It wasn’t hard for me to create fame or influencer status in a community that never had that level of exposure. Well, except for maybe those open-sourced software nerds who would flex the GitHub stars from how many times their code was favorited. …

What a year… I hadn’t envisioned myself writing this Year in Review because, like most of us, I was hoping to call 2020 a wash. …

It feels weird writing this letter, and if we’re being honest, I’m not sure I ever pictured myself writing it at all. You see, you kind of have this idea that your baby (or company) evolves into something else, and someday you get this magical liquidity event and can retire…

This year marks Rootstrap’s 8-year anniversary. A lot has changed in that time. For one, we weren’t always called Rootstrap: the first iteration of our agency business was Neon Roots. NR was born scrappy. We started out as 3 engineers, 2 MacBook Minis, and one client. But we were determined…

Do I lose sleep over the thought of robots replacing me? Not for a minute. Between Wednesday night episodes of South Park and getting my daily dose from Anand at CB Insights, it feels like I’m reading or watching this everywhere. “They took our job!” Me? I’ve learned to niche…

The most sought-after skill in tech may not actually be your best bet. — By Ben Lee Do you need to learn how to code in order to manage a tech product? Well, I’ve overseen the launch of more than 250 successful products, and I’m here to tell you plain and simple: the answer is no. I started my career originally learning front-end scripting…

Best friends isn’t always best. — At most modern startups, the line between co-worker, friend, and even family member gets blurred. Walk into most startups in 2017 and you’ll find working teams that look more like crews of college friends than corporate enterprises. ✌

Moving from Early Adopters to Early Majority — If you’ve successfully defined your initial target market, created an MVP for your product, and put it in front of customers, congratulations: you’re farther along than probably 75% of people who say they want to start a business. …

The hardest part of starting a business isn’t the workload. It’s not the hours, the foresight, or the innovation required. It’s not thinking of a good idea, coming up with an innovative solution, or even building out the first iteration of the product. No, it’s much simpler than that. …