Kynetx Impact Developer Day

I was fortunate enough to attend a Kynetx Impact Developer Day at the Kynetx World Wide HQ. I just wanted to share a few notes and links, and my over all impression.

First, the Kynetx group did an awesome job. One thing I have a hard time with at developer conferences are speeches and sales pitches. This event was far from that. We walked through code, wrote code, compiled code, deployed code.

I was impressed that the actual API engineers were presenting, demoing and coding. I was even excited that Jessie struggled to get some code to work he was writing on the fly. He's human, it's something programmers deal with a lot, and he handled it gracefully, all the while CEO Stephen Fulling was sitting in the audience. In the end, he got the demo to work, and it was very cool.

Founder and CTO Phil Windley opened with the reason he built what eventually became the Kynetx platform. He saw an opportunity to program the web. He saw the increase in available API's, and the ease in which data from various points on the web, and user initiated events, could be used to enhance the experience. Read more about Kynetx, the KRL language, and even sign up for a free developer account with an easy to use coding IDE.

Lunch was provided, prizes were awarded, and plenty to do, made for an exciting and educational day. In my opinion, if you don't leave an event like this with hundreds of new ideas you weren't really paying attention.

The only part that could have been better was the layout of the space. The tables weren't set up in a way I could use my computer and watch was going on up front. We were sideways, so I was always turning. I eventually gave up because I was more interested and watching what the presenter was doing. Guys, next time put the tables in classroom mode. You would have had plenty of room.

If you have a chance to attend an Impact Developer Day in your community I would do it. It's worth it.

read more...

Please Pitch Me A Win Win Venture

In my post yesterday, I asked that you not pitch me one sided ventures. Today, I’m asking you to pitch me win win ventures.

Let me start by saying, lot’s of programmers, designers, and other freelancers, are looking for great projects. They want to be part of something as big and bad as you do. Let’s work together to make that happen. I love bootstrapping. It’s the fastest way to get a company off the ground. Synergy, and a good plan, can overcome most obstacles.

I love exploring new ideas. A few weeks ago I attended the Kynetx Impact Conference, and the ideas were flowing all around me. Everyone seemed to have some idea how they could leverage the Kynetx API. I heard some excellent ideas. I even had one. It didn’t turn out to be something Kynetx was suited for, but I was encouraged to explore my idea thoroughly.

I can always get a sense of how good an idea I have when I run it by a few of my good friends. When they give me the “huh, that sounds interesting” response, I know I haven’t communicated my idea well enough, or it totally sucks and I need to go back to the drawing board.

I’ll use an example of someone pitching me an idea, and how they were successful at getting me on board. It started very out innocent. We met for a lunch. We talked about the idea, we sketched some things on paper, we talked about the holes, we talked about the market, we talked about the competitors. We really didn’t talk much about a product. We talked about a vision and an idea.

Then we met a few days later, this time with the understanding we would discuss a project. After about twenty minutes of hearing the enthusiasm, the passion, the commitment this person has made in getting his project off the ground, I was sold. I would have done just about anything he asked. He even eked out a prototype on his own. Rudimentary as it was, I could tell he had put a lot of thought into it.

I would love to hear your ideas. I would love to help you get those ideas off the ground. I would be glad to connect you with people who have the means and ability to rock your project. I’m committed to helping others succeed. Because when you succeed, I succeed.

read more...