I have products that need built for days. It all starts with science. You are in an incredible position that I never have been. Had to self fund everything myself and all ultimately failed due to lack of capital even with traction. Hold on to what you have. It’s the most valuable thing ever.
After 3.5 years leading Product and doing a global video streaming company turnaround (Piksel, formerly known as KIT Digital), I left last week to build PROME's Biologic Intelligence product for industrial sensors and robotics.
Our team is doing some freelance work to keep the lights on as we're self-funding everything.
I reported directly to the CPO, now the CEO, pulled together teams in Milan (new analytics), Paris (old OVP integration, new HTML5 player), Atlanta (50,000 live events annually), Solana Beach (UX) and York/London (net new microservices video platform) and managed high value customers including former ESPN, VW, Herbalife, and resellers in Japan, LATAM, and the US.
I’ve got patents in mobile live streaming, personalized linear channels, connected cars with video, and soon Biologic Intelligence. I’ve founded or been an executive at a number of startups across algo trading, gamification, social video with voice/AI/emotion, mobile apps, and some robotics.
Finally, I’ve created/invented a number of things in my free time (PROME: emulated the brain and nervous systems of animals in software and robotics plus Humanizing Tech media publication, one of the top 0.007% websites in the world).
I’ve written articles for Fortune, HuffPo, been featured in CNBC, Pando Daily, The Information, etc and am a top writer on Medium for a large number of topics.
Happy to help you figure out your hairiest of problems and then execute them.
Piksel.com -- need help running our Online Video Platform that has nearly 4 billion views annually. We're a global startup with offices in NYC, ATL, Solana Beach, Milan, Rome, London, Paris, etc. We do work for some of the largest broadcasters like AT&T, Channel 4, BSkyB, etc. We push our digital video to mobile apps, home TVs, playstion, and digital signs.
We're building a massive online video and live streaming video platform, powering much of the Faith market and entering new territory with Sports and Enterprise customers including AT&T and ESPN. We're global with offices in the US and EMEAs.
Get almost 6 weeks of vacation, a brand new office, fun team to work with, great salary, and a new tricked out machine of your choice.
As long as you have about 4 years of PHP experience we're not too worried about whether you have an official CS degree.
C'mon guys. Let's ease up. It's an elegant product in a physical package that I think most everyday people would use, especially if they're able to get the price down to free like square.
The real issue I see is that I don't want to carry a phone AND a card. I just want to pay with my iPhone 5S + thumbprint.
Or, if I'm in NYC and want to go running through the streets slash central park, I want to pay with my iPod Nano for the train, for some water, and even some food.
Heck, take it a step further. Just imbed a bluetooth chip inside my thumb so I just have to press it to a payment terminal anywhere.
It's just a roadmap, but you have to start somewhere.
Don't listen to the naysayers. You've created something simple, elegant, and instantly understandable. In a world where we're constantly bombarded with technical discussions of whiz-bang jetpacks, an app like this turns the corner into the basics of what can be done with one simple mechanic: infinite zoom.
I, for one, downloaded it because I want to take notes on my iPad, but the resolution isn't built for that with a stylus. Now I can take sketch notes, written notes, and doodle to my hearts desire.
Kudos on taking the leap a few years back and kudos on building something "featureless".
Monetization will always be your biggest hurdle. The sure bet that I've found, and you can look no further than Candy Crush for this mechanic, is to get someone as close as possible to the end of what they want to do and if they can't do it in that amount of time/moves/etc, they have to pay to get one more move/life. How that integrates with a "drawing" app will require time and thought.
Interviews are a horrible test of how someone will perform on the job. Never in work life are you required to come up with a solution immediately. Those types of solutions are almost always wrong. It's only after deep thought and 100s of hours toiling on a problem from every angle that an elegant solution that simplifies presents itself. But sadly, the only way to know if someone is capable of that is to actually hire them for a trial week or 30 days and see how they do and immediately fire or sign for a longer term contract.
