Re: Introduction

I've been one poor correspondent And I've been too, too hard to find But it doesn't mean you ain't been on my mind - Sister Golden Hair, America (the band)

After a long dormant period, I am reactivating the blog. I figure this would be a good time to re-introduce myself, and to do so, because I generally find these types of posts boring and self congratulatory, I will borrow a concept from Scalzi, the “fake interview.” Let’s begin.

So, dude, what’s with the domain name?

That’s how you want to start this? Ok, fine. A long time ago, I had the nickname of ‘pig’, because I put a picture of a pig on my resume.

That was dumb.

I mean, yeah, sure, now that you mention it and also, looking on 25 years later. In my defense, I did get the job, and made a bunch of friends.

I’m not liking your tone. Can we get back to the intro now?

Whatever, pig boy. Ok, besides that bad decision, who are you?

For the purposes of this blog, I’m a software engineer (I’m also a dad to 9 year old twins and husband to Suzanne). I’ve started three companies. I started ONElist, an email groups service, in 1997, and it was acquired by Yahoo in 2000 (where it was renamed Yahoo Groups). I started Bloglines, an online RSS aggregator before Google Reader was a thing, in 2003, and it was acquired by Ask Jeeves in 2005. I started Groups.io, an email groups service, in 2014, and I still run it. Also, you’re really mean.

Wait, you did the email groups service thing like 25 years ago, and you’re doing it again?

I am.

Out of ideas, eh?

Nope. I still think it’s a good idea and is something that should exist. Fortunately, many people agree with me. Also, it just passed its 8th anniversary. I believe it is a net positive in the world, and that’s important to me.

So, gonna take lots of VC money, hire a ton of people, grow the service and then pawn it off on an acquirer where it’ll then languish and die? I mean, that does seem to be your look.

Again, nope. I did that with ONElist, ‘cause that was the style of the time. Bloglines never got to the point where I was ready to take funding before Ask came in with an acquisition offer. I am keeping Groups.io lean and focused, and I have no plans to take outside funding or to sell it.

You know, I didn’t think this interview would be so adversarial.

Hey, I’m trying my best to keep this from being boring, but you’re not giving me much to work with here.

Fair. How about we wrap this up?

So, what will you be talking about on this here flying pig blog?

I’ll be focusing on two things: the business aspects of running a non-VC funded Internet business from the viewpoint of a tech founder, and the technical aspects of running a site like Groups.io. Expect a post about every two to four weeks.

Don’t kill yourself with the posting frequency there, Mr Post Master. Why are you doing this?

The same reason anyone does a blog like this, marketing, of course. And while I’m here, please check out Groups.io for all your email groups needs. Email groups are a great way for groups of people large or small to stay in touch. We have a complete collaboration suite, including: group calendar, files, photos, and wiki.

Corporate shill. You probably didn’t even write this. I’m afraid to ask; what’s with the America song lyric at the top?

What can I say, I’m a fan of the smooth sounds of yacht rock. And yes, I wrote this.

Yacht Rock? Seriously?!? That’s it, I’m out.

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