Daily Espresso Shot A specialty blend of startup wisdom Or let's not reinvent the wheel. But what if you want to improve the wheel? Companies exist with a mission focused on improving the wheel. It could be a cheaper wheel to make it accessible to more customers. It could be a lighter wheel with improved aerodynamics for fuel efficiency. It could be a high-performance wheel to use for racing or motorsports. It could be a luxury wheel made from rare materials. You could make custom wheels on...
6 months ago • 1 min read
Daily Espresso Shot A specialty blend of startup wisdom If you're not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you've launched too late. I've been thinking a lot about this quote. I hear and read it often in the startup communities. I think about the countless product ideas I've worked on that never reached the market. Getting to the market with a new product or service can be challenging for many reasons. Over these last several weeks, fear had been holding me back from going live...
7 months ago • 2 min read
Daily Espresso Shot A specialty blend of startup wisdom “When one door closes, another opens.” I took an unplanned and unannounced hiatus from managing a daily newsletter. The break from the daily exercise brought perspective. It helps that major life changes have sparked a fire to start writing again. Since it has been a while since I last wrote- where do I begin? Since my last email, I have departed from my former employer. Due to personal circumstances, the CEO had to close the doors. In...
7 months ago • 1 min read
Daily Espresso Shot A specialty blend of tech wisdom I've had the privilege of working alongside incredibly talented people throughout my career. Among them, two stand out today. Alex is a technical wizard. Jamie is a non-technical genius. As you might imagine from today's theme, Alex has an insatiable curiosity for new coding languages and developer tools. On a project we co-contributed to, we ran into a technical obstacle that required adopting 2 strategies. I adopted the safe strategy, but...
12 months ago • 1 min read
Daily Espresso Shot A specialty blend of tech wisdom Picture this: Your CEO, brimming with enthusiasm, approaches you with a tricky problem and a well-researched plan to fix it. As the plan unfolds before you, a sense of familiarity washes over you. You realize you have another tool up your sleeve that can tackle this exact problem. Even though the tool only achieves 80% of the desired outcome, bridging the remaining 20% seems entirely feasible and practical. Now, let me share a story about...
12 months ago • 1 min read
Daily Espresso Shot A specialty blend of tech wisdom Imagine wrapping up a sprint - your team has hustled, and delivered. But now it’s time to pause and reflect. You gather around, not just as professionals, but as a collective of individuals who’ve shared successes, faced challenges, and navigated through the highs and lows together. Picture a team, varied in roles from executives to engineers, gathering every other week, engaging in a ritual of reflection. In one of my favorite projects,...
12 months ago • 2 min read
Daily Espresso Shot A specialty blend of tech wisdom Have you ever found yourself in the thick of a project, everything seemingly going smoothly? But then - BAM! An unexpected setback throws a wrench in the works. Oh, I’ve been there. And if you’ve managed a project or two, I bet you have as well. Today, let’s chat about the bumpy roads in our projects. And how, sometimes, they lead us to destinations we never expected One project comes to mind for me. We were building a site for a design...
12 months ago • 2 min read
Daily Espresso Shot A specialty blend of tech wisdom I recently shared a story about a project I joined mid-way. The team was burning the midnight oil, grappling with a difficult client. It wasn’t until we had a pow-wow that people acknowledged the real problem: the website designs were too large. As a result, we went round after round, integrating client feedback. Both the client and the team were frustrated. You could tell everyone on our team wasn't satisfied with the work we were...
12 months ago • 1 min read
How often do you eat fortune cookies? Do you ever find value in the little pieces of paper inside your fortune cookies? For me, it seems the wisdom offered is often intended for almost anyone. Even so, there's still entertainment to be had. Opening cookie after cookie with your friends and family. Reading your fortunes and sharing a kind smile or a good laugh with each other. Like this one from the weekend: "Fresh ideas are not always the best ideas." My wife and I reacted to it with a laugh....
12 months ago • 1 min read
Today's email is inspired by an old friend. Picture this- you're having coffee and exciting ideas are boiling. But not just exciting ideas, but real business opportunities. Promises are made with the feeling of genuine intent. But then life happens. Ideas remain ideas. A lot of us have been there, right? Promises drift into the abyss of "what could have been." To my friend, this is a problem and an opportunity. For him, ideas are considered cheap. He lived by taking a stand and doing just the...
12 months ago • 1 min read