The Bible has a lot to say about generosity. While it doesn’t only talk about money, that’s what I’m writing about today. Secularly speaking, I’ve had a very healthy relationship with money. I live within my means and save diligently. Biblically speaking, I’ve struggled. I tithe regularly and often give generously beyond that. But money has a way of pulling me toward security and status. Financial…
TL;DR: Changes to albums, descriptions, location, date/time and favorites through Immich are stored in the photo’s EXIF and automatically backed up to my Synology NAS and into Dropbox; no database needed. Below is a video for those who prefer to watch instead of read. I created a simpler version of the plugin I use that is suitable for those with their own workflows which might differ from mine.…
The best products and features emerge naturally from within your subconscious. la·tent: lying dormant or hidden until circumstances are suitable for development or manifestation. There’s something special about a good product. They’re malleable and composable within its intended use while holding onto some opinions. This doesn’t mean that they are full of features. In fact, it’s often the…
This article is also available as a thread on Twitter. The life of a crypto/blockchain transaction. Proof of Work version. #web3 // THREAD // 👇🏾 — Jaisen Mathai (@jmathai) October 29, 2021 The life of a crypto/blockchain transaction. Proof of Work version. You use your favorite app to purchase 1 ETH. The app creates a transaction and broadcasts it to the network. The transaction includes…
2014-01-21 (January 21st, 2014) My initial video documenting the last 5 months before Trovebox was acquired. At this point my primary focus was on sales. I was cold calling customers and trying to close a sales deal with Columbia Law University. 2014-02-12 (February 12th, 2014) We arranged to have booths at 3 conferences. Columbia Law University got back with us that our proposal was too high. We…
We are the Shuttleworth Foundation and we fund people who are unafraid to re-imagine the world and the way we live in it. There exists in Cape Town, South Africa a small group of people taking bold risks by investing in people ambitious enough to change the world through openness. I only came to know about the Shuttleworth Foundation in 2012 while we were looking for funding sources . It’s founded…
Over the 3 years we spent building Trovebox there were countless successes and failures. All of which helped shape the company, product and founders. Below is a timeline view of events that makes it possible to quickly consume most of the ups and downs we had. May 2011 - December 2011 (before funding) The first months were some of the most exciting. We built a product from scratch and gained a…
There were many days and even weeks where I was convinced all this was a huge mistake. Ben Horrowitz, a well known venture capitalist, blogged on this topic in 2012 in blog post also called The Struggle . It’s complicated Us humans are neither binary or entirely logical; thank goodness. We’re complex creatures and what constitutes happiness, contentment, joy or any of the opposite emotions depend…
It was over 3 years ago when this journey started. I thought if things went terribly that it would last as little as 6 months and if things went really well it could have gone on for a decade. Curveballs. It’s the part that makes startups hard: managing your own psychology when it looks like everything is falling apart. So many times it felt like everything was falling in around us. I can recall…
Startups don’t come with maps; there’s no clear path from idea to a successful product. We launched OpenPhoto with the hopes of helping regular folks like you or me better organize, archive and share photos. Our approach was different; we wanted to do so in a way that could guarantee your photo library would outlive our company. We enjoyed success that most startups never do. We did a successful…
Runway is what start-up founders call the amount of time until there’s no money left to feed their kids. Prior to funding, a start-up’s runway is a function of each founder’s ability to survive without collecting a paycheck. Since Rachel was staying at home with Tavin (and later our daughter Elodie) it meant our runway was whatever money we had available in the bank and brokerage accounts.…
In order to grasp my elatement when I got off a Skype call with Helen and Karien you need to first read about our road to fundraising . It was just a week prior when I got an email from Karien that I wouldn’t receive a fellowship from the Shuttleworth Foundation. With a limited number of spots available, unfortunately we will not be offering you a Fellowship this round. I was more than…
It was around 4pm on a Friday and I found myself stuck in traffic on 101 northbound. I was by myself so I couldn’t use the HOV lanes; not that they were any faster. Typical scene on 101NB. Credit: Ed Hunsinger CC BY. Let’s rewind a bit. Patrick first emailed me on June 30 th of 2011. I’m offering my help because I think your idea is great and it will be something special. – Patrick, in his first…
It was February 6, 2011 when I posted to HackerNews about an idea I had. The idea was a way store and share your photos while ensuring their permanence for decades into the future. This wasn’t the first idea I’ve had nor was it the first idea I’d end up leaving my job to pursue. In fact, this ended up being the third photo service I’d launch. 8 years prior I had started working on something named…