Nic Baughman

Starting a new chapter in my life, thought why not try and blog about it.

[nicbaughman]

Entrepreneurship Journey: Day 5

Well it is Election Day here in the United States and I am continuing to work on the product and trying to block out all the distractions.  So where am I at? Within the past 24hrs I have made a pivot on what I want to accomplish.  I am now slimming the product down to a few simple features to focus on to get something out the door.  So all if the items I was working on in terms of Org hierarchy is going out the window.  I am just going to focus on an individual component/group/team use of the product.

Next up I have to go through exisiting code and refactor anything that we need.  This is actually REALLY AMAZING.  Some of these features I created 3 or 4 months ago when I was just learning, need a lot of clean up.  This new pivot has allowed me improve what was already done.  ALSO - this is allowing me to take some more time and focus on polishing things up.

What needs to be done:

Update existing code

Update any APIs required

Update Error messages

Design & Implement any new changes.

Big things ahead!

[nicbaughman]

Entrepreneurship Journey: Day 4

I am struggling to figure out the problem I described in a earlier post.  Sequelize has been great, however, when I need to create a raw MySQL script and it just isn’t working.  What I mean by working is I do not fully understand how I can get two tables to connect more than one row.

Typically when you JOIN tables you only use one attribute like an id however I am curious if I can JOIN tables by more than one attribute….So with this delima I have actually started to think “Well, why isn’t an id sufficient?” Why do I need more than one attributes in a standard JOIN.  So far I have no good answers but I think I just need to play around with only having the id JOIN across tables. Lets see how this goes

Lesson of the Day: It is okay to slow down and re-think things rather than jumping into something quickly.  Think twice, build once is quickly becoming a favorite quote of mine.

[nicbaughman]

Entrepreneurship Journey: Day 3

Well…I’m not off to the best start!  If you missed my first post go check it out Here

In the system I have developed the front and back end of my code base are separated. Lately I have been working on database structures and the APIs on the backend that can efficiently fulfill CRUD requests from the front end.  On the back end I am primarily using Expess.js, Sequelize,js, and a MySQL database.

Problem I am trying to solve: In my application, I have a series of nested folders underneath an organization. How can I easily and efficiently have a nested hierarchy using MySQL?

Solution: I have been learning as much as I can about the Nested Set Model.  This is a really interesting concept that provide the flexibility I am looking for while also reducing clutter in the DB.  I intially found this solution by reading Managing Hierarcical Data in MySQL.  This has been the driving article I have used to start architecting things on the backend!

TODO: I still have a massive amount of work left.  I took what I learned from that article and mapped it out step-by-step what my database would look like as I add various nested folders.  Now, I need to look at Sequelize documentation to make sure I associate tables correctly, create the new hierarchy model, and develop the API to actually complete the action.

[nicbaughman]

Entrepreneurship Journey: Day 1

To be honest….this actually isn’t Day 1.  No, my Entrepreneurship Journey started a few months ago but I decided it is time for me to document my thoughts, feelings, ideas, etc every day.

History: I have primarily been workin in San Francisco in the tech industry.  The roles I have held have all been around Customer Success or as a founding team member doing sales, customer success, marketing, SDR work, etc.

Currently: I am currently working at a startup (Union Metrics) in a Customer Success Management capacity.  I am learning a lot and am challenged everyday.  So far, loving every minute of it.

Aspirations: I want to run my own company someday.  I have a large passion for customer discovery and product development.  I am trying to find a way that I can harness these passions and make a business.

Side Hustle:  Since joining Union Metrics I have decided to learn how to code on nights and weekends.  At one of my previous startups I got a taste of engineering doing QA and want to pursue code more.

These updates will primarily focus on my Side Hustle.  The code that I am creating all revolves around achieving my aspirational goals.  I hope my daily story will help others out there shoot for their own goals and dreams.

[nicbaughman]

Learning to code

For the longest time I have been messing around with the idea of coding.  I have always thought that it is facinating that you can use computers and the internet to build amazing applications and tools to make life easier.  However working in a startup has hindered me from frankly digging deeper.  For awhile I was looking at how I could develop applications of all types using different frameworks blah blah blah.  Frankly I had no clue what I was doing.

This past weekend I have spent some time thinking about obtainable tasks that I can take on a side project.  This project will help me learn to code while also not bringing up un-necessary bullshit that I dont need to think about while learning to code.  My process is to just hard code everything in HTML, do a bit of CSS work and then once I understand how the information looks and feels start looking at CRUD and how to implement other items so the project becomes usable rather than static.

So far so good….now I just need to do some research!

[nicbaughman]

Learning

When I was going through college I thought I was learning a lot of very important facts that would help me in the working world.  Now that I have been out of school for over 2 years I am reflecting on what I actually learned at school vs what I have learned over the past 2 years.

I think the greatest decision I made was to join a Startup and stay in the startup community.  I can now see why people told me “Working in a startup will give you 5 years of experience in 1 year of actual work.”  I find that that is so true.  I have learned so many different things because there was no one there to do it but myself.  I am very grateful to have the opportunity to be in the Bay Area and learning as much as I possibly can.

[nicbaughman]

Great track to listen to while reading or writing.

[nicbaughman]

Building a Community

It seems like most SaaS companies have a dedicated location for their community of current and prospective users can grow.  I have been joining a few forums, slack communities, and hangout session but I am left wanting more answers.

I must say I have enjoyed participating in slack communities much more than anything else.  I think the reason I like them so much is because they feel personable.  People are free to express themselves and you get to see each individual’s personality come through.  Maybe it is just the use of emoji’s that I feel this way.

I keep asking myself though.  How do I know if slack, forum, or other setups work for my company?

Have you participated in slack communities?

[nicbaughman]

Shock

I continue to write more blog posts and as I research various topics I came across an interesting number.

Fortune 500 firms in 1955 vs. 2014; 88% are gone.

Shocking!  Who would have thought.  But as i begin to check more and more sources…it looks like this is true.  So why is this number important to me?  I am currently blogging about corporate innovation.  I am passionate about Customer Discovery and believe that organizations across the world will find that the next great products will be developed cheaper, faster, and with better results.  This will all be accomplished by using Customer Discovery.

So as I write about various innovative organizations it was extremely interesting to see this number come out.

Are you shocked about this number?

Sources:

http://www.aei.org/publication/fortune-500-firms-in-1955-vs-2014-89-are-gone-and-were-all-better-off-because-of-that-dynamic-creative-destruction/

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUS206536+13-Feb-2012+BW20120213

[nicbaughman]

Content Generation

I have always wondered how difficult it is to generate blog posts, social media posts, news articles, forum responses, etc.  Boy am I getting a crash course!

Content is king but boy does it take time, effort, and resilience to get done.  I think I have spent the past two weeks (holiday included) trying to figure out the flow for one blog post.  Here I am again, looking at this post thinking “Damn. Is this the direction I want to go?"

Then I remember one of my favorite quotes: Fuck it, Ship it.

In software this quote reigns supreme.  Why?  Well it is much better to ship a product and have customers have the new feature.  Of course your high functioning team in a few hours or days ships a new more stable version in a few days.  It always comes back to this question: Is there a reason to make people wait for what you just made?  More often than not, the answer is no!

Fuck it, Ship it.

[nicbaughman]

A new focus for 2016

I am trying to figure out how best to share my experience of 2016.  We all have a unique story to tell (or so we think).  Mine might not be as exciting as others, but i feel like I am having the time of my life so why not share it with others.

I enjoy the format of Twitter of being short, sweet, and to the point.  I do find that there is sometimes more things to say that 140 characters do not allow for.  I have decided that 2016 will be the year of Tumbler for me.  What does that mean you might ask.  Well I have been enjoying writing about various topics as they come to me.  I am thinking that in 2016 Tumbler will become more of an extended micro blog for me.  Meaning as I work on items I might make a post here or there.  Hell there might even be many posts throughout a given day.

I am thinking that my Tumbler will become more of a place for me to make posts about my life, work, and experiences.  My hope is at the end of the year I can look back and have a good laugh at all that has happened throughout the year.  I am doing this because so much has happened to me throughout 2015 that I wish I could relive all the excitement I had.  So with that...

Cheers to a stressful / Successful 2015

Here we come 2016!

[nicbaughman]

How Science Changed My Life

I have a lot to be thankful these days.  Working with a great team, tackling a very difficult problem, and learning a lot at such a young age.  Looking back on the what led me hear I must say I have a lot to thank STEM.

Data interpretation is a difficult skill to master (I am still working on it) but it has been extremely helpful for all the work I have done.  I owe this to my research experience in Molecular Biology, Ecology, and Organic Chemistry research labs.

This experience has greatly helped me in a startup identify trends, exclude outliers, and seek the truth from customers!

[nicbaughman]

Content Generation

One of the most challenging things for a startup in my opinion is generating relevant content.  The main reason is because frankly, it takes a good chunk of time to develop the content.  It is also interesting when developing content for new markets vs existing markets.  

Content is king and I plan to spend some time over the next few weeks generating articles for the upcoming Q1 of 2016.

Have you ever created content before?

Do you have any suggestions on best practices?

How much time does it generally take to generate content?

Lets find out!

[nicbaughman]

Stress of starting a company

Lately I think the best word to describe my situation is stressful.

When starting a new venture you need all the time in the world to focus on that, however you  only have so many hours in the day.  I am currently finding myself in a whole and miss allocating hours which ultimately leads to stress. 

 Organization is key and I am just starting to understand my own style. 

Lessons Learned:

Starting a company is inevitably 10 time harder than you expect.

Stress is a normal part of anyones life, how can that stress be mitigated by organization is my next adventure.

[nicbaughman]

Customer Discovery

Customer Discovery has greatly evolved over the past 3 years.  From the first cohort at the National Science Foundation Innovation Corps (I-Corps) until now, hundreds of universities, corporations, and national governments have adopted the teachings and practice across the globe.

I just spent a weekend working with a few startup entrepreneurs and what I have realized over and over again, is that every business has areas that require testable assumptions.  The problem is, most entrepreneurs do not know where to start!  Everyone focused on the final result they desire rather than the short term test they needed to run to move the needle forward for their business.

The work I did allowed entrepreneurs to focus on specific testable actions that they can gain data on to make better business decisions.  I am excited to see what the data holds for us in the future.

Lessons Learned:

--Most entrepreneurs do not understand running small tests

--Entrepreneurs have strong vision, however are unsure how to get there using evidence.

--The more data you have, the more informed your business can be.

[nicbaughman]

Quick Note

It is so interesting to me how crazy the roller coast ride can be at a startup.  You will be happy one moment and then depressed the next.  I wanted to jot down a few quick things I am thinking about in this moment because this week was a great week yet today...I feel terrible.

1) It is always important to pull your head out of the weeds and see what is coming.

2) In a startup your team can some times rub you the wrong way but usually you are all in this together so they are looking out for you.

3) Most importantly, your significant other is also looking out for you.  They will remind you that you still have a life outside of startup land.  Make sure to live it.

[nicbaughman]

Learn to enjoy every minute of your life. Be happy now. Don't wait for something outside of yourself to make you happy in the future.

Earl Nightingale