Mark Eagle

James Bligh makes a great point in his medium post today. (https://lnkd.in/ggQczEyn) The ABA might hate CDR as their members for the most part seem to have formed a view that it is a threat and something that should be thwarted at every turn, or at the very least is yet another impost and regulatory burden they just needed to tick off their ever growing list of compliance projects. What banks and others may be overlooking is that the vast majority of Australians now have access to their banking data through a well designed and regulated infrastructure. Consumers and businesses don’t need to use screen scrapers and bits of string to get a picture of their finances. Locking in your customers so they can’t compare or migrate is a poor substitute for a strategy of just providing a superior service. Some banks get this and they will use the CDR as a set of ‘rails’ to drive transformations in customer experiences, customer acquisition and new value creation. At Trideca we are already working with several institutions that get this. The ones dragging their heels or who are still thinking that they are ‘done’with CDR now they have met the compliance hurdle are going to be in for a rude shock.

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You can manage uncertainty in a way that creates a fulfilling and enriching developer experience. My friend Patrick Sheridan, CEO of Modus Create, dropped this nugget of wisdom on the Technocratic podcast. The episode is posted at https://lnkd.in/eVzKR-qw You can also sign up for the podcast and the newsletter at https://lnkd.in/gqygAfzy In the meantime, enjoy this clip. #softwaredevelopment #business #ModusCreate

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We should fund Open Source creators in the same way that we fund other public interest research and development; namely, grants. We could grant these folks based upon the impact/importance/complexity that their project has to software/system development. Impact/importance/complexity could be based upon the number of projects It is used in, the number of downloads, the number of updates, problem space difficulty, etc. We could condition the money on each project producing both an SBOM and a Vulnerability Report per release. Developers would have to set up a 501c3 to receive the money, and would have to apply for the grants just like any other R&D shop. The grants would be reviewed annually, and as long as the developer continues to maintain the software and continues to meet the requirements, they would continue. This would not take a huge amount of money to make a huge impact. In our Federal budget, this would be a rounding error. And wouldn't you rather your tax dollars go to this instead of some of this crap (https://lnkd.in/ekkp3isJ)?

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I hear the algo is getting even more dismissive of external links but I really hope it doesn't bury this one because we've been working on it a LOT and I really want everyone to see. I want our website to be an accurate representation of us and what we do, I think this page does a good job of capturing it. #industrialnetworking #otnetworking #gettoknowus

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“Excess moisture along the fence!” We are not OK. Just when seekers really need a push and there is a slight post election pick up in hiring….No one seems to be getting much/any response from applications/Job Boards. When I searched for “leaves trapped at the fence” these ‘watch out for’ words came up. “Excess moisture along the fence!” Breaking down the problem: The individual’s anticipation is real (because their weeks without a paycheck are in double figures) and TBC -the company’s brand is also sitting outside the fence in these digital piles of stuck resumes - at best almost by default these piles will be cast aside for some future role. Clearly the transparency/communication in these cases is at best “Dear Jill form letter”. And there’s a 50% chance this Jill resume makes it into the right bin in the ATS. FWIW A little known stat is the ATS pool accounts for a very low % of hires. (~5%) meaning the increasing # of ghost jobs and these resume piles are the failed tools of our current talent market - Add AI apps where you “can apply for 1000 jobs as you sleep” and we’re actively in crisis. Disappointment caused by these detached layers of distribution is not immediately measurable. BUT eventually this will lead to real change. And we are working on this problem at Boomband!

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Services business get a bad rap - but maybe rightfully so? In the past month I’ve had a number of portfolio companies who we’ve assisted in locating agencies and/or consultancies for various GTM needs. Stuff that we don’t touch like SEO, email deliverability, websites, etc. Out of a dozen services firms explored almost half quashed the inquiry citing ‘capacity’ issues. I owned and operated a GTM & RevOps consultancy for 12 years. Over that period the number of times we turned down work due to resourcing… zero. The reason services has been labeled a difficult business to scale is most often that they don’t want to. Demand is a gift, ‘business’ means creating the ability to handle it. (And before someone brings up quality, we ran an NPS of 87)

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Paul Graham’s Founder Mode essay is a valid reaction to the zero interest rate phenomenon of average management and company bloat. The goat founders can operate well in this way and scale it pretty far. Unfortunately it’ll also probably inspire a bunch of mid founders not really get it — and to lean into their current erratic micromanagement ways. They’ll think they’re in Founder Mode, when they’re really in Flounder Mode 🐟 https://lnkd.in/gpjSV9Ea

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2 Comments

Check out this incredible map of non-compete laws across the US. (https://lnkd.in/dJb8U-jW) The law surrounding non-competes is so complicated. It's not just "how long" a non-compete can be. There are also layered restrictions on when they can used. And limits on the geographic scope. The FTC ban on non-competes may take effect soon, but likely will not due to court challenges. Expect a lot more chaos in this area.

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There you have it. If you're still wasting taxpayer money trying to reinvent the wheel and rebuilding commercial products and you're calling yourself an R&D shop, YOU are the problem. If you don't understand why public/private partnership is essential to win against China, YOU are the problem. If you complain that the DIB is shrinking and we don't have enough options and yet you don't engage with startups and you are instead competing directly against their offerings in AI, DevSecOps and other, YOU are the problem. If you don't understand that DoD isn't here to compete but AUGMENT commercial stacks, YOU are the problem. If you don't understand that DoD needs to focus on the upper stack with tangible mission outcomes, YOU are the problem. And if you are the problem, YOU won't be the problem anymore come Jan 20th. Watch me. I'm done playing nice, stick is coming, you had your chance. https://lnkd.in/eQisVDB2

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55 Comments

A lot of pre-product, pre revenue startup clients approach Calibrate to architect, design, and develop their first web or mobile app. One common theme we see among many of these ambitious co-founders is trying to launch with a larger feature set based on what they THINK their users will find valuable. In scenarios such as this, our team always advises our clients to consider pairing back the feature set to an MVP (minimum viable product). We start this process by asking our clients “what are the critical features absolutely necessary to launch your product and start getting valuable feedback from the user base?”. Anything beyond that is speculation and unnecessary. In the startup world (or even with software SMBs are launching), it’s imperative to get to market as quickly and cost effectively as possible to start establishing a POC (proof of concept) and collecting feedback; MVPs ensure that happens. Through collecting real user feedback, clients can prioritize and execute on their roadmap (aka new features) with FACTS (aka data driven insights) v. CONJECTURE (aka speculating on what users want). Check out the blog article on our site for some tips to help narrow down the feature set of a product to an MVP: https://lnkd.in/gHTeynVb

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Let me tell you a horror story. An Italian airline company contacted me. They had worked with 2 'migration experts' They had spent over a million dollars on the migration project. They were far from project completion. We were the third party contacted for the job. What went wrong? They (and their vendors) underestimated the complexity of their project. If there's anything I've learned in 20 years, it's this: There is no such thing as a 'simple migration project.' Every enterprise has complexity. Expert Migration specialists uncover this complexity before migrating. Beginner migration specialists uncover this complexity while migrating. The former completes the project. The latter creates financial disaster. Pick an expert - always. Read more client case studies here --> https://lnkd.in/eaZwnEHR

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Big day for the Rails Foundation: 1Password is the first new Core member to join the board since we launched. Looking forward to working with Jason Meller on the board. You might be thinking: 1Password? Rails? YES. 1Password recently acquired Kolide, a Rails app, and integrated it into the core of its XAM. With today’s world of remote work (and the apps we rely on at work) combined with the ever-increasing threat of data breaches and bad actors, this Rails app now handles “thousands of web requests per second, authorizes millions of authentication attempts, processes billions of asynchronous jobs each month, and consistently delivers four nines of annual uptime for customers”. Not bad for a Rails app, ey?

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I’m at a major crossroads with my company. Onward’s public launch was in January 2024 and I set a goal to hit $4.5M ARR profitably by the end of this year. Halfway through the year, we surpassed our annual ARR goal! Pretty wild. But oddly enough I found myself drowning in anxiety yesterday about needing to hit a new more aggressive and “ever-moving” target that I pulled out of nowhere. Do I hammer down and now push for $10M+ ARR by the end of the year? The prospect of aggressive growth is exciting, but it also opens up the potential for burnout. When I originally started the company, I put 2 constraints for how the company would operate toward its goals: 1. We would have a company-wide value of putting family first  2. We’d enable part-time/fluid schedules for team members who wanted it. This is a tricky mindset to balance as a CEO who identifies as a high-achiever. I’ve hardwired myself to see more growth = more success. Maybe you relate. If I do chase a new ARR target, I know that will mean more stress and likely falling into the founder-anxiety mode I was in before. I spent an hour with my endurance coach Ryan Dreyer slowing down to internalize the facts: 1. Everything is already working as planned  2. Understanding that it’s okay to maintain the steady effort that got us here It’s kinda like the 112-mile bike portion of an Ironman. Just because I came out of the gate hot doesn’t mean I should hammer the pace the whole way. That would lead me to crash and burn in the marathon. Sustaining the appropriate pace matters more. So I made an agreement to uphold the original constraints I set in building the company. Given where we are today–even if I don’t perfectly maximize the opportunity–I believe I will still be successful. Because with this company, I’m not just trying to win this year. I’m trying to win for decades. And most importantly, I’m doing it while prioritizing my responsibilities as a father and husband. Our perception of “success” as founders can get so skewed based on outside perspectives. Finding a work-life balance that still takes me to my “personal best” is the real win. Think we should “go big or go home” or keep a balance and maybe sacrifice some growth upside? Let me know and I’ll share how it plays out here!

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People often say, 'Don't work with friends. At Veris, we couldn't disagree more. We're a group of round pegs & square holes. Spent over a decade, practically living across each other, sharing life’s milestones—marriages, kids, and everything in between. There's a common belief that working with friends is a bad idea. Many startups fail because of leadership issues. At Veris, our story is proudly unique. With a clear vision and mutual respect, we've built something strong. When the pandemic hit, workplaces were among the last to reopen. For over three years, we faced the toughest times—a bootstrapped startup with no customers and a team to support. But we stuck together. Today, Veris is changing the game for hundreds of large enterprises and Fortune 500 companies. As a leader in the APAC region, we've become one of the fastest-growing companies in our industry. We've powered over 100 million intelligent interactions and onboarded 600,000 employees in 20+ countries. Our impact is global, with top brands like Deloitte, L'Oréal, Bosch, BMW Group, Barclays, Genpact, Emirates, PwC and many more, trusting us to boost their operational efficiency and create exceptional workplace experiences. People often ask how we managed to stay united. The answer isn’t found in business textbooks—it’s #friendship. It’s the respect we have for each other’s roles, how we complete each other, and yes, the love for intense debates, that often feel like a mix between a strategy session and a sitcom episode. But at the end of the day, this blend makes us stronger. Utkarsh Jain Vaibhav Jain Anoop Poonia Kunal Upadhyay Varun Gurjar Piyush Raj Veris

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Listening to this podcast right now about the "enshittification" of tech (their words, not mine!). It's a good listen to understand at a macro level what's happening. https://lnkd.in/eETbYdZQ

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Any Vets interested in Tech careers or starting companies? Check out VetsinTech, particularly this upcoming summit focused on emerging opportunities. I'm seeing more veterans around these days, from pretty much no one when I came in 15 years back. But there should be more. We think of tech as coding and software. But it was the military that formalized Engineering. The military engineers the hardest problem possible. The precise, predictable orchestration of complex technology - to exact moments in time - in chaos - by coordinating people in great duress. Executing with both Values and Integrity. Unfortunately that engineering is toward violence. But the same skills make for very strong tech leaders that get it done. Today, every company is a tech company and basically all growth is there. Give me a ring if you ever want to explore and let people know VIT is here. https://lnkd.in/gCFSMjUv

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Are you a startup founder in Tel Aviv? You won’t want to miss the exciting event happening on August 28th, organized by the incredible entrepreneurs Fay Goldstein and Joel Liurner. I’m happy to be helping them put this together! About the Event: Whether you’re a founder seeking genuine feedback on your pitch without the pressure of impressing investors or decision-makers, or you’ve pitched before, this event is for you. It’s also perfect for marketers with a way with words, communicators skilled in presentation, tech enthusiasts eager to connect, or anyone who wants to support the startup ecosystem from the inside. For Founders Who Want to Pitch: - 7 founders will be selected to pitch. - Each founder can opt to have their pitch recorded and shared with them afterward. - In addition to receiving up to 3 public feedback responses during the event, every audience member will complete a "scorecard" and provide written feedback for each pitch. For Audience Members: - Willing to provide honest feedback. - Not an investor. - Ready to enjoy drinks, snacks, mingling, and learning. Pitch slots are filling up fast, so if you want to participate, don’t wait! Register here:https://lu.ma/ln4gzyh6 Nevo Network

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