I'm no longer blogging on this blog. Please find me here.
Those of you that know me and live in Milwaukee know that I'm in the process of starting a software firm. For this venture, IronWake, LLC, I have a great business partner, Pete Reynolds, who has been a colleague and friend over the years. I trust him. He is a great guy and has strengths in business that complement (there's that word again, Gerry) my skills. He is a good marketing guy, a good product manager and is focused on many aspects of this firm. I am squarely focused on building product and understanding the sales channel. I've been in a few startups and have seen that a lack of focus in sales, or in other key areas, means certain death. I'm not afraid of failing, but rather will focus on spending the time and energy necessary on the things that make a firm successful. It'll be interesting over the next few months as we ramp up and develop this firm. I'm looking forward to the day when we have a professional staff, i.e. a CEO/COO, a sales team of more than two people (no, not including Pete and I), a marketing team again of more than two people, customer support teams, development teams, etc.
So, Pete and I are at a fundamental crossroads. Do we raise capital in the form of angel monies, or do we bootstrap this operation? There are a number of key factors that we are considering in this process. Pete and I are unafraid to give away equity or do a deal involving some form of equity, debt or mezzanine financing, which may require us at some point to relinquish as much as 60% of the firm's equity over a few rounds of financing. No big deal if we are making dough throughout this whole process. Pete and I see eye to eye on all of these issues. We want to make cabbage and there are plenty of impediments between us and that goal without the two of us and our eventual partners tripping over each other and mucking up the process. It's all about FOCUS and SIMPLICITY.
I'll not get into the details of our software product at this time. I also want to be clear about my mention of IronWake on this blog. IronWake will likely be a bigger and bigger part of my life as time progresses. I'll mention it from time to time here, but I want to be clear. I'm interested in sharing my thoughts about this firm and the development from a professional developer/designer/architect perspective. If I market IronWake here, it is purely out of habit. If I talk about IronWake and IronWake products, it is because I feel that I've found something interesting to share with anyone who reads my junk here. OK, stare at this spot:
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You are getting sleepy. BUY MY STUFF.
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If you want to contact me, feel free to do so here. If you'd like to preorder an IronWake product, sorry, but you'll have to look elsewhere. I won't link it here.