
Founder Stories Volume 01: Slicehost - davidedicillo
http://37signals.com/founderstories/
======
sudonim
I can't think of slicehost without thinking of Pickled Onion. This guy's
tutorials were the reason I used slicehost. I remember being really thrilled
when they added him to the team. Does anyone know where he is now? As a
customer and stakeholder in slicehost, I felt let down by the sale to
Rackspace.

I'm guessing without watching that these interviews reinforce the 37s mantra
that building businesses you want to do for the rest of your life rather than
building for the liquidity event is the "right" way to go. I can't help but
agree in this case.

~~~
sabon
I'm still with Slicehost because of Pickled Onion. Only because I know that if
I need to do _anything_ with my servers, the articles will definitely help me.
Worked every time. And even though there are better and cheaper solutions now,
I haven't even thought about moving.

~~~
code_duck
The articles, for the most part, apply to Linux and associated programs
regardless of host.

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dhh
The proper permalink for this is actually
<http://37signals.com/founderstories/slicehost>. Can someone update the title?

~~~
beaumartinez
HN should do a HTTP HEAD on submitted URLs and change them according to
redirects.

 _Edit_ : Doing an HTTP HEAD on the submitted URL—
_37signals.com/founderstories/_ —gave me an HTTP 302 "Found" (with Location
_37signals.com/founderstories/slicehost_ ). According to the HTTP spec, with
an HTTP 302 you're indicating that "the client SHOULD continue to use the
Request-URI for future requests"—strictly, shouldn't this be an HTTP 303 "See
Other"—"the new URI is _not_ a substitute reference for the originally
requested resource"[1]?

[1] <http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2616#section-10.3.4>

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howradical
Hey all Matt here, if you have any questions/comments my email is
matt@devstructure.com.

~~~
Omnipresent
are you guys looking for help in any way @devstructure?

~~~
howradical
it's opensource so anyone can help, if you're talking full time send an email
and such to support@devstructure.com

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mmastrac
Slicehost was great back then. I remember jumping on the early waiting list to
get my first server and how much cheaper it was than anything else at the
time. The service was top-notch - I'd jump on IRC if something bad happened
and there would always be someone there handing out info.

I'm still on Slicehost for a few servers and it's still good, but it feels
like it's frozen in time (which it is AFAICT). Can't blame them for cashing
out and they didn't really leave us hanging - things are still running fine.

~~~
mmahemoff
Me too, but I don't really mind that it's frozen in time as it "just works". I
use Dreamhost too and haven't seen much change there either in that time.
Maybe a few more options, but it didn't make much difference to me.

The downside will be if Rackspace proceeds with their plan to move SH accounts
over.

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petercooper
Excellent work but a bit risky using Vimeo? They seem to be quite boot-happy
for even vaguely commercially-related usage:
<http://boagworld.com/reviews/vimeo/>

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rcrowley
I'm the other founder of DevStructure. True story: I met Matt in the Slicehost
IRC in 2007.

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dools
Andrew Warner will be spewing. I don't think he's ever gotten an admission to
someone crying in an interview!

In the Kevin O'Connor interview he even came right out and asked to hear about
the times he was crying in the shower! [1]

Call it beginner's luck I guess?

[1] [http://mixergy.com/kevin-o%E2%80%99connor-doubleclick-
interv...](http://mixergy.com/kevin-o%E2%80%99connor-doubleclick-interview/)

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revorad
What's that other tech interview series by the same name? Oh yeah, VC-backed-
swing-for-the-fences TC Founder Stories - <http://techcrunch.com/tag/founder-
stories/>

Total coincidence, I'm sure :-P

~~~
ry0ohki
I agree with you, though it seems like there was some decent money and time
put into this (the video production seems professional), I can't figure out
what 37sigs motivation for this is though. Eventual DVD sales?

~~~
dhh
We want to tell stories that we don't feel like are being told. The conflicts
of building businesses to last versus sitting with all the risk.

This actually started as an email conversation with the Slicehost guys about
some of these dilemmas. About living mojito island and so forth. And I really
like the debate and thought that others would too.

~~~
ry0ohki
Thanks! I found it really well done and interesting.

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jessed
I really enjoyed this. It was very informative and interesting. The production
quality was excellent.

It seemed like the guys in the interview tried to talk over each other at
times which was annoying, but overall the interview was great.

~~~
seats
I'll own up to that. Talking over people is probably one of my worst
tendencies, but I think it was a little exaggerated by the editing. It was
necessarily to do a bit of chronological editing to get the tangents we
covered into a better flow.

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rglover
I was not familiar with Slicehost before watching these videos, but I can say
their story and philosophy has really changed my outlook on things. Most
importantly, the discussion about not being content with sitting around all
day post-exit. I love to hear that the drive still exists, even if you've
already made it (I'm sure this doesn't apply to everyone but is hopefully
common).

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ckeck
This was a very powerful story and I'm glad you guys decided to share. It was
certainly fun and I enjoyed working with you both. Time to build the next big
thing with a lot of lessons learned :)

-Chad

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spitfire
The thing I don't quite understand about all these stories 37 signals loves to
blag about. What's in it for them? It doesn't seem like a revenue generator
for them. Is it just ego? Are they setting up to enter a different market?
Sales tactics for rails?

The production quality is excellent however.

~~~
dhh
"Sales tactics for Rails" :)? You do know that Rails is free, right?

We want to get stories out there that we don't think are covered well
elsewhere. We've been sharing our own story, technique, and tools for more
than a decade. This is just a continuation of that.

Build an audience.

~~~
thaumaturgy
> _We want to get stories out there that we don't think are covered well
> elsewhere._

Keep doing it, please. It's a heck of a breath of fresh air for those of us
that are right now building the brands and businesses that we want to own for
the rest of our lives.

