January 2012
1 post
Tinyproj has been acquired.
It’s official: Tinyproj is now part of GroupTalent. I couldn’t be more pleased with how things have played out, and I’d like to give some brief thoughts on how and why this all took place.
About a month ago, I wrote an email update to Tinyproj members outlining what’s been going on with the service, the struggle with consistently getting high quality projects, as well as...
December 2011
4 posts
On transparency.
One of the strongest parts of our company culture at Forrst is our transparency and honesty around our thoughts on community, product, and most importantly, our foul-ups. I have always tried to maintain the same level of openness with all of my projects, as I believe it is vital to a product’s success. I wanted to share this email I sent Tinyproj subscribers this morning about the current...
A few quick thoughts on email, office, and intro...
These are just a few observations about email, office, and intro etiquette/culture that I have been meaning to get down for a bit. These are my own views on the matter, and I’m sure they come off as somewhat staunch, but it’s necessary for me to adhere to them as much as possible, if for no other reason than Forrst keeps me plenty busy and I’d like to make the best use of my time...
November 2011
3 posts
On the hiring space + reputation.
(Warning! Late night/random thoughts so apologies for any incoherence.)
The developer/designer hiring space is getting more crowded by the second. (Or maybe it always was?) Tons of job boards — GitHub Jobs, StackOverflow Careers, Authentic Jobs, 37signals — (and Forrst’s, too), plus services taking a more hands-on approach (Whitetruffle, Hackruiter), not to mention the hybrid/curated stuff...
Beefing up user profiles on Forrst
I have been meaning to write a bit about something we rolled out on Forrst a two weeks back — this tiny question bar that lives right under our navigation bar. While seemingly simple on the surface, it was a blast to dream up and build (with some inspiration from Hiten Shah). It helps us solve a very important problem: how do we help users complete their profiles on Forrst without being pushy...
October 2011
2 posts
On what's next.
forrst:
I’m really, really excited to be writing this post today. Big things are afoot at Forrst, and I’d like to share a few of them with you.
I am pleased to announce that Forrst is part of the latest 500startups Accelerator batch. Dave participated in our seed round in March, and when he asked us to come out to Mountain View this October, it was quite simply an offer we couldn’t refuse....
September 2011
6 posts
Week One Recap.
tinyproj:
Tinyproj launched in the late hours of Sept. 13. A week or so later, here’s where things are after sending two emails (there was a mid-week send on Wednesday due to project demand — not a bad problem to have.)
6,430 have registered for the weekly emails
Now that some of the buzz has died down, we’re adding roughly 200 users/day
64 projects have been submitted in total
31 of those...
A recap of Day One.
tinyproj:
Today Tinyproj officially turns three … days (old), and what a ride it’s been so far. I thought it would be fun to do a quick breakdown of the first email we sent today (and if you didn’t get it, sign up for next time).
It’s great to see a chord has been struck with folks — over 4,500 developers and designers, copywriters, and illustrators have signed up in the past few days, and the...
Do you strive to understand your tools, or simply...
I’ve been pondering this question for a while, and I thought it could spark some interesting discussion. 10 pin bowling is a huge part of my life: I’ve been a ball driller, coach, and at my peak was throwing 50-100 games a week, and was gearing up to start bowling professionally (those were the days!) What’s interesting about bowling is that a lot of folks I drilled equipment for...
2 tags
August 2011
1 post
Pud's Blog: Why Must You Laugh At My Back End →
pudjam666:
Disclaimer:
I’m not a trained engineer or sys admin. Never even finished a book on it. But I’ve launched (and sold) a few things that have become popular, so sometimes people ask me about my back end. Which ends up in blank stares, or worse.
OS:
Windows Server 2008. As for why not linux, I…
Nailed it. Using the right tool(s) for the job will usually win over using...
July 2011
2 posts
Stats!
forrst:
Everybody likes stats, so here are some neat/awesome/boring stats about Forrst.
Since launching about 14 months ago:
31,000 registered users, 40% of whom are active each month (and that’s more than just logging in)
nearly 90,000 posts across four types (code, screenshots, links, and questions)
350,000 comments
17,000 folks waiting for an account (something we’re working on...
Ted Roden: Meet the new boss →
tedroden:
About five months ago I left my job at The New York Times. When I left, the plan was simple, I was going to work part time at betaworks/bit.ly to help get news.me out the door and part time on Fancy Hands. News.me is out the door and Fancy Hands is still “up and to the right” as Tony Haile…
Congrats, Ted!
June 2011
3 posts
Andrew Pile: Oops →
From: XXXXX
Date: Thu, Jun 30, 2011 at 2:07 PM
Subject: Hello From YouTube Engineering: checking in
To: XXXXX@gmail.com
Hi XXXX,
It’s a new year — already halfway over! and I thought I’d check in to see if you may be interested in exploring engineering opportunities with YouTube? I hope…
Gotta love recruiters.
forrstpodcast:
Forrst Podcast 112: Blackout
...
“Tumblr is a truly unique hybrid. It sits squarely in the center of the Media...”
– I Adopted a Scorched Earth Policy, Closed 2 Blogs & Jumped to Tumblr by Steve Rubel (via thenextweb)
interesting perspective on tumblr as a platform
(via khuyi)
“Tradigital”? I want to vomit.
(via caterpillarcowboy)
Barfing across a field of four-leaf clovers, all the way to the end of...
May 2011
5 posts
On Redesigns.
NB: While I’m not a designer by trade, I do feel that I have an eye for product design and usability. So, take this all with a grain of salt. Also, in case there is any confusion, I’m not talking about designers redesigning their own sites. This is purely aimed at people redesigning other people’s stuff.
Lately it seems more and more people have been jumping on the “I...
Facto and Streak.ly need a home.
I’m in search of a home for two projects I’ve created, Facto and Streak.ly. Neither have received the love and attention they deserve as of late, but maybe you can change that. Both have received a nice amount of exposure and have users in the mid-thousands; both are (were) enjoyable projects to work on and certainly have bigger potential were the right person (or team) to be at the...
Into The Forrst: On the Forrst invite system. →
forrst:
I’m pleased to announce that we’ve just launched a substantial update to Forrst’s invite system. We’ve employed an invite-only model since the early days of the site with a nice degree of success; it’s helped keep the community highly-focused, and ensured that only developers and designers are…
I’m thrilled about this one.
April 2011
1 post
willw:
I just got a prestigious invite to the CIO Summits!
On behalf of our Board, I wanted to personally invite you into The CIO Summits because of your key role and experience.
The CIO Summits is an invitation-only group comprised of the very best executives and visionaries in the technology field. We meet monthly to exchange what is working, what is not, strategies and ideas. It is a...
February 2011
5 posts
Six important factors for building online...
I’m working on a full-length essay about building communities online and everything I’ve learned so far making Forrst, but here’s an outline to give a sense of what I’m thinking about.
Community can’t be forced
Your earliest users are the most important users you’ll ever have
Be human
Find your focus and ruthlessly pursue it
Always listen to users, but...
Shaun Chapman: Announcing a new project →
shaunchapman:
Hey everyone, just wanted to post a quick update on what I’ve been up to lately as well as a few things I’m excited about.
First up, I’m announcing a new project that I’ve been working on with Adam Kopec, a brilliant designer and fellow VaynerMedia employee. It’s called Discovery. You can…
Chris is moving to San Francisco to work at...
chriskalani:
At the end of the month Jess and I will be moving to San Francisco — Where I will be joining Facebook’s ever so talented product design team. We’re really looking forward to experiencing a new city together but also sad to leave behind our friends and family. We’re hoping everyone comes and visits us at our new place. That’s all for now.
Congrats dude.
Forrst: One Year Later
forrst:
I thought it would be fun to do a quick post in honor of Forrst recently having its first birthday. Coincidentally, our birthday falls in January, which means I can be exceptionally lazy and combine “happy birthday to us” and “year in review” posts into one.
Now, without further ado, here it is.
Some interesting numbers since going online in January 2010, one year ago:
1,795,891...
I'm on The Pipeline! →
I had the incredible pleasure of joining Mr. Dan Benjamin on The Pipeline this morning.
January 2011
16 posts
Fancy Hands: Warts and all. →
fancyhands:
When we’re good, we’re great. Here’s what an actual client had to say with regard to a specific task, unedited aside from changing names. (Posted with permission)
Dear Ted, I am writing to commend Fancy Hands Assistant Shannon for her astonishing efficiency, thoroughness, and thoughtfulness. My brother, who lives in Georgia, was miserable — he had slipped on the ice and ended up...
betashop: Startup Year 2 →
betashop:
Today marks the 1 year anniversary of my latest company, fab.com.
Here are some of my thoughts on the difference between year 1 and year 2 of a startup.
Year 1: Ideas & Faith
Get something out there as fast as possible and iterate like mad to try to find some market traction.
Try…
Sage advice.
In Oregon and New Jersey, it is illegal to pump...
caterpillarcowboy:
section9:
uselessfacts-:
Source
But I’ve done it in New Jersey before.
Even better: Only 18 states have cheaper gas than NJ.
(Yes, TLOTH, I did make an excel spreadsheet based on AAA gas data.)
Blew my mind when I moved to NYC or ever went anywhere that I could make myself useful and fill ‘er up.
Whipped up a proper homepage for my startup help... →
fame+frippery: Favorite Things: Crappy Taxidermy →
fameandfrippery:
Alright, if you must know anything about me, it’s the fact that I have a serious love for taxidermy. Maybe it has something to do with my late grandpa being a swamp trapper in the bogs of Mississippi? Or maybe I just have a love for things that are stuffed (cupcakes? shells? full bellies?)…
It’s true.
This might be one of the most exciting things... →
Currently wrapping it up and slowly rolling out to our lovely users over the next few weeks.
myNoSQL: Redis and PHP: What Library to use? →
nosql:
Ori Pekelman discusses in two posts — here and here — the status of the various PHP libraries for Redis:
After looking at all of these I quickly turned to the C extension, Redisent looked nice but did not implement the new unified bulk protocol, and to be true, the code was a bit buggy….
I also recommend iRedis
Me on Wine & Web →
Listen to me talk about Forrst and kittens for 17 minutes on Gary V’s show, Wine and Web.
Thanks
thegongshow:
Spark recently promoted me to Principal. Thanks a bunch to the many people that said really nice things about it. I’m humbled and really appreciate the great support everyone around Spark and the rest of the tech community has given me. Thank you.
So excited for you.
Startup? I'd love to help you. →
For $399, I’ll come brainstorm with your startup (ideally small teams in an early stage) for two hours. My sweet spot is a blend of product and technical ability. If you’re not in NYC, happy to connect over Skype.
Some background on me:
I’m the founder, lead developer and head of product at Forrst, a community of developers and designers over twenty thousand strong, born out...
4 tags
fame+frippery: Shiny & New (Giveaway Too!) →
fameandfrippery:
So after much whining and nagging on my end, and lots of patience and focus on the bf’s fame+frippery 2.0 has been born! All my images are HUGE…including this one. Incidentally I showed this snap to KB, and he replied “isn’t that a bit racy?” Um..no! What says new launch better than a…
I helped Brooke code up the new F&F site she designed over the weekend....
Forrst. →
I thought this was way cool when I realized it the other week.
From concept to launch in 24 hours and why there's...
I launched Facto yesterday. It’s a project I’ve been wanting to build for a while, and I finally got around to making it a reality over the past 24 hours or so. While building, I had a bit of a “whoa” moment thinking about what it really takes to launch a project these days, and why there’s no better time to build something of your own. (If you’re just...
Facto, 7 hours later
Launched a 24 hour project today called Facto, ~7 hours ago to be precise. Wanted to do a quick follow up on it (which I suspect I will update over time; it’s pretty darn fascinating to watch this evolve.)
420 users
1,331 facts
5,572 uniques
30,210 pageviews
For such simple project, I’m stunned by the positive response and amazing content already on there (I’ve been...
Facto.me →
I just launched Facto.me, a fun 24 hour project I dreamt up, designed, and built in around 24 hours. Use it to share interesting and little-known facts about yourself with friends.
Here’s mine: http://facto.me/kyle
Enjoy!
December 2010
9 posts
I am happy. Really.: Why I started Koopla →
koopla:
I have a problem: I can’t choose where to eat after work.
I work in SoHo, NYC which has a vibrant community of great restaurants (81 by our count). So, you would think this would make my choice easier. But it doesn’t. There are just too many options and no one is helping me sort…
So looking forward to this.