Disqus - Latest Comments for ryancoleman

Re: Feature Friday: Friendly Failing

ryancoleman — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 10:05:07 -0000

I love that Instagram doesn't just lose the update but I often forget to go back and hit the retry button until much later. Path, on the other hand, has taken it one step further where they just silently post it in the background when they can (although it doesn't flag that it hasn't actually been shared at any time).

Re: Three Simple Steps to Creating Amazing Flixels

ryancoleman — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 19:01:09 -0000

Thx for the comment Zann! Glad you enjoyed it (& glad to see there's pinch/zoom... Was on my wish list too and hadn't discovered it yet ;) )

Re: Three Simple Steps to Creating Amazing Flixels

ryancoleman — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 18:59:23 -0000

Thx Ken!

Re: Three Simple Steps to Creating Amazing Flixels

ryancoleman — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 18:59:21 -0000

Thx Philippe! I'll figure out how to add the pinch/zoom... Hadn't uncovered it yet (has it always been there? Could have sworn I tried it before...)

Re: Cutting the Cord: Saying Goodbye to Cable

ryancoleman — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 23:10:15 -0000

Yeah - we're using a similar service for US/UK sites but it's DNS based so there's no need for VPNs etc & it doesn't impact our access to Canadian sites/content - it just automatically routes us based on what the site is looking for.
For now I've just flipped our PS3 & one of the laptops onto it & leave everything else routed normally - been working great so far. Phone we just have the most stripped down home line possible - we use our cells way more than our home phone now.

Re: Cutting the Cord: Saying Goodbye to Cable

ryancoleman — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 14:17:27 -0000

Thank Neil, TV fool is a great resource & I used it in the early stages (found through digitalhome). We got a pretty good number of our channels definitely all the greens.
Ryan

Re: Cutting the Cord: Saying Goodbye to Cable

ryancoleman — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 09:59:27 -0000

yeah - the only thing I'm considering adding is a Boxee Box to our setup to make accessing TV shows easier although Serviio has some capabilities that have mitigated that concern for now.

Re: Unconsciously Killing User Experience in the Enterprise

ryancoleman — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 11:24:20 -0000

Agreed that there's a bigger problem going on that needs to be addressed - I think that kind of change won't happen though until the baby steps I started outlining above start to get sorted though. If people would just be more aware/conscious of the experience big improvements would get made quite easily.

Love that XKCD comic.... was painfully familiar with that situation when I was working in the translation space with Clay Tablet - talk about a standards happy industry.

Re: Dream Amplifying

ryancoleman — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 13:06:40 -0000

Mostly shapes. Then shaded them... Lots of mucking with perspective & depth too ;)

Re: Dream Amplifying

ryancoleman — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 06:33:45 -0000

Heh - interesting. Was the same way in school (still am today) have to distract my brain with doodling so I can pay attention to what's being said in presentation/classes otherwise my mind would wander.

Re: Change Don’t Cost a Thing

ryancoleman — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 09:19:33 -0000

Thanks Joe - love your point about the personal relationships... Such a key component to getting stuff done in a big organization - not nearly enough time is spent by many to get to know folks outside their respective teams and that small effort would pay huge dividends in the long run.
- Ryan

Re: http://gisuck.tumblr.com/post/13551994056

ryancoleman — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 13:29:35 -0000

heh - but those 64 players only dry hump you after you're dead... ;)

Re: Turntable.fm

ryancoleman — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 20:09:39 -0000

you sir, are a hero.

Re: Syncing Up Your Credit Cards

ryancoleman — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 08:06:42 -0000

Dopplr's premise was 'tell us where you're going & we'll tell you who's nearby'

Tripit started out as 'send us your itinerary, we'll keep everything organized for you' and quickly added 'oh yeah, and add your friends & we'll tell you if they're nearby'

To add details to tripit you just had to forward your itinerary + hotel, to an email address and they'll create the trip & add all the details by parsing the email. Painless & now all your trip details are stored in one spot, accessible anywhere & easily shared w/friends/co-workers if you wanted. The social circle benefit was the secondary goal of tripit, each interaction with them delivered value to me immediately. Dopplr on the other hand required a good dose of serendipity & the right social circle to get value from.

It's telling that many simply pulled their trip-it calendar into Dopplr to populate it.
Sent on the TELUS Mobility network with BlackBerry

Re: Syncing Up Your Credit Cards

ryancoleman — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 07:09:37 -0000

"but I am very much into the personal value"

I think this is a key point that a lot of start-ups miss - especially in early stages. Sure social can be the big flywheel that builds your user base but few consider what value they you deliver a user, without dragging the user's social circle into it. When I think back to the web-based services I've used the longest & paid for, it's the ones that drive value for me personally.

I always look at the comparison between Tripit & Dopplr as an example of this. Dopplr fit a need for a very specific set of circumstances for a person with a specific kind of social network (travelled enough & had friends in many different cities around the world) whereas Tripit, whether you traveled once, or a hundred times per year, delivered personal value with every transaction and then added to that value with inclusion of your social circles.

(Edit: small tweak for clarity)

Re: http://deepthinking.ca/post/7040766519

ryancoleman — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 10:21:12 -0000

That's the before... here's the after: http://tumblr.ryancoleman.c...

Re: Bixi Watch 2011 Continues

ryancoleman — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 14:02:40 -0000

I suspect part of it is just differences in sheer scale - Montreal has a much bigger, more established system. I don't know what their initial rates were but it wouldn't surprise me if they'd been higher (or another possibility is they've learned that they started too low in Montreal and are adjusting their rates as they launch new cities)

Re: http://davehyndman.tumblr.com/post/4807857941

ryancoleman — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 12:03:50 -0000

Eesh... Looks like the TT a PT Cruiser and a Dodge Caliber got together and had a love child. (And threw in a little bit of the Neon just for old-time sake)

Re: The Ballroom Makes Bowling Classy

ryancoleman — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 06:11:06 -0000

(Psst... it's at Richmond & John, Not Queen)

Re: http://fredwilson.vc/post/2696444690

ryancoleman — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 08:22:30 -0000

well, at least he reads ;)

Re: The Present and The Future (continued)

ryancoleman — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 11:30:38 -0000

A wise decision - I recently left a startup (that I co-founded) and moved to a job in a large enterprise (36,000+). Knowing what I know now, after just a few months in, I never would have started the last company (or would have at least approached it from a radically different perspective)

Sales cycles take forever and even if they love your product, if it's something that needs to be implemented internally, it could be years before it makes it into the plan for a year.

'Innovation' in the enterprise is a far different beast than in the start-up/small business realm.

Re: http://fredwilson.vc/post/2186064266

ryancoleman — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 09:56:38 -0000

Interesting analysis, l think though that the enterprise factor is missing from it though - At the end of the day the Playbook will be what makes or breaks RIM. If the PlayBook fails, corporations won't have much choice but to go with another tablet platform, likely the iPad.

For enterprises to adopt the PlayBook (if they already support BB's) they just have to buy the devices, it's that easy whereas iPad requires new management technologies in the backend to secure/manage the devices.

But, in the same way BB's ecosystem makes PlayBook adoption easy, as soon as you start supporting iPads you've necessarily put in the infrastructure that also lets you support iPhones - and suddenly RIM's lock on the enterprise market is blown apart.

People questioned why RIM announced the PlayBook so far in advance - the reality is they had no choice to. Enterprises all over were eyeing the iPad and figuring out how to support it - had RIM waited they waited until the new year it would have been game over. I've personally seen and heard about iPad initiatives being stopped cold following the announcement while co's wait for the PlayBook.

It's going to be an interesting start to the year, that's for sure.

Re: A VC: Where Should Mobile Developers Focus?

ryancoleman — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 11:38:54 -0000

Personally, I think until you've got at least a minimum viable product working on a web-based platform )optimized for mobile) you shouldn't even be picking a platform. Then, and only then, should you wade into a proprietary platform if a) your users are demanding it AND b) there's a critical/key feature you just can't accomplish within the limits of the web-based app. But going proprietary should be an absolute last resort. Especially for a start-up.

As the market fragments across platforms anything that's built for only one platform instantly starts at a disadvantage when it comes to getting critical mass, especially if the app includes a social component.

Re: Building communities, not products

ryancoleman — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 09:34:04 -0000

Dave,

There's no question your past nine years created a ton of value, not just for yourself but for the entire community. What you helped create here has served as an inflection point for many, myself included, and it was only a matter of time until you found your moment too.

While it may not have kept your product building skills well lubed and ready to go, the knowledge & insight into the way of startups & community you've picked up along the way will prove to be invaluable going forward and I have no doubt your 'rusty' pedigree will come back to you quickly once you start flexing that muscle again.

Best of luck with the new venture... looking forward to hearing more about it down the road. And if you need anything, there's a great community here in Toronto that's always happy to help boost & support a local startup. ;)

Ryan

Re: A Postmortem Analysis of Standout Jobs

ryancoleman — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 09:47:44 -0000

Great post Ben. Went through a very similar experience with my last company - your comments on the market (knowing it, speaking to it & working with it) especially hit home and are all bang on.

Thanks for having the guts to put this out there & sharing it.

Ryan