Creating my LLC

As of June 5th of 2007, Angle Technologies, LLC is hereby incorporated!

I finally got around to getting my LLC in place after some setbacks. I contacted an attorney referred to me by my brother. After discussing with the attorney what the purpose of my business was (mostly software) we both decided to move forward with an LLC over any other types of business models.

After that, everything just seemed too easy! He asked for the following information:
My name and address
Company name and address
Name and address of any other owners of the company (not required if you solely own it)
Purpose of the business
Name and address of secretary for the business (must be someone other than the owner, as they are responsible for keeping minutes for meetings)

Within an hour, the State of Texas came back with my official documentation delivered to the attorney, who then forwarded them on to me.

I had already gotten my domain names and I will continue to brand the name and get a website up and running to tell the public more about what the company offers in services.

If you are in Texas and would like to get incorporated, please let me know via the comment section and I can pass along the attorney's info....read more!

Short blogging siesta

I had to take a little siesta on this blog as I re-evaluated my stance on starting this business at this point in my life. I have recently moved and gotten a new full time job, and I didn't know whether I would be able to continue my endeavours with my new business. As such, I decided to move forward with my start-up so that I can have some of my ideas perculate while I find ways to make them grow.

I'll resume writing as I make progress on filing my paperwork with business....read more!

Linux in a Microsoft shop

I've always been a Microsoft guy. Mostly because of chance. I started off by playing games on Windows, then learning a bit of HTML and using FrontPage 98. Shortly after that came ASP, then VB6, .NET and here we are now with .NET. Granted, this all happened over a large period of time, and a few technologies where sprinkled throughout.

During most of my time developing, I couldn't see myself making a jump over to *nix. I always thought Linux desktops were cool with their transparent windows and nice screen savers, but I didn't know much about Linux past that. Granted, it was free and if I ever wanted to be truly type casted over to the "hardcore" developers, I thought I at least had to install Linux on at least one of my computers. That never happened. I had no reason to dabble in Linux, I felt nice in cozy drinking Microsoft's Kool-Aid, so I just turned my head to anything Linux... and Mac!

Now, here I am as a small business owner to be, and I'm faced with making cost conscious decisions. How can I run my business at a low cost? Well, I'm fairly new to the market, so I will be learning as I go. I can use my common sense and not go for the most expensive software/hardware/etc... just for the sake of it. I also knew that I had to have at least the bare essentials for my consulting business, two of which are source control and defect tracking.

In comes Linux and VMWare. Shortly after purchasing VMWare Workstation (roughly $200 from time of writing) for testing and development purposes, I noticed that the VMWare site had a section (VMTN) where you could download pre-built Linux machines with applications. We're talking about applications that run bug tracking software, source control, firewalls, software load balancers, coffee makers (latte's not available)... Furthermore, leveraging VMWare's free software to run virtual machines, you can run these solutions pretty much free!

There are some limitations of course, there is no such thing as free lunch, that is of course unless you take it from someone weak, but that's just the bully in me. Some of the VMWare pre-built applications weren't exactly what I was looking for, they were either too hot or too cold. I had to modify something or another to get them to work properly, so in the end I decided to download the image for Ubuntu (flavor of Linux) and install everything myself to my own taste. I preferred this route because I accomplished something I thought I never would, I learned Linux and the outcome benefited me by having software that I could rely on.

I plan to keep on using the VMWare/Linux combination until I find better alternatives that include the cost-benefit/functionality advantages that this duo offers.

But I still don't like Macs....read more!

Starting off with domains and email

I've always wanted to start a business for myself, as my dad did and my brother did as well. I knew that if I were to start a business that it would be something I did on my spare time initially and finally grow into it. There are a lot of people that would disagree with me on my approach, but in my situation, I figured that this would be the best scenario.

One of the biggest worries that I have in starting this sucker up is the seperation of my work (as a corporation) and myself as a person. This implies that I want as much protection from my company and my personal life. Furthermore, I want financial independence for both my company and my personal life as well.

This works just fine, but unfortunately for most of us, we dont just get handed seed money for our companies without a hitch. Some people borrow money (be it from an external investor or their own assets), or personally invest into their company. Personally, I'm putting some personal money into my company to get started off.

First thing is getting a domain and getting a site up and running. I've decided to go with GoDaddy to get my domain, not so much because of their pricing or marketing (girls), rather they have other services that I really like, such as dedicated virtual servers (which I will get to in a bit), and I'd like to have things consolidated.

I decided to host my email through GoDaddy for fairly cheap (around $30 a year at the time of this writing), and get a pretty good deal on a dedicated virtual server. I like to have ultimate control of my server when it comes to hosting a website and any other applications that I need running for the success of my operations. It's a bit more then just shared hosting, but I dont mind paying more for complete control.

There is a lot more things to do before I can call my company "up and running." Legal papers, tax papers, incorporation papers, supplies, hardware, software, vaporware (just kidding), just to name a few. I have a lot of stuff to get done and buy (or borrow) to get this sucker going, but looking out for deals is imperative.

I hope to go over a few items in the future, specifically source control, platform choice (for software), marketing (including blogs and search engines), target industries to name a few.

This is an exiting time and I really want to be part of making my slice of the world a better place. It will be a great learning experience trying to get from here to there....read more!

A new beginning

I hope to really keep this blog up and running as a chronicle of my new business. I will be incorporating soon and hope to venture off into a new era of my life.

I currently have a full time job and intend to nurse this company into a full fledged income machine so that I can focus on my dreams. I will be referencing resources such as the 'Going Independent' yahoo group, Bob Walsh's Micro ISV book, Joel Spolsky's blog, and Eric Sink on the Business of Software, among others.

I hope to go over topics such as incorporation and legal issues, accounting, marketing, sales, work life balance, development processes and everything else that makes a small company tick. Initially, I will be doing consulting as my bread and butter for my company, and hopefully launching a product/service in the near future... but that's a little secret!

I hope that you can find this blog interesting and that it may serve some service to you getting started, or as a comic relief as you see me struggle through this endeavour.

I thank the Man upstairs for giving me this opportunity, my wife for her continuing support and my family and friends for guidance and encouragement.

Above all, let's remember that the main thing is that the Main thing is the main thing....read more!