Hacking the Future of Business!
Arik Keller and I had been thinking about what to do next and we both liked Groupon but wanted to marry that with location based services. So that is what we did.
We set out to build a Groupon clone but sprinkle in LBS. I was the CTO and built the technology and Arik did the hard part – everything else. We embarked on the journey in late 2009 and that journey came to a successful conclusion today. LocalGinger was sold to WHERE.COM. Woohoo!
I was born into a family of engineers and entrepreneurs. Being exposed to that kind of stuff growing up really makes an impact. In 1968, when I was only four, one of my brothers built a television camera and transmitter and put little old me on TV. Our family basement was a playground for all things technology. From making sand cast molds and making parts out of molten metals to bending Plexiglas and flame grinding it to perfection to drawing plans for our next project on a real drawing board using mechanical pencils and protractors to developing a small audio electronics company while in junior high school, building a graphic equalizer and audio noise reduction systems including full metal cases and front panels with professional labeling and high-tech finishes to photography, making our own chemicals and experimenting with new imaging technologies, to running a manufacturing plant in our garage making tools for injection molding machines. To be able to try to do anything you could think of and most of the time actually succeeding! Cool!
And then along came computers, less physical and more virtual. My first program in 9th grade was a BASIC program to help design audio amplifiers. It was run on the teletype of school systems connection to a shared regional mini-computer. My second was an AI like system on top of the audio amplifier program which would interview the user and interactively design the amplifier circuit. I remember running a Timex Sinclair ZX-80 until in melted calculating various mathematical functions for weeks at a time. Computers were cool.
As the years have raged on I have been there from the first Macs and PCs and getting them to talk to each other right down to today where computing is becoming so ubiquitous, I have a computer in my car that helps me manage my life proactively.
I am on a Virgin America flight – right now – typing this blog entry via onboard wifi. Very cool. I am using GoToMyPC to access my office PC. My IP address is: Your IP: 12.130.118.3 Near: Itasca, Illinois United States (this info is courtousey of DNSstuff.com). I am not able to use anything but pure HTTP and HTTPS. I tried to make an RDP connection but no go. Attempting to make an SSH connection into servers also failed. But I can most everything I need to do via what I have here. There is a standard power outlet at my seat, in coach, so I have all the power I need! Very cool.