The Entrepreneurial Coder is cool!

I was 13 when I started to build on my entrepreneurial urges by learning how to code. My motivation to learn was to code to build businesses. In 2003 this was frowned upon, a programmer wasn’t someone who loves business and reads The Economist in his free time. He was guy who lived for coding, loved Assembly and at least once a year strongly considered writing his own operating system.

Over the years though there has been a changing trend. With the rise of internet companies being run by hackers, there has been segregation in the world of programmers. Those who code because they love it, and those who love what they can do with it. The first we call the Hackers and the second I call the Entrepreneurial Coders. I think the rise of these guys has been one of the largest factors of success for companies like 37signals. There has been a redefinition of the way an IT company has to be run and this time by the people who have been in the trenches.

Now the fundamental problem of ICT companies is being overcome; communication. The breakdown of it between management and coders is infamous. At almost every programmers cubicle you can find a cartoon about it posted on the walls. For those who lived through the first bubble I am sure you remember the CEO’s that were put in charge by VC’s. Please share your horror stories.

Now only 4 years later when I talk to the hackers who helped me learn how to program, I am ‘cool’. The entrepreneurial coder is becoming more and more accepted and it will slowly change the world of IT. I would love to hear in the comments; how you experienced this change, if you agree or disagree and what you expect for the future.

July 16, 2008 | Filed Under Mini Essays | Comments 

I am Hyper Connected

I am an internet entrepreneur and that means I need to be on Twitter, Friendfeed, Digg, Techmeme, HackerNews, Google Reader etc… When news comes in on any of these sites I am one of the first people in the world to know. There are several applications on my dual screen which keep my notified of any interesting tid-bit of information that is rising in the blogosphere. I judge the value of the sites and web apps I use on how quickly they bring news to me, every second counts.

Does this sound familiar? To most people on the internet it won’t but if you’ve come to my site you probably have done so through any of the websites I’ve mentioned. This means there is a high chance you are one of the “few” (let me make a guesstimate, hundred thousand) people online who’s hyper connected and interested in anything that is going on in the web 2.0 blogosphere.

For the last week I have been reflecting upon my productivity and I am going to ask you to do the same thing. I am finally coming to a point where I start to wonder if it matters that I find out about the new Wordpress version tomorrow and not today. I love reading news, especially interesting blog posts and articles that give me knowledge. However does it really matter if I read the summaries the day after or if I am the second person in the blogosphere to know something (this was the case when Twitter bought Summize).

When is the last time you sat down and worked on one specific project for 2 hours, without having any other source of information coming in? Yesterday the electricity had to be shutdown because they were fixing a power line. I realized that all off a sudden I was without internet. I immediately went to my PDA to link it to my laptop and get a 3G connection; fortunately my phones’ battery had run out the night before. I then sat in front of the screen wondering what to do for the next hour. I opened Word and started writing a blog post. This was a change on its own because I have been using online solutions for so long now. I had my full focus on this post and really got to spend some time on it, Is blogging dead? was the result. When I looked at my statistics it became clear that this had been my most successful blog post as of yet. People spent on average a good 4 minutes and 20 seconds on my site, a lot of people read it and the comments amounted to over 2000 words.

I made a realization in that hour my power was cut. I had been more focused and productive then I had been in a long time. Currently I have taken my laptop away from my desk, am sitting in my chair with nothing but Word open, writing this blog post. Try it out sometime!

July 15, 2008 | Filed Under Mini Essays | Comments 

Is blogging dead?

Jason Calacanis retired from blogging. Jason retired because next to wanting to spend more time with his family, he believes blogging is dead. A controversial statement which guarantees a lot of response from bloggers. When blogging first became popular it was about connecting with an audience, building a lasting connection and having a conversation through comments. Like I often end my blog posts asking you to post a comment. Jason is right when he is saying that these days blogs are often no longer about the integrity of the content but the number of backlinks it receives, the number of page views and how high it ranks in Google.

Is this wrong or not? I believe that depends on how you portrait yourself. There are many bloggers these days that voice controversial opinions not because it is how they feel but because the secret to blogging success is response. Like they say “The only bad publicity is no publicity”. Many bloggers have realized this and they play on it. Often to increase page views and so increase advertisement revenue but also just for the sheer enjoyment of 15 minutes of fame. As Jason says “Folks are so desperate to be heard–and we all want to be heard that’s why we blog–that the effort put into being heard has eclipsed the actual hearing.”

This blog centers around my life but also my social media experiment “Have you talked to Eiso Kant yet?”. Do I want to rank high and receive as many visitors as possible? In a way I do and in a way I don’t. It is in direct line with the goal of my blog to reach out to as many people as possible and have a real conversation with them. I love having a conversation and I blog to receive comments. From those comments I get ideas and the conversation that comes from it is so much more valuable than what I initially wrote. However I have made a conscious decision to not blog for search engines or backlinks. As you can see there are no advertisements on this blog and I also have no aspirations to become an A-list blogger.

Jason has solved this problem by starting an email list. My initial response was that Jason was trying to go for the million dollar success, email marketers like Mike Filsaime have had. I then read his first email. He convinced me that he was actually looking for a real conversation and connection with his readers. I replied to his email:

Dear Jason,

When I first read your announcement on your blog I wasn’t doubting if you were retiring from blogging but I was doubting your intentions. I thought “this guy who knows publishing inside and out, wants to do what guys like Mike Filsaime have done. That is make millions with promoting affiliates through newsletters.”. Your email convinced me that is not what you are doing and it has given me an immediate respect for what you have accomplished and what are you doing now. I’ve studied your Mahalo Social Media Campaign and I’ve respected the way you’ve used tools like Twitter to promote your company. What you are doing now gives an extra dimension to you as Jason, the person and not Jason, The Social Media Machine.

I look forward to reading your emails and having a real conversation (140 characters are overrated).

Best regards,

Eiso

I think I will be proven right or wrong depending on if he will reply to my email. If you are trying to build a valuable connection you cannot just have a one-way conversation.

July 14, 2008 | Filed Under Mini Essays | Comments 

An essay discussing economic theories for downloadable products and Web 2.0 companies.

How do traditional economic theories of cost, pricing and output that are applicable to traditional goods apply to the market for downloadable products?

Over the last few months I’ve been increasingly hearing the argument that Web 2.0 companies have a marginal cost of zero. This argument is correct to the extent that after the development of the application the marginal cost decreases to zero, but of course for the first unit never is.

It’s a theory I explored further in 2006/2007 for the IB Extended Essay. This was a paper I was required to write in partial fulfillment of the requirements of my degree. Now I have obtained my degree I would like to ask your feedback on my applied economic theories. I have embedded the document below and by clicking the button in the right hand corner of the iPaper it will increase the size to fullscreen.  Page 7 and 8 of the essay are of less importance to anyone familiar with economic theory as they are short outlines of the traditional theories. It is from page 9 onwards I discuss and propose new theories amongst which I dis-confirm the theory of demand and supply.

For my paper I was limited to 4000 words and was therefore made to keep my arguments brief. I would however love to discuss them in more depth in the comments. If you know someone who might be interested in discussing these theories please ask them the question,“Have you talked to Eiso Kant yet?”

If you would like a downloadable or editable copy, please leave the request in the comments.

July 10, 2008 | Filed Under Mini Essays | Comments 

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