EditSite.net
May 4, 2006 in 3 out of 5 stars, CMS, Hosted softwareeditsite.net: A technically impressive, point-and-click, template-driven, hosted website creation tool aimed at moderately tech-savvy individuals or organizations wishing to build and maintain a rich website without worrying about technical details like hosting, programming, FTP and HTML editors. Ilkka Huotari A solid CMS. It has an impressive hosted editing (WYSIWYG) tool and file management system. Once you get the hang of how it works, you can have a site up and running quickly that is easy to maintain. When logged in, you can even edit your pages in place. Click a bit of text and it toggles to edit mode where you can make and save simple changes. Features include, calendar, discussion forums, photo albums, blog, a form editor, file archives, slideshows, email, search, simple yet attractive design templates, RSS feeds, and even some juicy AJAX love just for fun. It works well in all major modern browsers and generates fairly clean code. This is obviously a labor of love for Ilkka (the creator). He's very responsive to support requests, tries hard to improve based on feedback, and is constantly improving and polishing. It's not for complete novices (although motivated novices can pick it up quickly). It's for someone wishing to have fairly powerful control and features (and the learning curve that comes with that power), while still being shielded from the deeper technical details. Free plans, up to $30 per month Reviewed by Carson McComasWhat is it?
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Central Desktop
May 3, 2006 in 3 out of 5 stars, Hosted software, ProductivityCentral Desktop: Easy to use collaboration software. It can be used it to create custom "extranet" workspaces. It includes tools to manage software deployments, assign tasks, track progress against milestones, document versioning, and more. It just does a whole bunch of stuff pretty darn well. Isaac Garcia & Arnulf Hsu Because it allows moderately tech savvy yet skeptical office drones to run a small business with dozens of people and 50+ active projects, well. An Outlook plugin to dump emails into a workspace so the conversation is archived might be nice, and a Salesforce.com plug in would be great. From Free to $249/mo Reviewed by Doug MitchellWhat is it?
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iRows
May 2, 2006 in 3 out of 5 stars, Hosted "Office", Hosted software, ProductivityiRows: iRows is an Online (web based) spreadsheets application, which lets you create, share and collaborate online. With just a web browser, you can access your spreadsheets from anywhere.
iRows supports functions, charts, sort, dynamic stock prices and a lot more. You can upload or export Excel, OpenOffice and CSV files.
Yoah Bar-David and Itai Raz Spreadsheets are killer applications, and iRows makes spreadsheets accessible from anywhere, easy to collaborate on, and easy to display in other pages (like blogs)
It could use more functions and be multi-lingual. They have a few more ideas on their "What's new" and "What's planned" page. It's free Reviewed by Suzan BirdWhat is it?
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Venture Voice's podcast interview with John Bogle
April 26, 2006 in 5 out of 5 stars, A podcast, An interviewVenture Voice's podcast interview with John Bogle: A podcast interview with John Bogle of The Vanguard Group. John Bogle founded The Vanguard Group and built it upon principles of honesty, simplicity and the "relentless rules of humble arithmetic." Bogle is a man determined to fight and reform the corrupt self-serving mutual fund industry by infusing it with clear, straightforward thinking and approaches. He founded the first index fund ever. Nobel Laureate economist Paul Samuelson called this "equal to the invention of the alphabet and the wheel." Gregory Galant of Venture Voice conducted the interview. I've had this podcast sitting in iTunes for some time and hadn't bothered to listen. I thought this would just be some stuffed shirt prattling on about "inside baseball" investment stuff that put me to sleep. Instead, he blew my mind. John Bogle is the real deal. His own entrepreneurial story is interesting and inspiring to be sure (started with nothing, failed several times, etc). But it's his philosophies, his motivations, his maverick ideals and idealism that absolutely rocked my world. He's obviously spent a great deal of time speaking publicly because he has a very smooth and polished delivery. The upside is that he brilliantly articulates his ideas and is riveting. Free Reviewed by Carson McComas Another John Bogle podcast interview: Books by Bogle:What is it?
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Happy Quote
April 21, 2006 in Happy QuotesIt's really scary to quit your job at an average company doing average work just because you know that if you stay, you'll end up just like them.
Which is why it's such a great opportunity.
— Seth Godin, bestselling author, entrepreneur and agent of change.
Vitamin
April 18, 2006 in 5 out of 5 stars, A magazine, A websiteVitamin: A new online magazine targeting web designers, developers and entrepreneurs, providing expert articles, training, podcasts, interviews are more. Ryan Carson Because it's a collection of rock stars providing clear and helpful information, training and advice. They're positioned at the crest of the wave of exciting entrepreneurial developments on the web. (I've subscribed to every feed!). It's focused specifically on web-based entrepreneurs. It can't be faulted for that, but that is it's target, so it may not appeal equally to everyone. Much of the training is on nuts and bolts of web design and development, but there are also nuggets of business wisdom and advice that anyone can appreciate. Free baby. Reviewed by Carson McComasWhat is it?
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Happy Links
April 11, 2006 in Happy Links- The Web 2.0 Show interviewed Shaun Inman (maker of Mint).
Shaun is a killer entrepreneur, a 1-man show with an enviable, quality little business. (It helps that he's some freakish kind of multi-talented genius). The Web 2.0 show guys cornered him at SXSW and Shaun offers some juicy tidbits in this podcast. - Anytime is the Right Time to Start a Company
More pile-on after Caterina's "it's a bad time to start a company" post. The themes are starting to get a little worn, but I enjoyed this one. - The Art of Driving Your Competition Crazy
Another classic from Guy. "Companies go astray when defeating the competition becomes more important than taking care of customers. When companies become obsessed with the pursuit of excellence, by contrast, they often reach new levels of greatness." - Reality Check 2.0
Appropriately titled, this is something we should all be thinking about. I'm afraid there are far too many "cool" resources out there, that after the initial "cool" moment wears off, don't have much traction. - Startup Websites That Work
An antidote to "Reality Check" issue above? He's focused more on sites than strict web apps, but this advice applies to any website selling something. - Stanford on iTunes
Stanford University has begun to make recordings of select lectures, speeches, interviews and events available on the iTunes Music Store, for free. Freakin' sweet. (thx Jamais) - Understanding (and overcoming) Procrastination
Man this is good. I think this might be the floundering entrepreneur's biggest challenge. Well worth a read. - How to create a proper proposal.
Something many entrepreneurs must face, this guide is deep. I tend to go way leaner in my proposals that what he suggests here, but it's comprehensive and packed with great ideas.
Thanks Lifehacker (for these last two and a zillion other excellent links).
Happy Links
March 29, 2006 in Happy Links- The Printable CEO™ Series
Dave Seah offers up a nifty system for prioritizing, tracking and managing your time. There are a few cool spinoffs too (like this one with some insights on time tracking by Blue Flavor). - Springwise (profiled here on WH) used to only offer monthly updates of their goodness, now it's daily. Nice.
- Fulfilling Your Own Wishes
Paul Scrivens of 9rules challenges us to consider if what we do every day is pushing us toward what we wish for. "I suggest you look at the things you wish for and ask yourself if you are actually striving for them and if not, how come?" - Finding Happiness in a Harvard Classroom
NPR ran a piece outlining tips for happiness. I read that and figured that those were some great principles to found a business upon. - It's a bad time to start a company
This is absolutely required reading for my competitors. Run, don't walk. (Note, this is Caterina of Flickr founding fame, not some lightweight. Now, seriously, all my competitors, go read it, now.) - Shaking up tech publishing
David of 37s fame has some helpful (if immodest) chest thumping about self-publishing. - Q: How can we get our company funded
Seth jumps on the "screw VC funding" bandwagon with this piece that offers an alternative to the strict VC-shunning, self-funded approach. (in short: sell a project, not the whole company). - Greg at Venture Voice has finally added a blog component to his popular podcast. Good stuff too.
- trendwatching.com
I'm not quite sure what to make of this, but it's impressive. They are "an independent and opinionated trend firm, scanning the globe for the most promising consumer trends, insights and related hands-on business ideas." They "help marketers, CEOs, researchers, and anyone else interested in the future of business and consumerism, to dream up new goods, services and experiences for (or even better, with) their customers." - Video presentations done at Google
Featuring a tour of the facility, presentations made by some heavyweights in the business world, and even a few from the top Googlers themselves. - SEOMoz hands out some "Web 2.0 awards" Several juicy resources there.
Reader Question: Jason Fried and 37signals
March 23, 2006 in Reader QuestionWin a free copy of 37signals' latest book Getting Real Contest Completed.
Ok gang, you're all invited to vote in the poll below and share the rationale for your vote in the comments of this post. Two lucky commenters (one at random, one with the most thoughtful rationale) will receive a FREE copy of 37signals' latest ebook Getting Real. I'll hand out the free book copies on Monday, 27 March 2006.
Update:
Ok, I selected 3 winners.
I think Carolyn Wood provided the most thoughtful rationale arguing for "their ideas" and Rob Drimmie for "their software."
The random winner (slips of numbered paper picked blind by my 3yr old son Owen from a bowl) was Tim (yes he was pretty proud of himself after I asked him to "pick one from the bowl" and he picked out the number "one.")
Congrats to the winners, you'll get an email from Matt at 37signals with your download link shortly.
Thanks to 37signals for the prizes, and thanks to all of you who submitted thoughtful entries, I'm not sure about anyone else, but I enjoyed reading through them.
Oh, and my vote? Their ideas.
Technology moves at too rapid a pace to imagine that it will be their software. 10 yrs really is a long time. I have confidence that 37s can create lasting software, but I think their biggest impact will be that they were front and center championing this shift, which in many ways is the antidote to the dotcom bust.
With the generosity of Jason and crew in sharing their ideas on business, marketing and software development, and backing it up with an impeccable case study (their own success); I suspect in 10 years time a lot of water will have passed under the bridge, but that these solid ideas, and the businesses and approaches that sprang up as a result, will be a lasting legacy.
Happy Links
March 16, 2006 in Happy Links- Entrepreneurial Proverbs by Marc Hedlund
This has already gotten a fair bit of play but with good reason: These are some great nuggets of advice. My favorite? "Pay attention to the idea that won't leave you alone." - The Cost of Bootstrapping Your App: The Figures Behind DropSend (part two)
Another helpful installment from Ryan Carson. - SXSW 2006 Interactive Panels Podcasts
Now that the conference has concluded, many of the presentations and panels are available via podcast. A few successful entrepreneurs in the mix make some of these well worth listening to. Fried, Coudal and Newmark in particular. - Startup Reality Distortion Effect #1: Giving Your Software Away For Free
This whole young blog by Dharmesh Shah is excellent actually, this one riffs against the common practice of entrepreneurs giving away their software for free and advocates charging even at the early stages (to gain benefits beyond even the revenue), and even charging your early adopters (give them special treatment instead). This reminds me of Guy Kawasaki's adage that sales fixes everything. Jason Fried, Guy and now Dharmesh have been raising this point lately, and I think it's an excellent one. - Speaking of Guy Kawasaki, he's the latest inductee to the 9rules Network
Hey Guy, I was a member before you were even blogging ;) - Tips for Startup Companies
A few helpful tips by successful entrepreneur Philip Greenspun. - Ten Reasons Young People Are Afraid to Start Their Own Business
If you're whining about very many of those things, I'm not sure this will help, but if find yourself on the fence with one or two and need a hand talking yourself into taking the plunge, these ideas provide a helpful nudge. - 9 must reads before you launch a startup
Kind of a "Happy Links" list of it's own, this rounds up great advice from some heavy hitters. - What's Your EQ (entrepreneurial quotient)?
Guy throws it down with this quiz. How did you do?