Category Archives: Uncategorized

WeeklyID – Meet João

Posted on by
Reply

contactiveapp:

image

Say hello to our brilliant Backend Engineer, João Santos!

Where are you from?

Esmoriz, Portugal.

Brooklyn or Manhattan?

Manhattan.

What do you do for fun?

Generally things that don’t require a computer — going out with my wife, seeing movies, and recently, a small homegrown farm! Although I also have fun with a few computer developing pet-projects I’ve been working on for over the years.

Have you ever won a trophy?

I don’t think so, at least none that I can remember.

Read More

Quote

Posted on by
Reply

Differentiate your startup because the odds are already stacked against you. Don’t spread yourself thin by building too many products or too many features. Stay focused and be exceptional.

“Why entrepreneurs should focus on building just one product” via TheNextWeb

Excellent advice that can’t be overstated (IMO). We’ve worked hard at Contactive to build a powerful platform; the temptation is to build almost every cool scenario possible on top of it. The important thing is to stay focused and build a few things super well.

Quote

Posted on by
Reply

We were willing to tolerate a few bugs to [move fast]. But having to slow down and fix things was slowing us down. ‘Move fast with stable infra[structure]‘ isn’t as catchy, but it helps us build better for the people we serve.

“Facebook kills off its ‘move fast, break things’ mantra” via VentureBeat

Short but timely report coming out of F8 about Facebook’s mentality and new SLA around their API’s. We’ve been talking a lot at Contactive about how to balance velocity of development with the need to keep our growing platform stable and working well for our customers.

Taking pride in the craftsmanship of your infrastructure is not as sexy or hip as a flashy mobile app, but everyone one of your customers (including your own developers) will reap the benefits.

Quote

Posted on by
Reply

There are people who think New York is an irrelevant market,” Mr. Sanwal said. “The more intellectually honest answer is that New York is just relatively immature. It’s on a good path and it needs to run its course a bit more.

“Despite Big Ambitions, New York’s Tech Scene Is Still Starting Up” via NYTimes

I’m still a relatively newbie to the NYC tech scene but I’ve already started to appreciate the density and diversity of the companies here. I agree the city is still immature compared to Silicon Valley. However, being a tech business here in NYC gives you amazing access to hundreds of incredible companies who are *not* tech shops, which is a big win for enterprise-focused startups (IMO).

Quote

Posted on by
Reply

But this isn’t any run-of-the-mill Bitcoin address; It combines the three users’ public encryption keys, created based on a private encryption key generated when they installed DarkMarket, to offer what’s known as a “multisignature” address.

“Inside DarkMarket: a Silk Road the FBI can’t touch” via Wired

I find it amazing to hear how sophisticated these dark networks are becoming (regardless of the fact that I don’t support what actually gets bought and sold in them).