MarkMaunder dot com

The Naked Truth Party

I just got back from the Naked Truth panel and party in Seattle. It was loads of fun. I met John Cook for the first time in the flesh – he’s interviewed me about 3 times and we’ve never actually met. Also met Michael Arrington briefly. The panel was so-so. I think the general consensus […]

July 24, 2007 | Startups, Tech News | No comments

TypePad down since 1:50pm PST

Looks like my choice to use WordPress.org on my own servers for my personal blog was a good one. Typepad has been down since 1:50pm. Unfortunately that means both Geojoey and Linebuzz corporate blogs are down. Dear TypePad member, The TypePad service is currently unavailable due to power issues at our co-location facility. This means […]

July 24, 2007 | Startups | No comments

Think you work hard? Think again.

UPDATE: This article generated over 5,000 page views in under 24 hours, so I’ve posted a follow-up interview with Tony Wright, RescueTime’s Founder & CEO. I’m participating in a closed Beta of Rescuetime.com and installed the software on Sunday. Yesterday sat down at my desk for 10 hours and then hit the site. Here are […]

July 24, 2007 | Startups | 6 comments

The Nike Software Engineering Process

Starting a software business? Looking for a software engineering process? You can spend a month getting your head around one of these: Agile software development Crystal Clear Extreme programming Lean software development ISO 12207 Rational Unified Process CMM ISO 15504 Or.. 2 seconds learning the Nike method:

July 23, 2007 | Code, Startups | No comments

What the new Patent Reform Act means for small startups

Don Dodge from Microsoft’s emerging business team summarizes the Patent Reform Act of 2007 that just passed the House Judiciary Committee. Damages are limited to the value added over existing technology. This bill would require the courts to look at the “free market” value of the patent if it were licensed in an “arms length” […]

July 23, 2007 | Startups | No comments

Who else thinks VC's shouldn't fund early stage developers?

UPDATE: Changed the title after realizing I’m referring to a niche within startups. John Cook, one of my favorite Seattleites, has a post on his blog about yet another home office no money startup that got bought out for a few million. There is a growing realization that getting early funding if you’re a developer […]

July 21, 2007 | Startups | No comments

A metaphor for passive income

A giant spinning sequoia caught in a tornado that throws off dollar bills instead of pine needles. [Apologies if you thought this was going to be a treatise on creating passive income.] ps: Can someone draw this for me?

July 21, 2007 | Startups | No comments

Shooting down good ideas

Dustin Staiger has a list of 10 signs that you’re shooting down good ideas in your organization. This reminds me of someone I worked with a while back. Here are my personal favorite signs from Dustin’s list of 10: 7. Listing the top 10 ideas from your department this year, half or more are your […]

July 20, 2007 | Startups | No comments

Brand Authority and the Milgram Experiment

I had a great chat with Tony Wright yesterday evening over a few drinks. Tony has a degree in psychology and is a fellow entrepreneur and we got chatting about the Milgram Experiment and its applicability to branding. Here’s a video summary: The experiment found that few people have the resources needed to resist authority, […]

July 20, 2007 | Marketing, Startups | No comments

Marketing team brainstorms Facebook app launch (vid)

Jobster’s CEO Jason Goldberg sent me this vid this morning of their marketing team brainstorming the launch of their new Facebook application. I’m curious what your thoughts are on the brainstorming process and the ideas they’re throwing around. Full disclosure: I worked for Jobster and left about 1 year ago. I also sold a previous […]

July 19, 2007 | Randomness, Startups | 1 comment

My name is Mark Maunder. I've been blogging since around 2003 when I started on Movable Type and ended up on WordPress which is what I use to publish today. With my wife Kerry, I'm the co-founder of Wordfence which protects over 5 million WordPress sites from hackers and is run by a talented team of 36 people. I'm an instrument rated pilot and I fly a Cessna 206 along with a 1964 Cessna 172 in the Pacific Northwest and Colorado. I'm originally from Cape Town, South Africa but live in the US these days. I code in a bunch of languages and am quite excited about our emerging AI overlords and how they're going to be putting us to work for them.