Working for yourself is a dream that many web designers and developers have. You can pick and choose your clients, work in your pajamas, and sleep in until 10am every day if you want to. But there’s a more serious side to starting a business, and lots of factors to consider if you decide to head out on your own. Kay will share the story of Clever Starfish’s journey from a seed of an idea to a thriving small business, with lots of handy hints for both things to do, and things not to do, along the way.
About Kay Smoljak
Kay has been working with the web since the dark days of the last millennium. She left full time employment to start Clever Starfish with her partner and two overly bossy cats in 2006, and does not miss commuting in the slightest. Because she’s a sucker for volunteering, Kay sits on the committee of the Australian Web Industry Association (AWIA) and is one of the organisers of the WA Web Awards. She has three separate blogs (at last count) and also writes on ColdFusion for SitePoint and Fusion Authority.
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Web Directions South 2008, Sydney Convention Centre, September 25 10.45am.
Working for yourself is a dream that many web designers and developers have. You can pick and choose your clients, work in your pajamas, and sleep in until 10am every day if you want to. But there’s a more serious side to starting a business, and lots of factors to consider if you decide to head out on your own. Kay will share the story of Clever Starfish’s journey from a seed of an idea to a thriving small business, with lots of handy hints for both things to do, and things not to do, along the way.
You’re a great web designer. You craft beautiful interfaces, you’ve nailed standards based design, and you’re at the top of your game. So now what? Based on real world experiences, this presentation encourages you, the modern web designer, to ignore the title on your business card and to start thinking about your real role in the development process - what you have to offer, what your team really needs, and what you could do to dramatically increase your value on a daily basis.
Justin French is a graphic-designer-turned-web-application-developer currently enjoying life working with the Ruby on Rails framework on a daily basis as a Senior Developer at Melbourne startup RedBubble, following a few years with US host TextDrive and many years contracting both locally and internationally.
A presentation given at Web Directions South, Sydney Australia, September 27 2007.
You're a great web designer. You craft beautiful interfaces, you’ve nailed standards based design, and you’re at the top of your game. So now what? Based on real world experiences, this presentation encourages you, the modern web designer, to ignore the title on your business card and to start thinking about your real role in the development process - what you have to offer, what your team really needs, and what you could do to dramatically increase your value on a daily basis.
Campaign Monitor is a great home grown web app success story. Dave and Ben will share their experiences of taking an idea they believed in, working like mad to implement it, and getting it to market. Along the way you'll hear about how the idea was born, deciding what to build, pricing, building the product, getting the word out, handling support from Sydney, and all those things you'll never know till you try.
Dave Greiner and Ben Richardson
Dave Greiner and Ben Richardson started Campaign Monitor in 2004 out of sheer frustration. When they couldn't find the right email newsletter software for their clients, they decided to hold off on their consulting work and build their own. Today, more than 16,000 designers in 65 countries use their web application for their email marketing. Ben and Dave still manage the day to day running of Campaign Monitor including new feature development, marketing and support. Since Campaign Monitor they have gone on to release Mailbuild, an email newsletter tool built just for web designers. Designers can develop a template and then have their clients log in to their own accounts to manage their subscribers, create and send their own emails and view reports on the results." ["post_title"]=> string(63) "Dave Greiner and Ben Richardson - The story of Campaign Monitor" ["post_category"]=> string(1) "0" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(694) "A presentation given at Web Directions South, Sydney Australia, September 28 2006.Campaign Monitor is a great home grown web app success story. Dave and Ben will share their experiences of taking an idea they believed in, working like mad to implement it, and getting it to market. Along the way you'll hear about how the idea was born, deciding what to build, pricing, building the product, getting the word out, handling support from Sydney, and all those things you'll never know till you try." ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(4) "open" ["ping_status"]=> string(4) "open" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(27) "dave-greiner-ben-richardson" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2008-07-24 21:40:23" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2008-07-25 02:40:23" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(102) "http://westciv.com/webdirections08/blog/dave-greiner-and-ben-richardson-the-story-of-campaign-monitor/" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "2" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } } ["post"]=> object(stdClass)#435 (25) { ["ID"]=> int(895) ["post_author"]=> string(1) "8" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2008-06-19 10:51:15" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2008-06-19 00:51:15" ["post_content"]=> string(2534) "
Web Directions South 2008, Sydney Convention Centre, September 25 10.45am.
Working for yourself is a dream that many web designers and developers have. You can pick and choose your clients, work in your pajamas, and sleep in until 10am every day if you want to. But there’s a more serious side to starting a business, and lots of factors to consider if you decide to head out on your own. Kay will share the story of Clever Starfish’s journey from a seed of an idea to a thriving small business, with lots of handy hints for both things to do, and things not to do, along the way.
About Kay Smoljak
Kay has been working with the web since the dark days of the last millennium. She left full time employment to start Clever Starfish with her partner and two overly bossy cats in 2006, and does not miss commuting in the slightest. Because she’s a sucker for volunteering, Kay sits on the committee of the Australian Web Industry Association (AWIA) and is one of the organisers of the WA Web Awards. She has three separate blogs (at last count) and also writes on ColdFusion for SitePoint and Fusion Authority.
" ["post_title"]=> string(72) "Kay Smoljak - Starting and running a successful web development business" ["post_category"]=> string(1) "0" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(738) "
Web Directions South 2008, Sydney Convention Centre, September 25 10.45am.
Working for yourself is a dream that many web designers and developers have. You can pick and choose your clients, work in your pajamas, and sleep in until 10am every day if you want to. But there’s a more serious side to starting a business, and lots of factors to consider if you decide to head out on your own. Kay will share the story of Clever Starfish’s journey from a seed of an idea to a thriving small business, with lots of handy hints for both things to do, and things not to do, along the way.
Web Directions South 2008, Sydney Convention Centre, September 25 10.45am.
Working for yourself is a dream that many web designers and developers have. You can pick and choose your clients, work in your pajamas, and sleep in until 10am every day if you want to. But there’s a more serious side to starting a business, and lots of factors to consider if you decide to head out on your own. Kay will share the story of Clever Starfish’s journey from a seed of an idea to a thriving small business, with lots of handy hints for both things to do, and things not to do, along the way.
A presentation given at Web Directions South, Sydney Australia, September 27 2007.
You’re a great web designer. You craft beautiful interfaces, you’ve nailed standards based design, and you’re at the top of your game. So now what? Based on real world experiences, this presentation encourages you, the modern web designer, to ignore the title on your business card and to start thinking about your real role in the development process — what you have to offer, what your team really needs, and what you could do to dramatically increase your value on a daily basis.
A presentation given at Web Directions South, Sydney Australia, September 28 2006.
Campaign Monitor is a great home grown web app success story. Dave and Ben will share their experiences of taking an idea they believed in, working like mad to implement it, and getting it to market. Along the way you’ll hear about how the idea was born, deciding what to build, pricing, building the product, getting the word out, handling support from Sydney, and all those things you’ll never know till you try. See the slides and hear the podcast »
Working for yourself is a dream that many web designers and developers have. You can pick and choose your clients, work in your pajamas, and sleep in until 10am every day if you want to. But there’s a more serious side to starting a business, and lots of factors to consider if you decide to head out on your own. Kay will share the story of Clever Starfish’s journey from a seed of an idea to a thriving small business, with lots of handy hints for both things to do, and things not to do, along the way.
You’re a great web designer. You craft beautiful interfaces, you’ve nailed standards based design, and you’re at the top of your game. So now what? Based on real world experiences, this presentation encourages you, the modern web designer, to ignore the title on your business card and to start thinking about your real role in the development process — what you have to offer, what your team really needs, and what you could do to dramatically increase your value on a daily basis.
