Laconic Labs

Laconic Labs just passed 90 days as a functioning development organization attached to Laconic Security.

During the past 90 days we have gotten our feet wet in the mobile space by releasing our first iPhone App, Decide4Me!.  We have also started on our main thrust of research, a discussion of which I will save for a later, more appropriate time.  After the first three months of what has been a very different job from those which I have held in the past, I'd like to share a few thoughts on what it's like to found a development organization, from scratch.

1. The first thing that strikes me after a decade tenure at I.B.M. is that, well, this isn't Big Blue.  There is a lot of Large Co bashing that takes place in the startup community, much of it deserved, but I can honestly say that even including the typical ups and downs that go with staying in any one place for 10 years, I.B.M. was very good to me.  There are certain things which I very much took for granted there, that I sometimes sorely miss (Read: Revenue! :) .  I moved around a lot in Big Blue, finally landing as a senior systems architect at IBM CHQ.  From there I was about to observe the machine in motion from a perspective where I could see across the enterprise both geographically and divisionally.  It was impressive.
2. That being said, small is liberating.  This sounds cliche', and it's been said a million times, but shaking off the constraints and burdens that come with such a machine is tremendously freeing.  We move fast.  It's awesome.  If we want to look at something, or try it, we do it. That's it.
3. It's raw.  I mean, really raw.  To quote our CEO , "You feel every bump in the road".  This couldn't be more true.  I often find myself sitting at my desk, staring at my computer thinking.  "Well, now what?".  During this time it's important to think things through, quickly, and try the next thing. Which brings me to:
4. If there is a decision to make, you make it, and you own it.  Don't fall into the analysis paralysis trap.  This will kill you.

We've been lucky in that we have a group of smart, driven, decisive people who are willing to do what it takes to create something from nothing. In the spirit of the theme of the Blog, which is to keep things concise, I will stop here for now.  I'm looking forward to writing about progress as we continue to move forward.