Luke Thomas

So you want to start a startup city?

I recently found an interesting article on Miami tech week and about the rise of startup cities, so I figured I'd share a few thoughts. Oddly enough, this is something I've thought about for years and have run small-scale experiments on. A little bit about me to provide context: I've

What happens if TikTok is banned in the US?

What happens if TikTok is banned in the United States? In this post, I break down potential second order effects.

Coronavirus: the reset button

Right now, we're in the middle of the coronavirus outbreak here in the US. I've been following this pretty closely since early January, not because I'm a genius, but because I thought there may be implications for my business, Friday (remote work software). Many people compare coronavirus to a war

Bootstrapping to $10k/month with a day job

The inside story of how I bootstrapped to $10k/mo (and why we went the VC route)

What's your unfair advantage?

My son is sleeping again, so I thought I might be able to write a quick post. One thing I've been thinking about recently is the concept of an unfair advantage as an entrepreneur. What unique advantage do you have that others don't? The idea is that you should pursue

Cold Showers

Cold showers are way better than you think. See why.

The Counter-Positioning Strategy

See why counter-positioning is awesome.

Write Words & Code

A few months ago, I saw this tweet from Naval Ravikant. Code and media are permissionless leverage. They're the leverage behind the newly rich. You can create software and media that works for you while you sleep. — Naval (@naval) May 31, 2018 Code + MediaI've been stewing on

A Circle of Competence for Generalists?

Does sticking to a circle of competence mean you should specialize? Kind of....

Digital clarity as a competitive advantage

I've been reading a book on Benjamin Franklin, and I found his daily routine to be fascinating. It got me thinking about my daily routine, especially how it relates to technology use. As the internet continues to grow and permeate our lives, the amount of digital noise that we have

Technology

Freemium vs. Free Trial (why not both?)

If you're trying to pick between freemium vs. free trial...why don't you pick both?

Manufacture local

Why "Made in USA" and "Buy Local" are two sides of the same coin.

Technology

Downside protection when running growth experiments.

"Rule No. 1: Never lose money. Rule No. 2: Don’t forget rule No. 1." - Warren Buffett I'm in the middle of a months-long deep dive into value investing. For those unaware with this strategy, the most important thing you should know is that investors seek to

Technology

Customer-focused product development

I've recently been watching video interviews of Jeff Bezos on Youtube. Over the years, I've spent way too much money on Amazon, yet I've never fully realized how customer-focused they are. This might be because I've never had to email or call them with support issues, which one could argue

Technology

Storm the Gates

If you didn't see the Elon Musk/Warren Buffet back and forth over the weekend, it was a bit entertaining. To bring you up to speed, Warren Buffett is a big fan of investing in companies with long-term economic moats. What is an economic moat? This refers to a business'

Life

The hidden cost of property taxes

Over the past few months, I've spent way too much time scouring real estate listings, both in Maine and beyond. It's a common occurance to spend most of my time thinking about the mortgage payment, down payment, and renovation costs. What frequently flies under the radar is property taxes. The

Life

A simple way to measure the health of a region

Last week, my wife and I took a road trip from Portland, ME to Austin, TX. As you can imagine, we passed through quite a few cities on the way. I love exploring new places and tend to go a bit crazy with research. For fun, I will dig into

A capital shortage for Portland, ME startups?

Over the past several months, I've heard on several occassions that there's a lack of capital available for early stage startups in the Portland, ME area.

Technology

Career/Role Fit - a key aspect of being a great leader

This post won’t be very long as I feel strange even commenting on what great leadership looks like, but from my past experience, some of the best bosses I’ve had understand the idea of career/role fit. For decades, leaders inside an organization would hire people exclusively based

Life

My Outlook on Investing

I’ve had this conversation a few times in the past month, so I figured I’d write a quick post on my thoughts on investing. I’m using the term investing loosely, but I’m specifically referring to exerting energy or financial resources with the hope of achieving some

Why I moved away from a booming tech ecosystem (Boston) to Portland, ME

In early September, after a few years living/working in Boston, my wife and I made the decision to move to Portland, Maine. For us, we both grew up in Maine, so it was a chance to get back to the “motherland.” For the most part, we enjoyed our time

Maine

The impending downfall of Maine newspapers

(Above photo: one of the funniest news blunders of all time) I grew up with my face buried in a newspaper. I would visit my grandparent’s house and read the paper with my grandfather (yes, the comics mostly, but that still counts right?) For some bizarre reason, I have

A/B testing: a comprehensive guide to getting started

Over the past few years there’s been quite a bit of hype regarding A/B testing. From Obama’s election campaign, to Veggie Tales increasing revenue by 38%, I believe the hype is well-warranted and something that should be in every marketer’s toolkit. I’ve had the opportunity

Why User Testing Services are Useless

Building software that people enjoy using isn’t an easy task, and it takes a ton of effort. It’s critical that you get consistent, honest feedback to help you create a better experience for the end user. In an effort to create this feedback loop, user testing sites have

The Growth Team: The most impactful team the Enterprise doesn't have.....yet

It’s been about a month since I started working at Safari Books Online, and I’ve told a few of my close friends that I doubt I will ever work at a startup again…unless it’s my own (which I have no plans to do at the moment.