The Iron Sea » Startup http://theironsea.com inside the never settle mind of Houston Ng Tue, 13 May 2008 04:15:01 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5 en Code Versioning for startup http://theironsea.com/2008/04/22/9/ http://theironsea.com/2008/04/22/9/#comments Tue, 22 Apr 2008 15:35:15 +0000 Houston http://theironsea.com/?p=9 Code management is probably the top priority of any software development startup. So this is going to be an ongoing post to keep track of what’s out there

  1. SVN. Used to use it back at my old aero company. It’s great but the code pretty much sits in the companies’ server. That was the old day.. Anyway, There are tons of these online hosting too! There are, Unfuddle and Assembla
  2. GIT. New “IT” thing for the Web2.0 community. And now it’s much cleaner and simpler with the new GitHub repository service. Now code can stay online and shared anywhere! Great! Pricing is not too bad for a startup too like $7-12/month. Umm… sound like I need to get an account there… wait I don’t have any code nor collaborators…. well versioning is still a good habit
]]> http://theironsea.com/2008/04/22/9/feed/ Money saving guide for startup http://theironsea.com/2008/04/21/5/ http://theironsea.com/2008/04/21/5/#comments Mon, 21 Apr 2008 14:16:20 +0000 Houston http://theironsea.com/?p=5 More useful tips on startup from industry veterans. original post

Here’s a quick recap of THE list with a little Hong Kong/Chinese flair:

  1. Buy Macs. Genius Bar & Applecare is your IT department
  2. 2nd monitor for everyone. Time-saver= money-saver. A $300 Dell monitor rotated vertical is a programmer’s best friend
  3. Buy everyone lunch four days a week and have a no-meeting policy. Lunch meetings save time. (Comment: )
  4. Get cheap tables but expensive $500 chairs . Workstations are over-rated but comfy chairs make workers happy.
  5. No phone system except admin staff. IM is the thing
  6. Rent out all the extra office space. (Comment: Probably irrelevant in HK because of tiny offices )
  7. Outsource HR and account dept.
  8. Microsoft Office is expensive so install only on a few and use Google Doc for the rest
  9. GMail is your email server. It’s free 
  10.  Give a home computer to workaholics so that they can work from home. (Comment: What about MacBook pro for them?)
  11. “Fire people who are not workaholics don’t love their work” (Comment: Can’t phrase it better that. But he is right. People are expensive so you need the most passionate people)
  12. Get expensive espresso machine. Starbucks at the office saves valuable resource time
  13. Stock sodas for everybody. Again, make them happy and you save time
  14. Flexible work hours. Commute is energy wasting and time consuming.
  15. Go to your vendor every 6-9 months and ask for discount. 
  16. HR with linkedin and Facebook
  17. Get PR consultant based on projects instead of contract-based
  18. Outsource to middle America (Comment: for HK, Outsource to China, we have 11 billion talented people that cost half as much up North. Use them!)
More HK specific Ideas
  1. Cheap locations are everywhere. Tons of old aging industrial areas are cheap and huge
  2. Use Mainland staff. Just to make sure they are actually helpful. Talents in China can be sketchy sometimes and work culture is very different.
]]> http://theironsea.com/2008/04/21/5/feed/ 36 Startup Tips http://theironsea.com/2008/04/21/3/ http://theironsea.com/2008/04/21/3/#comments Mon, 21 Apr 2008 08:34:18 +0000 Houston http://theironsea.com/?p=3 Such a great resource with tips for tech startup. Man, I need this badly!

Almost want to print it out and nail it on the wall

Link Here

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