Adam McNamara

"Be yourself and work as hard as you can to bring wonderful things into the world. Figure out how you..."

Sun, 09 Oct 2011 22:03:34 -0400

“Be yourself and work as hard as you can to bring wonderful things into the world. Figure out how you want to contribute and do that, in your own way, on your own terms, as hard as you can, as much as you can, as long as you can.”

- John Lilly on Steve Jobs

As everyone thanks Steve for the impact his vision and...

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 10:01:23 -0400

As everyone thanks Steve for the impact his vision and technology has had on their lives, it’s hard not to be upset.

Without Steve, we wouldn’t own a company right now. We wouldn’t have the creative, personal, and financial freedom that I often take for granted. I wouldn’t work with 20 young men and women that I respect more than anyone else in the world. Friends who are proud to work with friends. There is probably no one in Ottawa who’s lives have been changed more substantially than the incredible people at Select Start, who’s careers have been tied almost directly to Steve and the success of Apple.

Steve taught an entire generation to never settle for anything less than perfection. The only limits you experience are the ones you impose on yourself. Your ability to overcome them is the measure of your character.

It’s time to think much bigger. I’ve been settling for good. Exceptional is within reach, with far more vision and a little more persistence.

Our Sophomore Year As Entrepreneurs

Sat, 01 Oct 2011 23:56:00 -0400

September 30th was Select Start’s second full year as a business. Speaking for myself, Josh, and Tariq, it has been the most stressful but rewarding thing we’ve ever experienced.

In October of 2010, we had just convinced (duped?) our fifth employee to join the family. Revenues were modest and runway was always an issue. We occasionally got very creative with distributing founder salaries to make sure our team was looked after first. We were finding our DNA as a company and our capabilities as individuals.

This year has been incredible. It’s one that we’ll never forget, both personally and professionally.

We’ve grown from five to 19 of the hungriest, smartest, and most talented people in the business.
Our revenue is up 575%.
Our profit is up a staggering 1025%.
We’ve had the opportunity work with (unannounced) A-list companies.

To everyone who we’ve had stressed-out, candid, off-the-record conversations with: thank you for telling us to keep our heads down.

To our clients: thank you for trusting our engineers and designers like they were your own.

And to our engineers and designers: you are exceptional at what you do, and together you are unstoppable.

Simplicity Is The Ultimate Sophistication

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 11:51:00 -0400

You buy furniture. You tell yourself, this is the last sofa I will ever need in my life. Buy the sofa, then for a couple years you’re satisfied that no matter what goes wrong, at least you’ve got your sofa issue handled. Then the right set of dishes. Then the perfect bed. The drapes. The rug. Then you’re trapped in your lovely nest, and the things you used to own, now they own you.

~ Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club

Things have their own network effect. Do you want a car? Well you’ll also need to get winter tires, cleaning supplies, and insurance.

Now, think of the time, effort, and money required for each one.

I’m not saying I’m going to get rid of my car. I love the thrill of going 200kph into a corner on the track. I don’t think anything could replace it. But I’ve started thinking about the network effect of having more. Specifically, I’ve been looking at how I can replace complex things with those that are simple.

Kitchen Knives

I had to buy new kitchen knives. That’s right, kitchen knives. So what do I buy? Most people buy a knife block full of knives they’ll never use. It turns out that you only need three knives:

I bought them. Was it the right move? I have no idea. They’re only knives right? It’s true, but that argument can be used for everything.

A Series Of Questions

According to most “fashion people”, you should buy a few core, high quality, versatile pieces of clothing. I think they’re onto something and I’ve been extending it to the rest of my life.

I’ve started asking:

Do I want it or need it?
What can I get rid of to make room for it?
Will it hold it’s value, or is it disposable?
Is there a simple alternative?

Only invest in the things worth investing in. Remember, simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. Don’t let all the things you own own you.

Rogers Bank: Terms and Conditions

Sun, 04 Sep 2011 13:30:00 -0400

Rogers is trying to start a bank. Based on their current practices, here’s what I expect:

No Monthly Rollover

The money that was in your account last month is gone. Deal with it.

Subscriptions

You want a bank account? Please choose between the 24 month and 36 month options. With our 36 month option, your debit card is FREE.

Cancellation Fees

You’ve decided that Rogers Bank isn’t for you? An early termination fee of 30% of your balance applies.

Choosing Your Plan

You’d like to have the same plan as your friend? We’re sorry, but that plan isn’t available anymore. If it were, you still wouldn’t qualify because of some arbitrary condition. But our other, less attractive plans are available.

Travel Packs

Travelling abroad? We’re excited to offer our new Travel Packs, giving you 80% off our posted rates. Debit transactions are now just $27.50/transaction when travelling abroad! The savings just keep piling up!

Caps and Overages

Your Rogers Bank account comes with a $1,000 monthly purchase limit. Should you exceed your limit, an overage fee of $2.00 for every $1.00 spent above $1,000 will apply. Please refer to the formula below to calculate your fees.

Ducati Superbike EVO 848 Stealth. Time to increase my life...

Sat, 20 Aug 2011 11:01:56 -0400

Ducati Superbike EVO 848 Stealth. Time to increase my life insurance coverage.

Marvin’s Room I think I’m addicted to naked...

Mon, 25 Jul 2011 23:51:00 -0400

Marvin’s Room

I think I’m addicted to naked pictures and sitting’ talking’ ‘bout bitches that we almost had.

I don’t think I’m conscious of makin’ monsters out of the women I sponsor ‘till it all goes bad.

But shit it’s all good.

We threw a party, yeah we threw a party.

Bitches came over. Yeah we threw a party.

I was just calling cause they were just leaving.

Talk to me please, don’t have much to believe in.

I need you right now. Are you down to listen to me?

Too many drinks have been given to me.

I got some women that’s livin’ off me.

Pay for their flights and hotels, I’m ashamed.

Bet that you know them, I won’t say no names.

After a while, girl, they all seem the same.

I’ve had sex four times this week, I’ll explain.

Havin’ a hard time adjusting to fame.

Sprite and that mixed up.

I’ve been talkin’ crazy girl, I’m lucky that you picked up.

Lucky that you stayed on.

I need someone to put this weight on.

Buying A Condo - Calculating Affordability: Rent vs Buy

Mon, 27 Jun 2011 22:11:00 -0400

Read the first post in my series Buying A Condo - Fun Facts About Ottawa Real Estate.

Calculating what you can afford is a tough exercise. On one hand, you want the best deal, and on the other, your eyes are bigger than your stomach.

One of the best visualization tools I’ve ever run across is the New York Times’ Rent vs Buy Calculator. I strongly encourage your to try your own scenarios after reading below.

My Target Condo

First, I had to decide what I wanted:

1 Bedroom + Den at 700+ sqft
Located in Central Ottawa
Great amenities including a gym, pool, and BBQs

This meant that I’d be spending around $350,000 + closing costs. Yikes. Prices have skyrocketed to nearly $500/sqft for a small place in downtown Ottawa.

My Assumptions

$350,000 purchase price
$20,000 for closing costs, upgrades and miscellaneous fees
40% down payment (approximately $150,000)
$0.48/sqft in condo fees
5.75% interest rate (about 2% higher than today’s best rates)
10 year amortization period
2% annual appreciation

Rent vs Buy: My Current Crapshack

My current place is a 2 bedroom, 1000sqft apartment for around $975/month. Living in the ghetto has its advantages. It’s also nicer on the inside than on the outside (twss).

The NYT calculator tells me that there’s no way I should stop renting given my current situation. In fact, I’d be substantially better off continuing to rent.

Rent vs Buy: Rent Someone Else’s Condo

But, I want to increase my standard of living. To get this, I’d have to rent a condo from someone else at around $1600/month.

Again, it’s actually better for me to rent unless I stay in the same place for the next 22 years. Chances are this won’t happen.

Rent vs Buy: Everything’s Comin’ Up Millhouse

Let’s assume for a moment that I hit the real estate jackpot. This means:

Interest rates stay at 4% for the foreseeable future
Real estate in Ottawa continues to increase at 7% per year

To clarify, I don’t believe this will happen. But it outlines the choice one is faced with today.

As you can see, after the second year I’m making money hand over fist. You’d be stupid not to buy. But wait…

Rent vs Buy: Things Take a Turn For the Worse

What happens if real estate takes a turn for the worse? People already stretching their affordability are mercilessly squeezed by ballooning mortgage payments, or forced to renegotiate into substantially longer terms.

Even a 1% annual market retraction leaves this once sound “investment” at a significant disadvantage over alternatives investment vehicles. Setting aside the rule of thumb that real estate always appreciates, this presents a sobering scenario.

So What Now?

Proceed, with caution. The goal is to increase my standard of living while maximizing wealth. Real Estate may be the first answer, but not necessarily the correct one.

Buying A Condo - Fun Facts About Ottawa Real Estate

Mon, 27 Jun 2011 20:59:00 -0400

I’m looking to buy a condo in Ottawa. I haven’t purchased one yet, so this is an “as it happens” series of posts.

As a practicing geek, computer scientist, business person, and anal retentive, I have a process:

Learn as much as I can real estate, real estate history,
Talk to people who have been through the process before
Model the decision making process in Excel
Rank candidates as objectively as possible

This post is about the fun facts I’ve learned:

Real Estate Language Is A Trap

Ask a broker, agent, condo company or anyone else in the industry if you should buy and their answer is always “yes”. Most of my initial conversations have went something like this:

Me: ”I’m thinking it’s time to finally buy a place, but I’m just looking at the moment.”

Rep: ”That’s a brilliant idea. You must be an astronaut you’re so smart. It’s a great way to build equity and wealth. Have you selected a property yet?”

Me: ”No, I’m just developing an understanding of the market.”

Rep: ”Well you should definitely buy a property. This is a beautiful investment property and our amenities are superb. We’re also offering a cash-back incentive so you can start building your equity right away.”

On the surface, the words “equity”, “property”, “amenities”, and “investment” give most people the feeling that they’ve already started down the path to financial world domination. In most situations, that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Interest Rates: What Goes…Down Must Come…Up?

Interest rates are historically low. They’re also artificially low. The global economy went down the crapper in 2007 when US banks played hot potato with subprime mortgages (mortgages that for all intents and purposes should have never been awarded to people who simply couldn’t afford them). Today the cost of borrowing is next to nothing.

Source: tradingeconomics.com

Interest rates will rise again. When they do, people who took on too much “leverage” will find their “investment” is really a “liability”. My advice would be to take today’s interest rate, increase it by a few points, and use that in your affordability calculations.

A Real Estate Price Correction

Canada’s monetary policy aims to keep inflation at a target rate of 2%. But, the average MLS sale price has increased an average of 7.4% each year for the last 10 years.

There are various attempts at explaining this, including:

Salaries increasing faster than inflation
Real Estate “investing” as a fad
Baby boomers moving to higher value homes in the city centre

Whatever the reason, simple economic theory dictates that real estate cannot continue to outpace cost-of-living salary increases in perpetuity. Assuming that your property will continue to appreciate forever is a fallacy. It has to be, or no one on earth will be able to afford it in the future.

Ottawa Is An Anomaly

Ottawa presents an interesting dynamic in the real estate market:

Our unemployment is lower than the national average by a full percent
Our salaries are higher than average
We have a high concentration of aging baby boomers moving into the city’s core, driving prices up

Look out for future posts “Calculating Affordability: Rent vs Buy” and “The Best Condo According To Math”.

Eames, Flipboard, “Where Good Ideas Come From”,...

Sun, 26 Jun 2011 00:11:11 -0400

Eames, Flipboard, “Where Good Ideas Come From”, Reasonable Doubt on vinyl. These are my friends tonight. (Taken with instagram)

"Real" Netflix in Canada

Wed, 08 Jun 2011 17:45:00 -0400

It’s not hard. Call your credit card company and have them add a US address to your account. For example:

Hi. I travel quite a bit to the US. My phone carrier requires me to have a US credit card to set up an account. Can you add a second address to my VISA? The primary/mailing address will remain my Canadian address. Thank you!

Then, just sign up on the Netflix US site*.

11 seasons of Law & Order SVU, you are mine.

*requires US VPN. There are lots.

Steve talking about a digital revolution 10 years ago (Taken...

Mon, 06 Jun 2011 14:21:30 -0400

Steve talking about a digital revolution 10 years ago (Taken with instagram)

Ninth row at WWDC! (Taken with instagram)

Mon, 06 Jun 2011 13:07:52 -0400

Ninth row at WWDC! (Taken with instagram)

#WWDC Keynote bumrush (Taken with instagram)

Mon, 06 Jun 2011 12:17:15 -0400

#WWDC Keynote bumrush (Taken with instagram)

How to Get Hired By a Hot Startup - Value

Mon, 25 Apr 2011 01:11:00 -0400

Applying to a startup is completely different than applying to a large company. You’ve probably keyword-stuffed your resume to get through the HR screening. At a startup, everything is about value.

1. Understand Your Value Proposition

At it’s most basic, a value proposition is the benefit (or value) someone gets from something they pay for. Like a company trying to sell you a new product, you need to understand your value proposition to a startup.

If I was applying to work at Select Start, my value proposition would be:

Designed, architected and developed 20+ iOS, Android and BlackBerry applications.
Practiced Lean Startup principles to take multiple products from idea to market and deliver a revenue run rate of over $2M annually.
Experience developing customers, testing ideas and validating markets prior to building a team and committing resources to a product.

What value can you bring to my startup today?

2. Tell a Story with Numbers

Great startups run lean and question everything. Every dollar out needs to equal more than one dollar in for the company to grow.

Using concrete numbers, tell a startup how you can add value. Explain how past experience may help a future startup:

Bootstrapped from $0 to $1M in revenue our first 18 months. Lead Select Start to our third year of 300% growth.

How does your value impact my top and bottom lines, products or customers?

3. Be A Generalist

There’s nothing more valuable to a startup than someone who understands the challenges every startup faces. Do you:

Bring a broad array of skills outside of the role you were hired for?
Know how your decisions impact a company’s burn rate?
Understand how you can help create a sustainable competitive advantage?

Where else can you add value to a startup besides the role you were hired for?

4. Value Outside of a Startup

I Google everyone who applies to find out if they add value to the startup, engineering and design communities.

Make it easy for a startup to find your value. List your:

Personal website.
Social profiles like Twitter and Facebook.
Creative profiles like Github, Stack Overflow and Hacker News.

Where could a startup investigate the value you create?

5. Be Valuable To Others (Get Referred)

A rule of raising investment is to get a referral from someone who the angel or VC respects. The same is true of applying to a startup. Find a way to connect with the founders via a mutual friend. Your odds of being hired are infinitely better than submitting a resume to the pile.

Who will vouch for the value you create?

Enterprise Software: To Price Or Not To Price

Fri, 15 Apr 2011 12:06:00 -0400

On the web, “Contact Us For A Quote” offends my sensibilities. An all-to-common occurrence is to land on a website and say “Oh. This looks great! How much?”. You end up spending the next 30 minutes searching for a price but finding countless “Talk to a Sales Representative” links.

SaaS to the rescue. Most SaaS companies freely publish pricing on their website, sometimes in multiple tiers. Hopefully there’s a price that works for everyone.

So what about enterprise software? Adaptiv, our mobile healthcare software company, walks a fine line. It’s enterprise software from a team with Web 2.0 DNA. Should we publish our pricing, or is “talk to a sales representative” a better idea?

Let’s look at the benefits of each approach:

SaaS Sales

Reduces sales friction
Immediate conversion to beta or paying customers (shorten the sales cycle)
Reduction in expensive sales staff

Enterprise Sales

More price flexibility on a per-client basis
Less risk of leaving money on the table
Additional profit from SLAs, overages, etc
Hide pricing information from competitors

What do you think? Should we publish pricing on our website and reduce sales friction, or have our sales staff work out the best deal for each customer?

Prototyping the future of mobile healthcare (Taken with...

Mon, 28 Mar 2011 23:44:13 -0400

Prototyping the future of mobile healthcare (Taken with Instagram at Select Start Studios)

@aSadhankar snapped a 270 degree panorama of the Select Start...

Mon, 14 Mar 2011 19:42:54 -0400

@aSadhankar snapped a 270 degree panorama of the Select Start office. Breakthroughs happen when it’s 1:30am and no one else is around.

Your Brain On Recruiting

Fri, 11 Mar 2011 01:54:25 -0500

A friend received a letter from a company recruiting for Amazon. It’s a thing of beauty, really. Let’s look at “your brain on recruiting”.

My name is [REDACTED]; I am a Partner with [REDACTED], a new firm that partners with early stage startups and leading companies that are at the forefront of disruptive technologies. We’ve helped build amazing technical teams at Apple, Microsoft, Netscape, Amazon, Google, and Ning, and love the energy and passion of high growth companies that are working on software that changes the world. With [REDACTED], that’s all we work on.

Between 2003 - 2006, our team helped build out Amazon’s first revolutionary technology movement, which we now know to be Amazon Web Services, Personalization & Recommendation Systems, and the Kindle. We are partnering with Amazon once again to build the next generation of industry disruptors which will make a massive shift in digital media. Video is the next big movement, and Amazon is revolutionizing not only the ability to watch any video across any device, but also how movies are being made in the industry. At the heart of this movement is Amazon’s Video On Demand engineering team which is comprised of 6-8 small, agile teams working on issues around scalability, performance, security, UI development, quality, mobile, data analytics, all at Amazon scale. This is Amazon’s next bold bet, and we think this could be a fantastic opportunity for you, and that comes along only once in a lifetime.

This Amazon engineering team will be in the Montreal and Ottawa areas in late March to meet with Software Engineers who are interested in joining the team. What is a good time to connect this week to discuss this opportunity?

Thanks for your time, and look forward to speaking.

1. Establish Social Proof

We’ve helped build amazing technical teams at Apple, Microsoft, Netscape, Amazon, Google, and Ning, and love the energy and passion of high growth companies that are working on software that changes the world.

They’ve worked with great companies. Chances are you love one of them, so you should love Amazon too.

2. Establish Credibility Using “Sexy” Success

…our team helped build out Amazon’s first revolutionary technology movement, which we now know to be Amazon Web Services, Personalization & Recommendation Systems, and the Kindle.

This makes candidates associate with something from Amazon they know, respect or even love.

3. Make It Personal

…we think this could be a fantastic opportunity for you…

Hundreds of people will get the same letter. Each one of them will think Amazon is speaking directly to them.

4. Make It (Artificially) Scarce

…and that comes along only once in a lifetime.

Forget that they said that Amazon has been creating revolutionary products for the last six years. They want you to consider this a scarce opportunity.

5. Make It Inevitable

What is a good time to connect this week to discuss this opportunity?

The letter makes it seem like the process is already in motion. It’s easy to go with the flow.

Does this make you want to work for Amazon?

Starting Up in San Francisco

Thu, 03 Mar 2011 20:12:55 -0500

I’ve been spending the week in San Francisco with @aSadhankar and @Gahzi, immersing myself in everything the Bay Area startup scene has to offer. A critical part of running a startup is finding out how others do it.

So why is this place such a startup launch pad? Three things became incredibly clear at the street level:

Startup “Spots”

Founders know where to find other founders. When we got here, we knew to immediately hit Coupa Cafe in Palo Alto, Red Rock Coffee in Mountain View, and the Epicenter Cafe in SOMA. Sure enough, we were immediately surrounded by young founders pitching engineers to work with them and angels talking term sheets. We thought we’d have to walk into a VC’s office to find it. No way. It’s out in the open for everyone to see, and people gravitate towards it.

Employees are the Brand

Employees are branded, and they wear their brand proudly. Everyone has a t-shirt, zip-up or hoodie with their startup’s name on it. They wear them to coffee shops, restaurants and even to class. I found myself Googling startups I had never heard of, only to see a landing page hoping to grab my info. This is viral marketing at it’s core, and I was incepted.

(edit: As I write this, one of the Yobongo guys walks into Epicenter.)

Risk = Reward

In Ottawa, I’ve spent the last month convincing friends to leave their “career” jobs and try something a little more rewarding. It’s been a struggle. Even with competitive pay, amazing growth, a killer office and rewarding work, young engineers are reluctant to join a startup right out of university.

The opposite is Filip Mares, arguably one of the best students to come out of Carleton. We ran into Filip by chance while sitting at the Coupa Cafe (see point #1). It turns out he was picked up by Alphonso Labs, the creators of Pulse. Filip took a risk, moved to SF and is now has an equity stake in a great company. He’s clearly winning. This place attracts a different breed of people; arguably the right ones.