April 2013
2 posts
Introducing Dig Down Labs LLC
So now that I’ve officially announced the closing of Falicon Programming Inc.
I’m finally free and ready to announce the official formation of my new company, Dig Down Labs LLC.
This new company is what I’ll be building, releasing, and running all my projects from over the next few years (at least), and it will also be the vehicle that I do any/all freelance under.
It’s...
The end of an era.
I have officially closed Falicon Programming Inc.
I started Falicon Programming Inc. Dec. 12th 2001 as a Delaware class C corp. At the time I was running Supermug, Draftwizard, and had also just started putting together the Statsfeed service. I was also working a full time job as head-of-tech. at reviews.com, doing a bit of freelance for a variety of sports-related companies, and had just...
March 2013
1 post
What's missing?
Gawk.it has been happily chugging along from day-to-day for about 10 months now.
And while it’s already installed on some of my personal favorite blogs — avc, continuations, cdixon, aweissman, and thisisgoingtobebig to name just a few — it has not yet reached a critical mass on the traction front.
So I’ve been thinking a lot about how to grow the install base...
February 2013
3 posts
superfeedr asked: Hi! I know you're working hard to make blogs better. I wanted to get your feedback on this 'universal' subscribe button: SubToMe. [Seems like I can't link from a question, but Google does a good job!] It's obviously inspired by Tumblr's follow feature. I'd love to gear your thoughts?
citynsea asked: hi, long list. i tried to look for 49ers on the search.
Anonymous asked: Is conversationlist dead? :( Not working for me...
January 2013
1 post
A real problem - how to build an audience?
Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and all the other ‘social’ tools out there are making it *really* easy to share and discover links…but an interesting side effect seems to be that they are also making it harder to actually build an audience (people who identify and look to continuously engage with your brand, your content, and your community).
So I’m wondering, what tools are...
December 2012
9 posts
Which is more valuable?
Which is more valuable? The content or the connections within a social network?
I think in a general social network like Twitter or Facebook, you would argue the connections are where the real value sits…but I wonder if this is also the case in a vertical social network?
If you look at a blog like AVC from a 10,000 foot view I would argue that it’s really a vertical social network...
...and...action!
Ideas are great. Thinking about the possibilities, the options, the details…all fun stuff.
But nothing counts until you actually start to take action.
It’s Christmas 2012 as I write this, and as such I’m thinking about many of my friends and family…my peers, my mentors, advisors, and even a business associate or two…but until I take a moment to actually send them a...
The key to profits. Supply and Demand.
The hacker says “What can I build that a large number of people will want?”. The entrepreneur says “What do a large number of people want that I can build?”.
And guess what? Both can actually grow into highly profitable businesses!
The trick is simply to understand how to properly evaluate the profit potential of an idea — regardless of how you came to the idea.
...
'Tis the Season for a Tigerbow Post Mortem
porchdog:
Every holiday season, folks reach out to talk to me about the gifting market because of my first startup. It was called Tigerbow and it let people send real gifts to email addresses (and Facebook profiles, Twitter accounts, mobile phones, etc.) I poured my heart and soul into it for 2-3 years and it failed. Facebook’s (re)launch of Gifts and the holiday season got...
2012 Atlanta Falcons.
Anyone that knows me in person probably knows that I’m a HUGE Atlanta Falcons fan. And for those that only know me online, you probably guessed as much as well.
Heck even my online identity is born out of my love for the Falcons (falicon is a made up word from the combination of Falcons and icon — I created it in the early 90s to be a username I could generally get anywhere online).
...
I am not an entrepreneur.
I love startups because I love building something out of nothing. Problem solving. Creating. Inventing.
I enjoy small, passionate, teams completely focused on a core mission or an idea. Teams that dream big but are starting small and focused.
So I talk with a lot of people about a lot of ideas.
Some are starting companies, some are creating art, some are just playing with and learning about...
The Mayan prediction.
I’ve always been fascinated by the 2012 predictions (and predictions as a whole really).
I don’t actually believe the world will end, and I’m not even sure anything will happen at all (though there are some fascinating facts around how unique of a point-in-time it actually will be for our planet and solar system — so you never know).
In any case, I have to admit that...
The long term goal for gawk.it
gawkit:
The long term vision for gawk.it is deep conversation search that reaches throughout the long tail of the internet and provides access like never before to the high quality people and conversations that are occurring throughout the unknown corners of the internet every day.
Along the way we’ll help fix search for bloggers, give them some search-related tools and analysis to help them...
More than you ever wanted to know about my career...
Inspired by the recently released USV Timeline, I’ve decided dump out a longish version of my own timeline.
What follows is a bullet format of that, with probably more rambling detail than anyone would ever care to actually have/know:
1992
Graduated Girard high school
Attended Edinboro University (initial major - Secondary Mathmatics, eventually switched to Computer Science Major but...
November 2012
4 posts
Introducing Halfbite. Click tracking made simple.
About two years ago, I needed click tracking for the knowabout.it service that I was building. However, click tracking wasn’t really core to the knowabout.it idea and in fact I had a handful of other projects that could really benefit from click tracking as well.
The truth is that over the years I have hacked away on many projects and ideas…and throughout almost all of them I’ve...
Anonymous asked: I would like to ask. Would it be possible to allow the user to specify the website to search. And would it be possible to search anything in quotations. Thank you
Going from zero to one...and beyond.
I’ve had a handful of my friends struggle with getting new things started lately. And one of the big questions they’ve been struggling with is just how to get that initial core of users going.
Though I’ve never really had what I would consider a ‘home run hit’ with any of my own projects (yet), I have been able to grow many different things from zero users to at...
Why does a blogger need gawk.it?
Great question that I’ve been thinking a lot about lately…here is my current thinking and why I deeply believe gawk.it is something everyone who blogs needs and should want:
1. gawk.it provides the most comprehensive blog search available.
gawk.it is the only search engine that includes the ability to search both the blog post and all it’s related comments.
The days of top...
October 2012
3 posts
Network effects, modes, and the business of...
As I build up and scale the backend I’ve also been jotting down my thoughts on gawk.it the business throughout the summer…what follows are a few of those quick thoughts/notes.
Why share this stuff?
Well first, I believe in being as clear and open as possible.
Second, I’m hoping that by sharing these sort of details, those that are interested in the work I’m doing around...
Today's random idea: Same Scene
Thanks to a friend, I recently got the chance to meet and talk with Broadway Video Ventures (BVV)
For those that don’t know about them, BVV is a fund primarily backed by various celebrities and successful high-profile members of the entertainment industry.
(Their offices are even located at 30 rock — on the same floor where many of the Saturday Night Live writers work).
So as you...
September 2012
5 posts
Some of my early 'sales rules'
I recently read this post about Apple maps and I guess because of the start of it, I started reflecting on my younger years as a salesman as well.
When I was a kid (I think the summer between 7th and 8th grade actually), my friends and I got jobs selling popcorn and peanuts at the local minor league baseball games (in Erie, PA). It was a great summer job, where I had a blast and learned a ton.
...
The ups and downs of a startup developer.
I left the house without my cell phone today. Bummer. No checking email during the dead periods today.
I parked my car near the Path train as usual, grabbed my iPod, threw on my headphones and started my one block walk towards the Path…turns out my iPod was out of charge (guess I had left it on all night in the car). Bummer. No music on my commute to the office today.
I got to the office,...
To raise money, or not to raise money...
I’ve been talking casually with a few angel investors* over the course of the summer about gawk.it and the potential to raise a small seed round. The idea would be to allow me to focus on it full time and scale it up quick.
I’ve also had a handful of friends/mentors/coaches/advisors and potential partners all weigh in with thoughts and opinions on just what the proper approach and...
Inclusive? Exclusive? Open? Closed?
Here’s the truth. It really doesn’t matter.
What matters is the value to you personally, and your perception of that value.
If you perceive there is value, you will (or at least you should) find a way to work your way in. And soon you’ll be a regular, an insider, part of the system, and your life will be awesome.
If you do not believe there will be personal value in something,...
Focus.
My personal project history now spans over 100 projects. These projects range in topic from sports-related services, to games, to social tools, to mobile apps, to browser extensions, to utilities, to web services, and beyond.
When looked at on the surface, I think this volume and variety causes many people to have the perception that I’m a bit ‘unfocused’. That I’m...
August 2012
5 posts
Acqui-hires: The debate de Jour.
The big blog debate of the weekend appears to be around the topic of acqui-hires.
Sarah Lacy got it started with this post, then Nick O’Neill followed up with this response, and Michael Arrington also jumped into the mix with this post. Even Howard Lindzon got a bit in on the mix with this Tweet.
Overall it’s an interesting topic to me, and something I’ve spent quite a bit of...
Random idea for Digg: Dogfight
I’m not sure why, but yesterday I found myself thinking a bit about the new Digg and what I would be doing if I had taken over the brand.
To me, the core asset of Digg was the emotional reaction the brand generates with the general internet public.
So I think the question is, how do you take advantage of that built-in emotional response and rebuild a ‘new’ and wildly successful...
“The magic, the alchemy, occurs when what we do mixes with who we are and is...”
– Jerry Colonna via AVC guest post
(via kirklove)
i wonder if this Jerry quote was hanging out in my subconscious when I said this
(via fred-wilson)
…love it…this is a belief that sits at the core of everything I approach or attempt to do
Dear Dalton Caldwell
Dalton,
I have to admit, I’ve been sucked in by the hype and the press of the join.app.net movement (and your blog posts) over the past month.
It’s a bit like watching the first season of ‘Survivor’ when reality T.V. wasn’t actually a ‘thing’ yet…I know it’s adding no value to my life, but I’m still completely spell bound by it all and...
Who is Kevin Marshall?
Kevin Marshall is a developer and consultant, dad, coach, husband, avid people watcher, and lover of life.
As a developer and consultant for the past 19 years I’ve worked for a large variety of companies across an even larger variety of software projects.
I’ve written and contributed to various technical books and articles on programming and have real-world experience, with a proven...
July 2012
10 posts
“Because getting good at what you do doesn’t come from not making mistakes; it...”
– Mike Monteiro in his recent book, “Design is not a job”. This truth is worth the measly $9.00 asking price alone. Buy the book - it’s a steal I promise.
The philosophy I'm building gawk.it (the company)...
1. There are no rules, only concepts.
2. When choosing between reputation and money, ALWAYS choose reputation.
3. Always understand the ‘why’. If you don’t, ask.
4. If you find you don’t agree with the ‘why’, you MUST change something.
5. The only change you can truly control is a change within.
6. If you see a problem, fix it.
7. When you fix a problem,...
How will gawk.it make money?
As I’ve mentioned before, gawk.it primarily serves two groups:
1. People who search.
2. People that blog and want to offer a powerful conversation-search feature to their audience.
With those two groups in mind, and thanks in large part to Fred Wilson’s latest post, I wanted to think a bit out loud about ‘how can gawk.it actually make money?’
Before I can entertain any...
Kyle Bragger: On what's next. →
kylewritescode:
When I started Forrst in 2009, I never thought it’d become what it is today. To me (at least at first) it was an interesting experiment but not much more. But, as is frequently the case, many others were in search of something like Forrst, and it quickly gained traction, eventually growing into…
That is what you call a powder-keg of a team coming together…both of...
Meetings.
I love meeting people and talking over ideas, but I find it really disruptive to actually getting things done (ie. building shit). Still, a good meeting can be really eye-opening and inspiring, and even the worst one you can generally learn a little something from.
So I’ve been agreeing to more meetings than usual these days…but as I do this, I’ve found that I’m becoming...
Anonymous asked: What's your definitive check list for evaluating ideas for viability?
Anonymous asked: Do you follow the holistic approach to startups? Do you try every idea that looks promising to see if it generates some traction? BTW, forget my last question I found you first things first post. Are a bunch of your posts here marked with the same post date? Thx.
Random idea: instead
Today’s random idea is actually pretty simple and straight forward…but I think, if done right, it could actually be brilliant.
It’s a mobile app called ‘instead’.
The basic concept is for my ‘always aware’ phone to detect when I’m likely about to make a poor decision, and ping me with a message or alternative that I should consider (before...
June 2012
10 posts
Playing a bit with discovery...10 interesting...
I’m playing with a few small discovery ideas tonight (yes, related to some gawk.it data)…I’m not sure if I’ll build this directly into gawk.it anytime soon (I’ve got a ton of other things to get smoothed out there first).
The more I think about it, it probably makes more sense as a stand-alone, simple, daily email that just sends out 10 interesting links a day (maybe...
Site search options and the gawk.it opportunity
Eventually I’m going to talk more in-depth about gawk.it competition, but tonight I just wanted to dump some quick tidbits I’ve been discovering as I explore this general space a bit more.
I’ve been intentionally adding new blogs and forums to the gawk.it search system VERY slowly (I’ll try to explain the reasons behind my ‘slow to add’ approach in a future...
Anonymous asked: Why doesn't search work on your blog?
Seth Godin's kickstarter experiment...
In case you haven’t seen or heard about it yet, Seth Godin decided to do a little kickstarter experiment today…if it worked, he promised to put out a new book (prob. in Jan. of next year)…and work it did…he reached his min. funding goal in about three short hours!
On one hand I’m excited and impressed with this result, and on the other I’m not at all surprised...
Realizations from past attempts.
Though I tend to have gobs-o-ideas, and too many active projects to shake a stick at, I have actually only started a handful of things on my own that I’ve tried to generate a profit with and turn into a ‘real’ business.
Some of these ‘attempts’ were more successful than others, but each has provided me with lots of insight, taught me more than I could have ever...
