stropping a razor

I learned to strop today. actually it was much easier than i thought. the straight razor i started to use has begun to pull so i finally ponied up the $35 for a leather and canvas strop. then i was afraid that either i'd wear down the blade or wear down the canvas if i did it wrong.

turns out a little stropping does a lot. it was probably the quickest and cleanest shave i've had in a month (during which time i've probably shaved 3 times, let's be honest.) but also, it's been a while since i cut myself because the blade was so dull. this time i didn't even know i had been knicked until i started bleeding through a tiny cut...that's how sharp the knife became.

something about stropping is deeply satisfying, just like shaving with a straight razor. there's something about making a tool do what it's supposed to do, and making it better at the job.

TechStars: March Thoughts

If I've learned one thing at TechStars, it's that I'm a decent iOS developer. Maybe the scope of the projects I've taken on here for the various iPhone possessing companies has been small enough to be fruitful and *possible*, but I have learned a lot and feel that I've accomplished a bit just as a hackstar.

It is now totally more viable for me to be an iOS developer/contractor than a bartender.

A few days ago when I was doing work at the local coffee shop I realized that with my iPhone and developer's license, I could build anything I wanted. That's kind of the gist of being a tech startup person...we're able to build anything we want, with little cost and overhead and initial investment, and be more visible and viral because of the medium. I simply never had the web skills or design skills to do it...but package everything neatly into a little mobile phone and I am empowered.

I feel like I now have a different outlook on startups. In some ways, it takes very little to make a company, and to turn it into something. If you have just the right resources and the right idea, it's not a pipe dream. At TechStars, we make things into reality, or at least a static landing page indicating that the reality is just a few steps away. And sometimes having the right landing page is really all it takes to make others believe, and to get the ball rolling.