q-base

Some technical writing, some philosophizing over work and life in general.

Also doing some good old photo-blogging every once in a while as I find Instagram and the like too shallow. And always loved the original photo-blogs with beautiful pictures and a bit of text to get the context across.

I have two health care start-ups under my belt and currently work as independent freelance Tech Lead. Hopefully my writing can in some cases spawn reflection and plant seeds for further examination.

Now I just have a hard time deciding between switching to a T480s or an X1 Carbon.

I looked a lot into the technology a year or two ago, but never really got around to applying the knowledge. It has since been my personal opinion that the demand seemed to vane and the number of actual useful implementations diminish as well?

I respectfully disagree. A good leader hires, nurtures and grows individuals that are better than himself. The goal of course always is to have the team be more than the sum of its parts. In doing so it should be the goal of taking it much further than the leader could ever have gone alone.

Since I have started another company but this time I won't quit until it has proper traction.

You do not want personal finance problems on top of startup problems. They are hard enough by themselves.

So my point was just to not bet full-on on two horses at one. If your priority really is your side-gig or starting your own business, then do not run too fast in the hamster wheel also. Put yourself in a position where it might not be the most fulfilling work, but it serves the purpose of giving you economic room for pursuing your own business.

You will probably have to decide what is most important to you. You cannot chase and strive for promotions, extra responsibility etc. on your day job while still wanting to do your own thing in your spare time. Perhaps you need to look for a job that has less pressure and perhaps less pay, but which does not drain you.

I have just had to go through the same realization myself that I cannot chase on both fronts. And my priority is my own projects, so I will have to course correct.

But perhaps the answer is VMware Fusion instead then.

The Wright Brothers by David McCullough. An extremely interesting store of how two brothers got us in the air. A great story on well thought out incremental innovation and especially risk mitigation of something that from the outside looks reckless and dangerous.

Tying it somewhat to your subject I would probably teach students that if something is free, then you are the product. Teach them about dark patterns to counter and be aware when someone is trying to manipulate them. Teach them about the "attention-/click- economy". Things they can use outside of the classroom or professional career. Things that help them in all facets of life.

I would also be a strong proponent of "practical philosophy" for lack of better name. Learn how to think, how to spot when others are trying to manipulate you, learn that nothing is free, etc. etc. etc.

I originally had Sennheiser Momentum Wireless 2. They had amazing sound, connected quickly and quite good battery life. They were however not that comfortable for long durations as the headband lacks padding.

I then bought B&O H9 which was almost as good sound quality wise but a lot more comfortable. They however ended up having problems with bluetooth and I had to switch them.

Both Sony MX3 and Bose QC35 have a way too synthetic sound to them for my taste. I then tried the third gen H9 but they did not sound as good as my old ones for some reason. I then tried the new Sennheiser Momentum 3 which sounded quite good, with really good deep bass, but it lacked some control at places and was just a very large headset.

Then finally B&W came out with the PX7 recently and once I tried those I just had to have them. Their sound is almost bar none - at least to my taste, and their noise cancelling is exceptional on par with MX3 to my ears and finally they have extremely long battery life.

So 4 weeks in or something like that, I am really loving my PX7's and would recommend giving them a listen.

People generally never understands: "This can be configured" or "This is a prototype, it will have all this functionality in x months". Investors trained in the act of spotting future possibility of very technical people MIGHT understand it. But never count on it. SHOW - don't tell, whenever possible.

Therefore always try to be as specific as possible and present a solution that is as close to the buyers pain-point as possible. Research the hell out of your potential customers and present your product in a way that solves their current problems. You can succeed in selling "future potential" but it is a lot harder, especially if the current proposition does not solve any pain-points out of the box.

If you get a chance to present your product then ask a lot of questions up front to tailor your presentation as much as possible to the audience present. Perhaps even prepare your presentation to be able to go more or less technical depending on audience. Or if the product can be used in several ways then prepare to go either way and ask at the presentation what the buyers usual way of working is and go that way.