This is our start-up story…
A few months ago, Hamilton referred me to a design and usability book called Don’t Make Me Think. It’s a very clear and concise book that provides a very practical set of principles for web usability including navigation tips, what to include on your home page, and how to conduct usability tests. The main point [...]
Last Thursday at 8PM, we sent out invites to 150 people who signed up for our beta. Hello to all of our new users!
The site and the team have both come a long way in that time. Although I know there is still a lot to do, it’s pretty cool to look [...]
In: Team
8 Jul 2008Hello, it has been a busy few months for HelloMovies. Our office went from a meeting room in Stanford University’s Old Union to a room in Stan and Hamilton’s apartment, and now a space in downtown Palo Alto. But the fluctuating working spaces have not been a hindrance. In fact, the team has been hard [...]
our short break is over and now on to the Beta. We are expanding the team, bringing in designers, and starting to push full steam ahead again. 2008 should be a great year, and we may even be able to expand our meager office and get a new futon cover.
At the start of the quarter, the team made a goal to launch an alpha version of the site before winter break. Little did we know that our goal would be complicated by the creation of a new atom, a team of high schoolers addicted to World of Warcraft, and a hernia. The road [...]
I showed the site to my mom tonight. She thought everything was really cool, although she wasn’t very impressed by the fact that we haven’t indexed the movies so that you can search for foreign movies by their English titles yet. But she did like our browse feature’s functionality and all the cool [...]
In: Team
12 Nov 2007Tons of advice out there on how to best start a startup, just like you can get advice on how to do everything in your life (relationships, work, health, finances, and on and on). Well, much of it is intuitive, but not all, and it is always nice to have validation that you are doing [...]
When I was an analyst at Goldman Sachs, a lot of my VP’s and MD’s had catch phrases they would use to keep us motivated through difficult times.
“You are living the dream.”
“Great work, guy.”
“U da man.”
“Let’s rage.”
These messages didn’t have as much of an effect on me when I was sleeping on a drool-stained couch [...]
Recently, I shared a famous article with the HelloMovies team called “How to Start a Startup”. The author, Paul Graham, ran a successful enterprise software startup in the 90s which he subsequently sold for millions. In 2005 he wrote “How to Start a Startup” to chronicle his success and philosophy on entrepreneurship; since [...]
In: Team
6 Nov 2007Steven drove the meeting, sticking to a tight agenda of discussion items. As you can see, Steven was thinking really hard (indicated by the hand on his chin):
Chris showed up to the meeting late, but still had time to strike a pose for the camera:
Dave sat back in his chair and gently scolded us [...]
We are a movie startup, and this is our story.