Ricebridge

I've worked in a small web shop, a startup, and a German bank. I work as a Freelance consultant to bootstrap the components business. Each job had its own paranoias and dillusions. Frankly I've seen much of the work spectrum and it just ain't for me. Can't take orders I suppose!

Well, really, it's the frustration of not getting things done. I love optimization problems - getting the most from limited resources. You can see how big companies would drive me nuts. Small companies are better, but in that case, you'd better be the boss!

Have you got any qualifications? Please tell us about yourself academically?

I did math and philosophy originally, so I'm not even a real programmer.

We did a bit of C and C++ at college, but mostly toy stuff and OO dogma.

I find in some ways that math provides you with a better foundation for systems thinking - large scale systems are what most programmers do.

Of course, large scale systems are really really hard and that's why I sell small, focused and single-purpose components. Much easier!

I have a computer science degree in the works (75% done) - I'll finish it any day now.

How / when did the idea of your website / company come about?

After about 2 or 3 years of working I realized I had my own approach. I knew I just had to try it out.

I cut my teeth with an open source developer tool - anyone considering going-it-alone should do this first. To run an open source project professionally requires many of the same skills (even marketing!) as running a product company.

If you could give readers of this book one piece of advice when starting up a business, what would it be?

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