The journey of a Bay Area startup: Cloud and You |
Cloud and You was started by three co-founders who have a passion for art. During a business trip to London, they visited several museums and connected through their joy of art. After a few drinks, they felt that one missing piece for artists were collaboration and expert critique. This blog will tell you all the ups-and-downs, the frustration, pitching and funding, and all the hard work into building a company. This is as real as it gets. No frills. |
-
Photo
Sprints for the next couple of weeks. Week #1 completed! Lean startup? Handle it with agile methodology.
shonuff.
-
Text
Update
We switched from Java to Ruby on Rails now. Our new team member is Chris Trinh, which is friends with our Rafiki Idea Guy Duy Le lol.
Our launch date for closed beta is on March 1st. Holla atcha boy!
-
Text
53
Notes Hello Digital World from Jean-Marc Ly, Co-Founder/CEO of Cloud and YouHello Digital World,Well here’s a first! A blog post from me, the CEO lol. Usually its Truong who writes our blog but today i felt like “voicing out”. Although i’m the CEO, do i really act like one? Not really as well all wear the CEO hat at some point. However, i am good at communication, presentation, speaking out and bridging people together, thus i was picked to be mr. CEO. (our titles dont mean anything to us as we still make fun of each other whenever we can =])Starting this startup has certainly has been a rough ride with a huge learning curve. We have been making progress this year and all is working as should be. Thats not to say we did not encounter hard challenges along the way.Building a startup is like building a car as Eric Ries puts it and ours have been long in the making. We had problems with the ignition, the cylinder, spark plugs etc… Each piece of the components, we had to learn from the grounds up or find someone who knew what we needed.But thats not to say we are already driving and racing around the freeway. Heck the car is still parked at the auto-shop! But little by little we see each piece come together to create a bigger working system and i guess thats what a startup is; an engine of growth.A couple days ago, we launched a crowsourcing fundraiser using Cauzoom and it’s platform to attract donations from people all over the world. It was the first time, we used such method but as the company and work continues, we find ourselves in the need of funds.Now it is kinda weird as i’m plastering this link (http://cauzoom.com/project/cloud-and-you Please donate, its for a good cause :] ) all over my facebook, linked in etc… because i haven’t really told to the world that i am starting a startup. I didn’t hide it but i didn’t advertise it either.So far we have raised $310 from friends and family but the goal is to get $2500 by Feb 19. $2500 seems a bit much but you know the saying “Go big or go home.” Well its at least worth a try and if we don’t reach the goal, the money is returned back to the donor.So i guess i have to shamelessly ask the audience, please help us out with our goal and thanks for reading. Ill try to write more thoughts to contribute to our blog although Truong has been doing a good job so far.PS: Happy Chinese New Years to my fellow Chinese and Asian folks who are celebrating this holiday.Jean-Marc Ly
Zen Master -
Link
2
Notes Cauz page: Build New Site to Connect Artists and Mentors -
Photo
4
Notes
Sorting our receipts for our company. Need to invest in a godamn receipt scanner.
-
Text
9
Notes Two Spartan students, one team!Kevin and Samantha had just recently joined our team! We all had met up at Hackerdojo and discussed with Kam (CVO) about our upcoming projects. Both are excellent candidates to help us build our product. If you have time, check out Samantha’s blogspot. Kevin on the other hand will help us code in Java. He has 6 years in Java development. Both are SJSU students and just recently finished their finals this week.
Welcome Kevin and Sam to our team! We are glad that you both will help us make decisions and advance into new ideas :)
Below are snapshots of what Samantha did for her portfolio. Visit it!!! Hella nice!!!
-
Text
5
Notes Vietnam and our escapadesSaigon. Hot. Sweaty.
We met up with our Vietnam team and they are going to help us translate the PSD files. Phuong was sick so she had to go to the ER and asked if she can finish it this week. I agreed since she is also pregnant. Congrats to Phuong and Phuoc on their newborn in 6 months or so.
Khoi and Sopheap from Synova had helped us get some postings in Vietnam for a senior Java developer. Turns out that we have one person that is interested in working so that is great. Took some cool pics of Synova office (they work hella hard) and went to Seventeen Saloon where we saw some hot banging ass chicks…on old white men (literally sitting on their laps) lol. I was told they were all prostitutes.
We will have our first meeting this week on Saturday to meet all the new interns. Samantha, who is the designer that will help us, will get to meet Kam and JM. Kevin will also be there. He is our Java intern and will be working with the senior guys I am going to set him up with.
Finance is a huge issue for any startup, but we do what we can and do what we need. I mean, I quit work already, traveled across the globe to the motherland, learned a lot of new things, but still we need some finance. Probably visit SVB to get a loan or a credit card. Let’s see how deep the rabbit hole can go.
We have two finished PSD pages done! Once the translation can be done I will be going to wire Phuong the cash, have Kevin code the preliminary for now. Khalid will work on the notifications and all that jazz.
I am in my hometown now. Mosquito up the f-ass. Hot. Last day here with my family then tomorrow morning I hit up SGN airport to fly back to the forefather’s land. SGN prices are hella pricey compare to here. Check it out.
- Coffee in KG - 4,000VND // Coffee in SGN - 26,000VND
- Pho in KG - 18,000VND // Pho in SGN - 45,000USD
- Vietnamese sandwich in KG - 15,000VND // Vietnamese sandwich in SGN - 38,000VND
- All taxi prices are the same. 10,000VND per KM
1USD = 20,000VND.
-
Text
Kaizen Methodology and updates within our team
Tumblr,
I am finally taking the step to resign from work to focus on our company full time. At this moment, we are getting ready to slice up the images for the Vietnamese to work on. They will translate it to XHTML for Harshad and our new intern to work on. This Saturday Kam and I will have to go to SJSU to interview our new intern which codes in Java.
I have picked up a new methodology called the Kaizen. Kaizen is actually used in Toyota to better their problem solving skills. You might take more or less of what I think and read on it. Thanks to network marketing in the past (I suggest you guys never start…), they had taught me how to utilize the Kaizen methodology.
Kaizen means ‘mini improvements’ or ‘improvements by babysteps’. I truly believe in this because at the pace of us at right now, any improvements is golden. One difference about Kaizen is that it teaches us how to get the product out fast with minimal changes. Until the product is almost out, we can go back and correct on things. Most methodologies will partake a different approach; by completing step one then review, then to step 2. Kaizen does it in a whole so time is not wasted then we will edit upon the completion of the project. Now, it does NOT have to be completed. This method had been for Toyota for 60 years in Japan and currently being used still for their cars.
JM and Monte will be leaving tomorrow night, flying out in the AM the next day. I will work closely next week before Thanksgiving with Khalid to have him finish the design. Taking that design and doing one last revision before taking off to SGN. Kamneel will work closely with Harshad and Kevin to make sure they get the functionalities of the page.
I hear that SGN changed a lot. Will be uploading pictures when I arrive. So far, I have changed the landing pages to LaunchRock and did a little changes here and there to make it simple.
We are almost finalizing our design and will keep you in touch with whats next!
Feel free to visit us at www.cloudandyou.com and sign up for our beta.
-
Text
17
Notes VP of EngineeringThis week we posted an ad on Craigslist. We hope to find the person who has a bright mind, who is willing to step ahead and take one for the team, who will manage their team of engineers, who can do what it takes to get the jobs done. Low and behold, we might of found him.
MS in Computer Science from SJSU. Worked with 3 other startups in the Bay Area and provided advising to their engineering team. A very smart guy! Needless to say, he knows how to code and build the architecture from the ground up. This is one of the superstar who is willing to take one for the team.
We are happy to speak with him and have him start our project tomorrow.
WOOT WOOT
-
Journeys
-
-
-
-
-
Best. Startup. Advice. Ever. --> Mike Moritz on How to Pitch a VC
Legendary investor Mike Moritz of Sequoia Capital delivers the Gettysburg...
-
After seven days on the road, I finally arrived in San Francisco on Tuesday evening. Jake and I stopped in Palo Alto for dinner and walked around...
