my blog. for you.

Let’s talk digital.

I’m an independent IT consultant and entrepreneur in the Internet and software business. I’m interested in design, enterprise applications, web apps and SaaS products. I design and develop business solutions and applications. I help companies in terms of software quality and knowledge transfer, e.g. with Angular and Spring Boot.

Why Hyperloop’s awesome and still the wrong idea

On 12 August 2013 Elon Musk published his much anticipated Hyperloop idea. Given his track record, Musk's 'Tony Stark'-like image and claims that Hyperloop would be a 'fifth mode of transportation' that 'could revolutionize travel' people got excited about what his exact vision might be. So, now we know: Hyperloop basically is an elevated tube through which transport capsules move. The tube's partially evacuated to reduce friction, hence allowing for much greater speed (almost approaching the speed of sound) at much lower ...

Philipp Rösler, Silicon Valley und der Dude

Sorry, this entry is only available in Deutsch.Philipp Rösler war kürzlich im Silicon Valley. Mit dabei waren etliche deutsche IT Startup Gründer. Ihr Ziel war es, die deutsche IT Branche zu präsentieren und hierzulande dringend nötiges Wagniskapital für Investitionen in IT Gründungen anzuwerben. Was davon dann vom Silicon Valley - durch den deutschen Politboulevardjournalismus vermittelt - daheim im Tal der Ahnungslosen ankam, glich dann aber eher einer Seifenoper. Kaum ein Wort darüber, dass Rösler und die ihn begleitenden Gründer in Kalifornien versuchten, ...

Sunday May 26th, 2013 by Bjoern in Entrepreneurship

Starting A Software Consulting Business

Recently, I've been asked about tips for starting a software consulting business. Some of those apply to that developer's specific environment but most are general enough to be applicable to any kind of software consulting business anywhere so I think they're worth sharing: First, you'd need to consider which market you'd like to address because this will decide how you acquire customers. Domestic only? Overseas / remote? I'd very much suggest the latter because in general it'll allow you to charge much ...

Sunday April 28th, 2013 by Bjoern in Entrepreneurship, Software

DHH on “No more remote work at Yahoo”

David Heinemeier-Hansson of 37signals on how Yahoo is completely mistaken to do away with remote work.

Tuesday February 26th, 2013 by Bjoern in Business, Entrepreneurship

The 4 Hour Workweek – Revisited

Some time ago I read Tim Ferris' seminal book 'The 4-Hour Workweek'. It's a bold take at lifestyle design that challenges common misconceptions about what work actually means and how we should live our lives. In this book Ferriss outlines four main steps for an independent, self-determined life: Definition: Self-awareness. What do you truly want in life? What are your real goals? Do you really want to work till you drop in order to become rich just to live up to society's expectations? Elimination: ...

Sunday December 30th, 2012 by Bjoern in Business, Entrepreneurship, Ideas

I Solve Problems

"My Name Is Wolf. I Solve Problems." Both being an entrepreneur and being a developer boil down to this simple statement: "I solve problems."

Saturday December 15th, 2012 by Bjoern in Entrepreneurship

Publishing for tablets – A market ripe for disruption

This week there were two quite intriguing posts on 37signals' Signal vs. Noise blog: Tablets are waiting for their Movable Type Publishers shouldn't be app developers Both posts deal with the shortcomings of magazine and newspaper publishing for tablets like the iPad. Currently, publishing for the iPad and other tablets mostly amounts to magazine publishers writing native apps that wrap their content. Given that magazine publishers usually don't specialize in software development more often than not this entails slow, unstable apps and a generally ...

Sunday December 2nd, 2012 by Bjoern in Business, Mobile Applications, Web, Web Applications

Butts In Seats Management

When answering a question on Quora yesterday I stated that although Google's self-driving cars are a pretty neat idea they are by no means a solution to the commuting problem: People waste countless hours every year while commuting to their workplace. Though self-driving cars might alleviate this they won't solve the root problem: Transporting people to their workplaces when there's technology available that would allow them to work remotely or in fact from any place they'd like to is just wrong. Remote working technology ...

Thursday November 22nd, 2012 by Bjoern in Business

Fixing Work

I somehow dislike the concept of New Year's resolutions since a new year is just as good a time for trying to change something or venturing into something new as any other time. New Year's resolutions also tend to be forgotten ever so quickly. It just so happens that I've been nurturing a few thoughts as of lately that I'd like to turn into something real right now. My point is that the way software development work (or any engineering / technical / ...

Thursday November 22nd, 2012 by Bjoern in Business, Ideas

Björn Wilmsmann

my blog. for you.

Let’s talk digital.