What is Techăpolis?
Techăpolis started in 2010 when we decided to stop wasting ideas and start pursuing them. We’ve got a lot of ideas; some good, some not so much. Techăpolis is an opportunity for us to explore those ideas and see where they take us.
What will this blog provide?
Through this blog we hope to provide our opinions on technology related news; reviews for iOS, OS X and PC-based applications; thoughts on products and feature improvements for items that may or may not be available in the marketplace; insight into our decision making process, and all of the things we learn along the way. Hopefully this can be a useful and interesting resource for others who find themselves in a similar situation.
Who are we?
Matt Stenerson – Minneapolis, MN
I’ve been in the web/software space since 2005 when I was a junior at the University of Minnesota, Duluth. I’m currently working as a project manager at HighJump Software. In my four plus years at HighJump I’ve worked on three continents for more than 10 customers including Fuji-Xerox, Bridgestone, and Anheuser-Busch In-Bev.
My favorite thing about technology is learning new things. Techăpolis is an opportunity for me to surround myself with new ideas and seemingly foreign technology. I live in Minneapolis and enjoy spending time with my wife, Sandra and our dog, Sydney.
Brandon Bica – Salt Lake City, UT
I’m currently based out of Salt Lake City, UT where I work for online discount retailer Overstock.com. I’m part of a small team that works toward maintaining Overstock’s inventory management system while always looking for new ways to increase accuracy and efficiency throughout warehouse operations. Everything we do is with the main focus of making our customers happy.
While I began my foray into development during high school, I didn’t really jump down the rabbit hole until my freshman year of college in 2002. Throughout my four years at the University of Minnesota Duluth I worked toward developing my skills in web-based software. I graduated with a Bachelors of Business Administration with an emphasis on Management Information Systems. Since then I have worked in jobs that provided me valuable insight into industries that include fantasy sports, real estate and supply chain/inventory management.
This is the background that I still build on today.
Why are we doing this?
It all started with the realization that no matter how much you think about something, and how much you talk about something an idea can never take off unless you do something about it. This came to a head during a Google Talk conversation not too long ago.
Bica: we need to come up with an idea…
Matt: we need to start somewhere
Matt: just need that first idea
Bica: I’m about to suggest we make a Google Doc so we don’t forget anything that we say, even if they are awful ideas
Bica: we should make a Google Doc for this
Matt: I’m in
Matt: MAKE A WAVE!!!!!!!
Everybody’s got to start somewhere and so we created a wave which began by stating “There are no ideas not worth suggesting“. We’re removing the barriers (also known as excuses) one at a time. So we’ve jumped right in, now we’re going to splash around for a while, and who knows, maybe we’ll even make a wave.
Full Disclosure: While everything in that conversation was said as quoted, there were obviously segments that were removed in the interest of being more concise and getting to the point.