Adegga as a startup

Lots of great tips came out of this weekend’s online discussion on tips for startups, money and productivity. Jason Calcanis wrote a list of 17 tips for startups. Adegga does not have $20 million of funding but I decided to pick some of Jason’s points and tell how we do things there.

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Doing a startup means that sometimes you don’t see the whole path
but you need to keep walking.


1. Buy Macintosh computers, save money on an IT department

We’re are 3 in the team, one full time and 2 part-times. Only one of us uses a Mac (me with a 15″ MacBook Pro). The other 2 in the team use PCs with Windows. We’re all using our own computers.

We have had some initial problems in setting a multi-platform development setup but now that all that is done we’ve been running just fine. Out staging server is the same Mac and things move into production once they’ve been tested there.

Working with LAMP on a Mac is several times easier than on a Windows, however most of our users use Windows, so having access to 2 PCs helps us do a lot of Windows testing. (I know we can use Windows on a Mac, but we haven’t needed that).

2. Don’t buy a phone system.

We use Skype for most of our calls. Once in a while we use our mobiles phones. Email is our favorite way of communicating with clients. As we contact people in different time zones and different languages and the team only gets together 3 times a week, this is the best (and cheapest) method to stay organized.

3. Buy cheap tables and expensive chairs.

When we meet to work we use a big wood table from IKEA where we can all work together and collaborate. We also have an IKEA whiteboard where we write what we’re up to and the occasional brainstorming session. We then take pictures and send them via email to archive the meeting.

No fancy chairs for now although I have a nice borrowed one.

4. Use Google hosted email.

We use Google Apps to power our email system and company calendar. No spam and it works everywhere.

5. Fire people who don’t love their work.

We’re all passionate about our project and we’re only 3 so we have to do everything between ourselves. For me it means accounting, marketing, developing, sales, etc. For my two team mates it means sometimes working 4 hours after a full day at their day job and Sunday. It’s not easy but we forget everything when someone says they love Adegga and totally get what we’re trying to do.

6. Get an expensive, automatic espresso machine at the office

We have a Nespresso. It keeps costs down, coffee quality up and saves times every time we meet.

7. Don’t need to rent an office

Adegga was built without an office. We use my living room to meet and each of us works from home when developing. It’s confortable, has Wi-Fi and it’s cheap. Until we get to a level where we can rent a small office this is the way we do it.

The best advice
Sticking to these tips is definitely not a sure path to success. As Tony Wright says, every startup is unique and in the end it’s all about Building something people want, being persistent and never giving up.

March 10, 2008 | Tags: ,  

comments

3 Responses to “Adegga as a startup”

  1. Adegga - Start Up | Comunicação Empresarial on March 12th, 2008

    […] uma loja de vinhos. Mas é também um site de partilha, uma rede social. E é um prazer visitar. No blog.delaranja.com, o André Ribeirinho explica como se faz uma StartUp recorrendo a soluções que optimizam os […]

  2. Gabriella Opaz on March 13th, 2008

    Andre,

    I love this post, but I have a few others to add as a cohort in the entrepreneurial game:

    1. Make sure you get outside at least once a day to clear the mind and generate new ideas. Being a computer based company, ideas bubble from internal space, and if the screen is your main source of input, those ideas get cluttered and suppressed, leaving very little space for creativity.

    2. Dedicate set times during the day to look at your email. Email, facebook, etc are like drugs, and if you don’t monitor it, they become enormous time wasters.

    3. Take a moment every morning to remember why you are choosing the life you are choosing. This may sound overly philosophical, but there is reason behind the madness. Over time, when you do something long enough, you forget why you loved it in the first place. Don’t forget that passion. Ask yourself, “Am i doing what makes me happy?” and if not, “What can I do today to create happiness in my life?” You may find yourself making very different decisions during the day, than if you didn’t ask this question.

    Cheers,
    g

  3. Filipe Correia on April 2nd, 2008

    Well, concerning chairs, we have some of these at the office. I definitely recommend them :)

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