If I were running a restaurant, I’d want to collect some basic statistics on how much my customers enjoyed their experience. In many businesses, if the customer isn’t happy, then the company doesn’t want the customer’s money. This is more true in the Internet Marketing world than anywhere else, because word travels fast on the Internet, and there’s a lot of competition, so sellers need to do something to differentiate themselves. It’s not uncommon to see 100% guarantees (or higher).

When I leave a restaurant, though, the restaurant really has no idea how satisfied I was, other than the amount of the tip I left. If the receipt had a simple checkbox to say “I enjoyed this meal and would come back again”, I think restaurants might have a better idea of how they’re viewed by their patrons. If the customer isn’t satisfied, the restaurant has lost some repeat business, unless they do something to get the opportunity to try again and do better.

They can offer something like a guarantee. Perhaps they can offer a $2 off coupon to unsatisfied customers, and $1 off to satisfied ones (so they’ll come back just to use the coupon). They should collect some feedback on the receipts, because they are left in the bill booklet anyway, and there’s already a pen there (for signing off for a credit card transaction) so there’s not much friction to implementing it.

Posted in Travel on March 8th, 2010 Read More Be the first to comment

At this point, it looks quite likely that I’m going to really work on my startup in earnest. Now, this might seem odd, since my startup has been around, in some sense, since I released my first iPhone app back in August 2008. But I was still a student back then, and my tremendous success to date– well over 5 million downloads via the iTunes App Store– was just me, hacking and tinkering on my own little projects. The fact that I can make a full-time living from these apps might due to luck just as much it’s due to skill.

So it’s time to take it to the next level. I think the startup culture would suit me quite well. I love talking with entrepreneurs. I enjoy dreaming up new businesses and new solutions to problems. And every time I visit Silicon Valley, I want to go back.

The 18 Mistakes That Kill Startups

Paul Graham years ago wrote an article with this title– The 18 Mistakes That Kill Startups. Topping the list: “Single Founder.” Right now, I am the only founder of GreenGar Studios, unless you count my dad (but he does the finances; he doesn’t really work on the business). I doubt my dad would want to move to Silicon Valley. And he’s not a programmer. Here’s the relevant passage from Paul’s essay:

Have you ever noticed how few successful startups were founded by just one person? Even companies you think of as having one founder, like Oracle, usually turn out to have more. It seems unlikely this is a coincidence.

What’s wrong with having one founder? To start with, it’s a vote of no confidence. It probably means the founder couldn’t talk any of his friends into starting the company with him. That’s pretty alarming, because his friends are the ones who know him best.

But even if the founder’s friends were all wrong and the company is a good bet, he’s still at a disadvantage. Starting a startup is too hard for one person. Even if you could do all the work yourself, you need colleagues to brainstorm with, to talk you out of stupid decisions, and to cheer you up when things go wrong.

The last one might be the most important. The low points in a startup are so low that few could bear them alone. When you have multiple founders, esprit de corps binds them together in a way that seems to violate conservation laws. Each thinks “I can’t let my friends down.” This is one of the most powerful forces in human nature, and it’s missing when there’s just one founder.

So is it the case that I couldn’t talk any of my friends into joining me? No. I didn’t really try, because there isn’t a good fit. My friends here in Los Angeles are wonderful friends, but they’re not startup founders. I’m sure if I really pushed, I could get them to join me. But it wouldn’t be good for either of us. In some cases, starting a startup is not what they want to do. In other cases, they want to pursue a different line of business, like web apps, or contracting and consulting. I want to do a startup in the mobile space, and that requirement means that most of my friends don’t fit the bill.

That got me thinking: how would I describe my ideal co-founder?

What I’m looking for in a co-founder

I’ve come up with a list of 5 things. This is not meant to specifically exclude anyone, or to be so comprehensive as to include anyone who does match. It’s just a way of helping me to focus my thoughts and figure out just what it is that I’m looking for. And if my future co-founder reads this post, maybe this post is just what they needed to read to determine that we’d be a good fit.

1. Passionate about mobile

I’m quite certain now that my startup will focus on the mobile space. By that, I mean doing something specifically related to mobile devices like the iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, Android phones, Palm Pre/Pixi, etc. My co-founder must be similarly passionate about the present and future of mobile.

2. Entrepreneurial

Dedicated to the startup, to startup culture, and to the startup lifestyle. My co-founder would want to start a business and make it grow. He or she is not satisfied with a normal job. They want the excitement and opportunity of a startup, and they make things happen fast.

3. Similar worldview

We need to get along and see the world in a compatible way.

4. Technical

Programming background. No need for it to be formal; learning how to program on your own, or being taught by someone outside of a traditional schooling system, might actually be preferable.

5. Enjoys travel

We would almost certainly move to Silicon Valley. And we might even travel beyond that, as I’d like to explore new cultures and figure out ways to work with people in, say, Vietnam.

Do these five points resonate with you? You might be the co-founder I’m looking for. Get in touch (I’m sure you can figure out how. Facebook, my contact form, a comment below– all have a decent chance of reaching me).

Posted in Travel on February 17th, 2010 Read More One

When people complain that the iPad doesn’t have multitasking, a camera, a full-fledged desktop OS, or an exposed filesystem, they’re missing the point. They’re forgetting what came before: a slew of tablets from the likes of HP, Lenovo, Fujitsu, Asus, Toshiba and others. What do all of these existing tablets have?

That’s right: multitasking, cameras, desktop operating systems and exposed filesystems. Many people bought them, use them, and love them. But those people are, by and large, computer geeks. They know how to use computers and they’re very comfortable with technology. And none of these tablets have caught on in any big way with the masses. Certainly not nearly to the extent of the iPhone.

Tablet PCs are widely acknowledged to be a commercial failure thus far. Microsoft has tried, and failed, many times over the years to popularize tablet computing.

I have no idea how many Tablet PCs have been sold, but I’d be willing to bet it’s far fewer than the 75 million iPhone OS devices now in active use around the world.

Apple intends iPad to be a computing device for non-geeks. It’s simple, easy, elegant, and well-designed enough for them. But it’s not the kind of computer that geeks know. You know that kind of computer: folders, hard drives, default programs, drivers, right-clicking, multiple windows, keyboard shortcuts, viruses, malware — yeah, that stuff. Geeks eat it and love it. Normal people don’t.

How do I know Apple intends iPad to be a computing device for everyone? The two big indicators:

1. the external, full-size keyboard dock.

2. iWork for iPad.

These are truly game changers.

Rob Foster relates three conversations that reveal just how revolutionary iPad will be.

Here’s one comment that disagrees:

I had a similar experience with my dad, who is in his eighties and only really needs to browse the web.

That does not change my opinion that there are serious problems with the iPad. It’s not what it doesn’t do, it’s what it won’t ever do, and what it represents for the future of ‘easy to use’ devices.

‘Easy to use’ doesn’t have to mean:

- inflexible by design – limited by design – the hardware supplier getting to decide what software ever runs on the device – never being able to access files independently of their apps or add external storage – never being able to combine two tasks from third party suppliers.

None of these things would by necessity make it more difficult for my dad to use it.

What it needs is:

- background notifications handled natively by app developers without some service from a company not exactly known for online service uptime

- a services menu that lets apps properly interact

- some sense of a filesystem that generalises third party device and online storage

- some relaxation over the control exerted by Apple on producing software for this thing

- and for a whole bunch of pundits to stop pretending that somehow none of these points matter to the future of what used to be an open-minded company that fostered communication and creativity.

You love your iPhone. Everyone loves their iPhone. I get it. But were you really not hoping for something a little more radical than a big-screen iPod touch with a data modem?

The iPhone’s limitations are not acceptable in a mass-market device aimed at replacing actual general purpose computers. This thing could have been so much better.

comment by Michael Houghton about a day later

iPad doesn’t really need any of those things. I’m sure Apple will introduce some of those things eventually, but it’s the very fact that it doesn’t have these things that makes it radical. It’s the lack of these things that makes it a computer for the masses.

Here’s a comment on an interesting track:

Good post, mate! My mother-in-law is a total noob (never even touched a computer before) and wants to learn how to do email and facebook. I’ve been wondering how in hell I’m going to teach her all this without having to explain right-clicks and left-clicks and clicking on start menu, etc etc and then Apple announces the Tablet!

That was my eureka moment. Good to see the iPad naysayers are being answered by real people with needs that are going to be met by this device!

comment by Abisola Fatokun about a day later

Even the concept of right-clicking is absurdly foreign to many people.

And Fraser Speirs in a post called Future Shock writes:

The people whose backs have been broken under the weight of technological complexity and failure immediately understand what’s happening here. Those of us who patiently, day after day, explain to a child or colleague that the reason there’s no Print item in the File menu is because, although the Pages document is filling the screen, Finder is actually the frontmost application and it doesn’t have any windows open, understand what’s happening here.

A really good touch interface on a screen finally large enough to run iWork?

It’s nothing short of revolutionary.

I said “big-screen” iPod touch.

But are you positing that the iPad is not simply a faster, higher res iPod Touch with a data modem and a keyboard peripheral (that they could have released for the iPod Touch)?

Are you somehow surprised that a higher resolution means desktop-type apps could run on it? Is there something game-changing and magical about increasing screen resolution?

Increasing the screen size and resolution, adding a 3G card, upgrading the processor and adding a keyboard option was the minimum Apple had to do to turn the iPod touch into a netbook-equivalent.

The minimum is what they did.

I’m actually astonished at the way certain pundits and commenters are doing the heavy lifting on this one.

Which was the radical, unthinkable, gamechanging step here?

comment by Michael Houghton about a day later

Hardware-wise, iPad is merely what Michael states above. Yet it’s still so much more. A larger screen makes a far bigger difference than one might think.

Concerned about typing? The keyboard dock is a sure sign that Apple doesn’t just see this device as a big-screen iPod touch. If this is the minimum Apple had to do to turn the iPod touch into a netbook-equivalent, then the minimum is going to be enough.

So what does it mean for us?

I think it means that a whole new group of people who have never used computers, or use them very rarely, are suddenly going to be joining the computing revolution.

Soon, they’ll be playing games, communicating with friends, and so much more. They’ll be using apps, and lots of them. 75 million iPhone OS devices? I wouldn’t be surprised to see that number more than double this year.

Further reading: iPad is the iPrius

Video: Computer problems

Posted in Apple on February 6th, 2010 Read More 4

Today I was interviewed by Zynga, the social gaming company. Some of the details of the interviews are covered by an NDA, so to be safe I’ll just talk about my feelings at a high level. To keep people’s identities under wraps, I’ll refer to them using the first one or two letters of their names (for my own memory’s sake).

Zynga is a neat company, clearly a start-up, and they were flexible and friendly as I came for my interviews. Things were not too structured. They did not tell me the interview schedule beforehand, even though most of the people I talked to seemed to expect that they had. “R”, the University Relations Specialist, briefly showed me around their offices, pointing out the teams that worked on games like Farmville and Mafia Wars. They have a nice setup. He mentioned that they’re trying to mimic in some ways the Google feel. I did a summer internship with Google a couple years ago, and “R” also did an internship (I think) with Google (though in Palo Alto), so we had that in common. He invited me to sit in a small conference room, where I talked with “S” and “Aa”.

There was a 30-minute break in the middle, but they didn’t tell me when it was. The last person I talked with before the break was “A”. About 10 minutes after he left, I called “R”. He was very willing to help out, as it seemed that the interviews were not too well coordinated, so he had to move things along manually. He did a good job of it, though, as long as I took the initiative to reach out to him as instructed. In the snack rooms, they have something called “Perky Jerky”, a caffeinated beef jerky. I tried some. It was very salty. “R” tried some, too (it was his first time as well). He later told me it caused him to be jittery. Fortunately I didn’t feel too much of an effect, though it was probably more jitter-inducing than normal jerky.

After the break, I talked with “Am”, the first developer for the day. She definitely came across as a developer type; quite serious and methodical. After she left, “R” thought I was done for the day. It was about 4:15 PM. Earlier in the day, he’d mentioned I’d probably finish around that time. But the original email from “Al” said I would be there until 5:15 PM, so I wasn’t sure. Furthermore, “Aa” had said I’d also get to talk with “Tr”, so I was wondering what happened. It’s good that I brought up the discrepancy, as it turned out that “Tr” was in fact scheduled to interview me. He was one of the most enjoyable to chat with, and we had similar visions for where Zynga could be headed in 2010. Of course, he had to throw in a programming question too. Nothing too hard, but I’m not too confident in how I handled it. I got the right solution, but only after a little prodding on his part. Why do all companies ask for code on whiteboards? Computers get the job done better

By the end of my interviews, I was more impressed with Zynga than when I first walked in. I wasn’t sure if there were people there who have a similar vision as what I’ve been imagining for the future of social gaming on mobile devices, but now I know that at least “St” and and “Tr” do. There’s so much more they can do in the mobile space; they’ve barely scratched the surface so far. I think they’re heading in the right direction, especially if they can attract and hire the right mobile developers to really make it happen. “Tr” and I agreed that the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad are going to be key social gaming devices in 2010, so iPhone OS app developers are going to be crucial to success this year.

I mentioned to “R” that it would be nice if Zynga could make the process a little more transparent, perhaps making the actual schedule more clear to both the interviewers and the interviewee. There was a bit of a disconnect communication-wise, but an interviewee who’s paying attention to things can keep things moving along smoothly. I think my amiability and awareness made things easier; I imagine that someone who expects to sit back and let the company handle the whole process can fall through the cracks. Overall, it was a good experience, and I’m glad they gave me the opportunity for the on-site interview.

Posted in Travel on January 28th, 2010 Read More 2

I met so many interesting people today that I’m not even sure where to begin.

There are the four panelists, plus a few other folks I met as well.

James Anthony, Inedible Software: I really resonate with his story. In many ways, sounds just like my own– including the success we’re both experiencing.

Ben, Fluther: didn’t really talk with him, but I’m familiar with Fluther, as Erik works there.

Bart, Tapulous: I will try to go visit their offices sometime during the week I’m here.

John Wolpert, Cabulous: during the discussion, he mentioned Pivotal Labs, a neat company with offices in SF and NYC (thanks Lawrence and Rob for the correction). He sent an email to introduce me to the guy who runs Pivotal – thanks John! Also, he’d already used my Whiteboard app, and he’s a fan. Very cool. He also mentioned a team called East Agile, which developed some of the analytics tools that he uses. Apparently, they are located in Vietnam.

Those folks in Vietnam are friends with a separate team in Vietnam, part of a company called Tech Propulsion Labs (TPL) run by Sebastian Hassinger. We will definitely be getting in touch; he’s planning to go to Vietnam in a couple months. Perhaps I can join him, or at least meet up there.

Greg, SplitP. Did the web views for iSpy. Moved to SF from the Los Angeles area about 6 months ago.

Charles, YummyMelon. He developed an iPhone app called Aqui (Spanish for “Here”). San Francisco native.

Posted in Travel on January 28th, 2010 Read More One

The iPhone 3GS wasn’t Apple’s first “GS” computer. Back in 1986, Apple released the Apple IIGS, where the GS stood for Graphics and Sound.

The iPhone 3GS’s S stands for Speed, and the G comes from “Generation”, as in “3rd generation wireless data”.

I found two sites that compared the IIGS with the 3GS:

Learning in Hand – side-by-side comparison table. Interesting to note that the IIGS had over 10,000 apps, but it took 17 years for those apps to be developed. Programming tools and education (among other things) have advanced so much that the iPhone now has 140,000 apps, and it took less than 3 years to get there.

iPhone J.D. – thoughts on the 3GS. Notably, the iPhone is far faster than the IIgs ever was

Posted in Travel on January 23rd, 2010 Read More Be the first to comment

Answer: our own government’s foreign policy of military interventionism.

This question — what motivates terrorists? — is the key question that we must understand in order to reduce and, ideally, eliminate terrorism.

Increased airport security and full-body scanners are not the solution. They do not address the root cause. And they are not, and will never be, 100% effective. There can never be a 100% guarantee that all passengers are not carrying anything dangerous on-board an aircraft. Someone with enough motivation will find a way around any defenses you can devise. It doesn’t require much imagination, really. If you hide a bomb in your anus, do you really think a pat-down is going to find it? If you swallow a knife and say that your prosthetic arm contains metal, do you really think a full-body scanner is going to see the weapon?

Not only are these security measures expensive, wasteful, time-consuming, annoying, and invasive; they are also woefully ineffective. Even worse, they show a lack of respect for personal privacy, and invasion of civil liberties, as people are unfairly detained and discriminated against.

Instead, the question we should be asking and discussing is: What motivates terrorists?

They wouldn’t be committing acts of terrorism if they had no motivation.

Congressman Ron Paul has the right idea:

One thing that is missing here is never asking the question what is the motive. With Abdulmutallab he said why he did it. He said it was because we bombed Yemen 2 weeks ago; that was his motive.

Osama Bin Laden said that he has a plan for America. First, he wants to bog us down in the Middle East in a no-win war, he wants to bankrupt this country, demoralize us, as well as have us do things that motivate people to join his radical movement. It seems like we have fallen into his trap.

You know, why is it off base? Today when the gentleman indicated that he did it because of the bombing, you know what the administration said? They just dismissed it; it can’t possibly be so.

If you dismiss motivations for why they hate us, we can never resolve this. There is hate on both sides, but you have to ask the question, “Why do they hate?” and they usually come up with the reason and we’re foolish not to take that into consideration.

from Ron Paul on Larry King

I’ve embedded the video here:

Do you agree with Ron Paul, Ben Stein, or neither?

Posted in Politics on January 8th, 2010 Read More One

It can be done. My first iPhone app, Brain Tuner, took about a week.

8 developers, 2 designers, and 1 team lead created a social networking, event planning app called Wikimeety, in just 7 days. Here’s the marketing blurb they sent me:

The I-Phone Reality Show live from Venice, Italy

Command Guru is a newborn company based in Italy, that deals with design and development of applications for Mac and iPhone. The iPhone Reality Show they launched last Saturday – in collaboration with H-Farm – is a good way to say “Hello!” to the tribe of Mac and iPhone fans out there.

Ten people between web designers and developers have been invited to Venice, Italy, to create together an iPhone application in one week, under the supervision of Aaron Hillegass, the guru of Mac programming who wrote “Cocoa programming for Mac OS X”. Coding, sketching, brainstorming: the guys are constantly watched by cameras that allow Internet users to witness the work-in-progress. Both a live streaming and a selection of the most significant moments are available at www.commandguru.com.

“We are trying to bring awareness to the iPhone community – says Alessio Zito Rossi from Command Guru – and we also believe the Mac platform will eventually be the one. Maybe after a couple of years of MacTablet madness ”

Command Guru is using Ooyala streaming to stream the content. Unfortunately, there isn’t an option for watching it on the iPhone yet (but apparently they’re implementing one). The website features a Twitter feed were users can leave their comments, give advices and propose solutions to the iPhone Reality Show people (use #CGLive tag). Also, the source is available for everybody who wants to download it. 

The application that is being developed is Wikimeety, a social network application based on geolocalization. People can stay in touch with friends, organize events or opt in other people ’s events. Once finished, the application will be free for download on the App Store. “Nice to wikimeet you!” reads the t-shirt the ten guys are wearing at work.

I intend to write more about this topic, if anyone is interested. Leave a comment

Posted in Travel on December 13th, 2009 Read More 6

Even though my blog has been installed for many years, today I was treated to the “Welcome to WordPress” installation page, asking me to enter a Blog Title and my E-mail address.

I logged into the FTP server to find an 11.3 MB error_log file in my blog directory.

I downloaded it to find interesting errors like these:

[15-Aug-2009 11:39:02] PHP Warning:  fsockopen() [<a href='function.fsockopen'>function.fsockopen</a>]: unable to connect to twitter.com:80 (Connection timed out) in /home/mike/public_html/intelliot.com/blog/wp-includes/class-snoopy.php on line 1142

[15-Aug-2009 13:46:32] WordPress database error Illegal mix of collations (latin1_swedish_ci,IMPLICIT) and (utf8_general_ci,COERCIBLE) for operation ‘=’ for query SELECT comment_ID FROM wp_comments WHERE comment_post_ID = ‘941′ AND ( comment_author = ‘KBAHTAa’ OR comment_author_email = ‘allsms777 [at] gmail.com’ ) AND comment_content = ‘<a href=\”http://www…

I searched my database for the domain part of the spam URL (which I cut out of the above quote) and found a row in the comments table (and a couple other tables, too). I deleted them all. I also found that the wp_options table had crashed and needed to be repaired. So I repaired and optimized all of my tables.

That fixed things partially, but there were lots of “Hello World” posts and comments — the ones that WordPress creates when it finishes installation. It turns out that people had actually gone through the blog install process 11 times, so there were 11 posts and comments for me to delete.

Now that’s done, and things seem to be back to normal. If anything seems to have gone haywire, let me know!

Posted in Travel on December 8th, 2009 Read More 2

A little over a year ago, I posted the lyrics to The Christmas Song by Owl City. Two days ago, thomas replied to that post with a comment, prompting me to take a second look at it.

I believe that Jesus is truly the only way
I celebrate Christmas because it’s his birthday

What is Jesus the only way to?

I’m currently reading a nonfiction book called First They Killed My Father, by Loung Ung. At one point, she is nearly dying of starvation, and steals a handful of rice from her family’s secret stash. In response, she feels guilt and realizes that she is a bad person. On page 90, she writes:

“Bad! You are bad!” my mind scolds me. “Pa knows.”

A long time ago, Pa told me people should be good not because they are afraid of getting caught but because bad karma will follow them through their lifetime. Until they make amends, bad people will come back in the next life as snakes, slugs, or worms. At six years old, I know I am bad and deserve whatever low life-form I will be reincarnated as in the next life. Who else but a bad person would cause the starvation of her family for her own selfish stomach?

We are all sinners, especially me. Some people don’t think they need God. They think they’re getting along just fine without him. I often think this myself. But then I realize it’s not true. We are selfish. We have turned away from the God who created us. Because of our sin, and because of God’s justice, at death we will be eternally separated from God. We will suffer in Hell– and rightly so, since that is what we deserve.

At six years old, Loung is conscious of her own sinfulness. Some people deny this about themselves. They think they are basically good people. They think that because they don’t murder, don’t steal, and have compassion for the poor, they are good people. They believe that if there is a God, he will accept them with open arms and be happy with them just because they are relatively more righteous than their peers.

In reality, that is not the case. The best that we can do is like filthy rags compared to the righteousness of God. And if we are truly honest with ourselves, and search deep within our motivations, we will discover the truth: we are not good people. We deny God’s existence and his authority. We disobey him and live for ourselves. We care about our own lives and focus on what we can get out of others. Fundamentally, we are sinful creatures, regardless of our day-to-day actions.

Loung was taught by her culture and family about the idea of karma and reincarnation. While I don’t dismiss these ideas completely, I have not seen enough evidence that they are true. On the other hand, the gospel message of Christianity makes perfect sense. Sometimes I feel that I understand it well. Other times, I seem to forget. I have a poor memory. And I’m not particularly good at speaking out loud.

So I write. I’m fast typist, so this comes naturally to me.

The universe we live in was created by one almighty God, according to the Bible. He is composed of three parts, known as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. He created humans and the Earth in an exercise of creativity, a way of expressing the love that defines who he is and what he does. God demonstrates to us what love means. Shortly after mankind’s creation, we turned our backs and God and went our own way. Due to God’s justice and righteousness, our actions separated us from him.

Because he loves us, and as part of his plan for all time, God sent his Son to earth, to be born as a man named Jesus. He lived on earth from about 4 BC until 30 AD, according to Wikipedia. And his primary purpose was to establish a way for humans to reconnect with God.

Jesus died for our sins, completely taking the payment for us, so that we don’t have to worry, and we don’t have to suffer.

We will not be reincarnated, and we don’t need to achieve some artificial level of righteousness in order to avoid coming back as a worm. According to the Bible, we cannot be righteous enough. Like Loung, we are sinful by nature, so the best we can do is still not good enough.

Jesus saves us completely. We need only to trust in him and confess our sins to him. If we honestly and truly believe that Jesus Christ is real, that he died for our sins, and we ask him to forgive us of our sins, he will do it. It’s that simple.

That’s what Christmas is about: a celebration of Jesus’ birthday.

Let me know if you have any questions. I’d be happy to to talk more about Jesus, my gracious savior.

Posted in Christianity on December 5th, 2009 Read More 6