Rest of Us: Developing… - SXSWi: ValleySpeak for the Rest of Us: Developing Apps Outside InternetVille Share and Enjoy:These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. [...]
[...] Traces of Inspiration » Blog Archive » SXSWi: ValleySpeak for the Rest of Us: Developing… - SXSWi: ValleySpeak for the Rest of Us: Developing Apps Outside InternetVille Thank you for reading this post. You can now Leave A Comment (0) or Leave A Trackback. [...]
[...] Traces of Inspiration » Blog Archive » SXSWi: ValleySpeak for the Rest of Us: Developing… - SXSWi: ValleySpeak for the Rest of Us: Developing Apps Outside InternetVille [...]
[...] Traces of Inspiration » Blog Archive » SXSWi: ValleySpeak for the Rest of Us: Developing… - SXSWi: ValleySpeak for the Rest of Us: Developing Apps Outside InternetVille « My del.icio.us bookmarks for January 8th through January 14th [...]
[...] Traces of Inspiration » Blog Archive » SXSWi: ValleySpeak for the Rest of Us: Developing… - SXSWi: ValleySpeak for the Rest of Us: Developing Apps Outside InternetVille Share and Enjoy:These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. [...]
[...] Traces of Inspiration » Blog Archive » SXSWi: ValleySpeak for the Rest of Us: Developing… - SXSWi: ValleySpeak for the Rest of Us: Developing Apps Outside InternetVille « My del.icio.us bookmarks for January 8th through January 14th [...]
[...] Traces of Inspiration » Blog Archive » SXSWi: ValleySpeak for the Rest of Us: Developing… - SXSWi: ValleySpeak for the Rest of Us: Developing Apps Outside InternetVille [...]
[...] Traces of Inspiration » Blog Archive » SXSWi: ValleySpeak for the Rest of Us: Developing… - SXSWi: ValleySpeak for the Rest of Us: Developing Apps Outside InternetVille Share and Enjoy:These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. [...]
[...] Traces of Inspiration » Blog Archive » SXSWi: ValleySpeak for the Rest of Us: Developing… - SXSWi: ValleySpeak for the Rest of Us: Developing Apps Outside InternetVille [...]