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42!
I got booted from one of my own company’s Slack channels... So, last week I got removed from one of my company’s Slack channels… and it was probably the best...
a year ago
23
a year ago
So, last week I got removed from one of my company’s Slack channels… and it was probably the best thing that could have happened for me, and my company. You see, like most companies, we have ‘global’ chat channels that everyone participates in, plus each team has distinct...
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The folly of trying to replace spreadsheets Our very earliest marketing copy for our HR SaaS was “Replace your spreadsheet nightmare with a nice...
a year ago
23
a year ago
Our very earliest marketing copy for our HR SaaS was “Replace your spreadsheet nightmare with a nice clean HR database…” We thought it was a cute and quirky tagline, and that it would immediately relatable to our target audience of business and human resource managers. After all...
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Embracing AI I could only avoid AI in my startup for so long before I actually found a use for it… How I used...
over a year ago
22
over a year ago
I could only avoid AI in my startup for so long before I actually found a use for it… How I used ChatGPT to make the life of my support team easier.
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Does your SaaS actually save your customers from doing more work? A recent conversation on Twitter with a colleague has reminded of this dilemma that we faced in our...
a year ago
22
a year ago
A recent conversation on Twitter with a colleague has reminded of this dilemma that we faced in our early days of launching my SaaS. You see, In 25 years of consulting to small businesses, I had learned that business owners and managers were faced with the challenge of recording...
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Pitch competitions as a measure of success In our early days of my startup, I would try to enter as many pitch competitions as was feasible,...
a year ago
21
a year ago
In our early days of my startup, I would try to enter as many pitch competitions as was feasible, just to try and get our project in front of as many eyes as possible and get our names mentioned in the popular startup press. I used to give everything in these competitions, and we...
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The case of WOPR and the lost code... I got an email earlier this week from a guy reaching out after he read a post of mine on a gaming...
over a year ago
20
over a year ago
I got an email earlier this week from a guy reaching out after he read a post of mine on a gaming forum that was posted over two decades ago! I couldn't for the life of me remember what I had said, but he reiterated that it was about a simulation that I wrote in BASIC that was...
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Basecamp's house of cards... Photo by Sigmund on Unsplash Character is like toothpaste - it really only comes out under pressure...
over a year ago
20
over a year ago
Photo by Sigmund on Unsplash Character is like toothpaste - it really only comes out under pressure (unknown) I don’t know where I first heard the above quote, but the events of the last week have really shown how true this saying is. I will start by saying that I have been an...
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Hanging on to 'stuff' Like most families, we like to start the new year with a bit of a clean slate, which means moving on...
over a year ago
19
over a year ago
Like most families, we like to start the new year with a bit of a clean slate, which means moving on old pieces of furniture and belongings that are just cluttering our life and no longer needed. But this is a surprisingly difficult task. Almost every time we go to get rid of a...
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Reflections on 2020 I feel kind of conflicted writing this, because 2020 was a horror of a year for most people around...
over a year ago
18
over a year ago
I feel kind of conflicted writing this, because 2020 was a horror of a year for most people around the world. Instead, for me, and my family, it was somewhat of a start of new beginnings and some huge wins. I feel that I have finally stepped out of a decade long black tunnel,...
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The wrong birthday assumption Many years ago, back in the late 80’s, one of my first big development contracts was to create a...
over a year ago
18
over a year ago
Many years ago, back in the late 80’s, one of my first big development contracts was to create a database for NAALAS - the North Australian Aboriginal Legal Aid Service (no longer around). Basically, this organisation provided legal assistance for Aboriginal people to help them...
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Wrestling with the scammers Photo by Dan Nelson on Unsplash I guess one of the downsides of the rising popularity and profile of...
over a year ago
18
over a year ago
Photo by Dan Nelson on Unsplash I guess one of the downsides of the rising popularity and profile of our HR startup is that it attracts the lowest online lifeforms to try and see if they can make illicit profit from it. We have been getting the occasional trial user signing up...
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Optimising bank working hours Photo by Museums Victoria on Unsplash This is probably an out of date concept these days, however if...
over a year ago
17
over a year ago
Photo by Museums Victoria on Unsplash This is probably an out of date concept these days, however if you ever ran a traditional business back in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s as I did, one of the most frustrating things ever was trying to get my banking done over the counter. Almost...
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How we "judo'd" a server outage to create a customer evangelist Photo by Erik Mclean on Unsplash I was listening to Arvid Kahl’s latest podcast episode on my...
over a year ago
16
over a year ago
Photo by Erik Mclean on Unsplash I was listening to Arvid Kahl’s latest podcast episode on my morning walk today, where he talked about Facebook’s recent 6 hour outage, and how you can ‘judo’ negative things like server downtime into a positive outcome. As a former student of the...
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Founders - Don't just build another job for yourself I was having pre-Christmas lunch with Paul*, one of my best friends from middle school a couple of...
over a year ago
16
over a year ago
I was having pre-Christmas lunch with Paul*, one of my best friends from middle school a couple of weeks back. However, as soon as he sat down at our table and I asked him how he was, he surprisingly announced that he would be closing his business at the end of the year. I was...
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Finding and fixing slow queries Photo by Caspar Camille Rubin on Unsplash I love dashboards, and I run several on my system to...
over a year ago
16
over a year ago
Photo by Caspar Camille Rubin on Unsplash I love dashboards, and I run several on my system to monitor my HR startup in real time. I love collecting data points around subscriptions, user activity, and most importantly, server uptime and performance. Especially now that we are...
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My first ever app I made and sold... I was digging through a cupboard today, when I came across the package shown below. I was initially...
over a year ago
15
over a year ago
I was digging through a cupboard today, when I came across the package shown below. I was initially flabbergasted that I still had a copy on hand, but that soon gave way to feelings of nostalgia that took me back 30 years (yes, that is 3 decades) to when I first created this. It...
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How we manage our product roadmap The screenshot here is our company Trello board, where we manage our product roadmap. We are...
over a year ago
15
over a year ago
The screenshot here is our company Trello board, where we manage our product roadmap. We are extremely lucky in that our thousands of happy customers give us a steady stream of suggestions for new features and improvements, which we used to just throw on this board. However,...
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How to conduct a good demo of your SaaS Photo by Chris Montgomery on Unsplash Frequently, when we finish a demo session of our HR app,...
over a year ago
14
over a year ago
Photo by Chris Montgomery on Unsplash Frequently, when we finish a demo session of our HR app, customers will tell us “Wow, that was a great demo!” when signing off. I never really thought about it, other than the fact that I usually had a good time showing them around, and that...
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F1, Sport and Reality TV It’s been two days now since I stayed up late to watch the final race of the F1 season in Abu Dhabi...
over a year ago
14
over a year ago
It’s been two days now since I stayed up late to watch the final race of the F1 season in Abu Dhabi with my sons. Full disclosure, we are all team Hamilton fans here, and were excited to watch the final deciding race as to who would take out the 2021 World Driver’s...
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Trusting third parties with our information Photo by Sergiu Nista on Unsplash We’ve noticed a disturbing trend here at our startup in the past...
over a year ago
14
over a year ago
Photo by Sergiu Nista on Unsplash We’ve noticed a disturbing trend here at our startup in the past 12 months or so. We’ve been growing and adding new team members, and almost without fail, almost all our new starters are getting hit with a scam email within a few days of...