how radical

"Pain + Reflection = Progress."

Wed, 20 Jul 2011 22:59:42 -0400

““Pain + Reflection = Progress.””

- Ray Dalio

Was it worth it? What’s next?

Fri, 15 Jul 2011 13:39:55 -0400

Was it worth it? What’s next?

Colliding company cultures

Fri, 15 Jul 2011 13:39:38 -0400

Colliding company cultures

Getting bought

Fri, 15 Jul 2011 13:39:12 -0400

Getting bought

Slicehost the scrappy startup

Fri, 15 Jul 2011 13:37:00 -0400

Slicehost the scrappy startup

Interview with DHH about Slicehost

Fri, 15 Jul 2011 13:36:00 -0400

Interview with DHH about Slicehost:

DHH from 37signals interviewed Jason and I about Slicehost.

Low country boil.

Mon, 04 Jul 2011 15:56:12 -0400

Low country boil.

Charles Barkley's Pain

Sun, 22 May 2011 00:00:00 -0400

What an honest, painful story from Charles Barkley about Michael Jordan. From Bill Simmons’ podcast interview with Barkley:

You know, I’d always thought that I was the best player, to be honest with you. I always thought, Michael Jordan when he started winning, he just had more help than me. So, when I finally came to Phoenix, I had told the late, great Cotton Fitzsimmons, ‘Hey dude, I’m the best basketball player in the world. We’re going to the Finals.’ And he said, ‘That’s why I traded for you.’

I actually thought I was the best. I thought Bird and Magic just had better players. So, I said, ‘Listen dude, I’m going to the Finals this year. Dan Majerle, Kevin Johnson… That’s what I need. We’re going to the Finals.’ He says, ‘Well Michael’s gonna be there.’ I said, ‘Cotton, I think I’m better than Michael Jordan.’ He says, ‘We will see when you get there.’

So, we actually got nervous before Game 1. We struggled. The pressure got to the guys on the team. I played decent, but then I think the other guys were nervous. So Game 2, I’m talking to my daughter.

She said, ‘Dad? Are y’all gonna win tonight?’

I said, ‘Baby, your dad is the best basketball player in the world. I’m going to dominate the game tonight.’ And I remember… I think I had like 46, 47. I played great. And Michael had 52.

And I got home that night, and my daughter was crying, and she said, ‘Dad, y’all lost again.’

I said, ‘Baby, I think Michael Jordan’s better than me.’

She said, ‘Dad, you’ve never said that before.’

I said, ‘Baby, I’ve never felt like that before.’

Cloudplumbing Podcast: Talking DevStructure, blueprint, config management, Slicehost and more

Fri, 20 May 2011 00:00:00 -0400

I did an interview with Ryan Parsley of Cloudplumbing - talking about all sorts of stuff, including DevStructure and blueprint.

Talking about the Slicehost shutdown with The Startup Foundry

Thu, 05 May 2011 00:00:00 -0400

Had a brief chat with Paul Hontz of the Startup Foundry about the decision to shutdown Slicehost. It hurts like a breakup :)

Not new lessons

Sun, 27 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0400

“They are not new lessons. Never owe any money you can’t pay tomorrow morning. Never let the markets dictate your actions. Always be in a position to play your own game. Never take on more risks than you can handle. But all of those were old lessons, unfortunately. Even though I didn’t see it coming, those lessons which are timeless allowed us to in effect profit from it rather than suffer from it. Good businesses, good management, plenty of liquidity, always having a loaded gun; if you play by those principles you will do fine no matter what happens. And you don’t ever know what’s going to happen.”

- Warren Buffett on key lessons from the financial crisis, via Andy Parkinson’s 20 Punches

The 7 Immutable Laws of Investing

Wed, 23 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0400

I’m pretty sure this will be the most valuable article I read all year, investing or otherwise.

The Seven Immutable Laws of Investing.

They are as follows:
1. Always insist on a margin of safety
2. This time is never different
3. Be patient and wait for the fat pitch
4. Be contrarian
5. Risk is the permanent loss of capital, never a number
6. Be leery of leverage
7. Never invest in something you don’t understand

Talking goals and bootstrapping with Andrew Warner of Mixergy

Fri, 18 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0400

I officially met Andrew Warner last month at Superconf, where we were both judges for the startup blast competition. Unoffically, I feel as if I’ve ‘known’ him for much longer since I’ve watched dozens of his previous interviews. It was an honor to talk with him for an hour about Slicehost, DevStructure, setting goals and bootstrapping a company. Andrew interviews entrepreneurs (almost daily!) with the goal of inspiring and informing his audience. He’s a natural behind the microphone, as I confirmed at Superconf, and I really enjoyed our chat. If anyone has questions about the interview please get in touch. The interview and transcript can be found at Mixergy.

If you meet Matt Tanase in person, ask him to show you the wallpaper photo on his phone. It’ll probably be of a jet that he’s aiming to buy one day, and the photo is one of the ways he motivates himself to keep working so he could earn enough to buy it.

The Conversation #22: The Secret Sauce

Thu, 01 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0400

I joined Dan Benjamin on the Conversation yesterday for another chat about startups and business. I could talk with Dan for hours, it’s so much fun. Show notes and audio/video link below.

Dan Benjamin talks with Matt Tanase of Slicehost and DevStructure. They discuss creating demand for a product and your business, marketing on a budget, building an audience, getting your users to help market for you, the importance of a co-founder, acquisitions, and more.

http://5by5.tv/conversation/22

Simplicity & Convention

Fri, 28 May 2010 00:00:00 -0400

“The only weapons we have are simplicity and convention. Tattoo that on your forehead in reverse so that you always see it reflected in the screen. What is truly decisive on the battlefield are attitudes: hard work, responsibility, and paying attention to reality instead of the voiceover in your head.”

Link

render :js in Rails 3

Thu, 27 May 2010 00:00:00 -0400

I just wasted a ton of time trying to get render :js working. I hope this saves a google visitor time or someone tells me what I was doing wrong.

According to guides.rubyonrails.org, render :js should work, but I kept getting an error about nil formats. Some people used render :text, but even after setting :content_type to “text/javascript”, it would just display the text. So I finally gave up and used the javascript_tag. This was all done in a helper. I also just wanted to post something using Markdown to Posterous.

UPDATE: Markdown didn’t work, so I’m using a gist.

  def things_I_tried   # didn't work   render :js => "alert('sucks')"   render :text => ";", :content_type => "text/javascript"   # worked   javascript_tag("alert('ftw')")  end

Engineering Perfection

Sat, 15 May 2010 00:00:00 -0400

“Here’s the thing about engineering, and this car is all about engineering: A machine is never finished, never fully optimized. Engineers subscribe not to Aquinas but Augustine. No machine is ever perfect except when it marches toward perfectibility.” - WSJ on the Perfect Porsche

The Conversation: Scratch the Itch

Wed, 12 May 2010 00:00:00 -0400

Dan Benjamin, one of my favorite podcasters and RoR man about town, invited me onto The Conversation today to discuss startups and acquisitions. It was awesome talking business and an honor to appear on the show. I have listened to every episode, along with The Pipeline and 5by5’s other shows. Dan has an awesome radio voice and is an amazing interviewer. It was also great catching up with Troy and Garrett, both of whom I met through Slicehost. MP3 Link Itunes
Video Link
Transcript

Love what you do

Mon, 03 May 2010 00:00:00 -0400

“But this game is really, really important to me. It’s done a lot for me. It’s done a lot for my family. As much as I’ve been through, I don’t take any start for granted, ‘cause I never know when it’s going to end. And I love doing it. I really do. And I love everybody in this clubhouse and I don’t like anybody I play against when I’m between the lines. That’s just the way it is. It’s super, super important to me.”

— Chris Carpenter

Goals are good...

Thu, 29 Apr 2010 00:00:00 -0400