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| Jul 3, 2023 | Tiny acquires HappyFunCorp, the prolific firm that’s built apps for Twitter, Amazon and more, for $30M | M&A and consolidation continue to be major themes in the tech world as companies look for their next steps in a tight market. That’s a trend impacting not just startups and larger tech companies, but the firms that work closely with the... |
| Jul 23, 2020 | When choosing a tech stack, look before you leap | When it comes to choosing a tech stack, the decisions you make today could have a cascading impact for years. On one hand you want to be cool and modern, but on the other, you want to build with technology you know — and sometimes getting t... |
| Jun 17, 2020 | HappyFunCorp’s Ben Schippers and Jon Evans will talk tech stacks at TC Early Stage | How do you decide what tools and languages to use to build your concept into a company? How can the tech stack decisions you make in the early days affect you down the road — and how might your needs evolve over time?
Find out at TC Early S... |
| Aug 7, 2019 | Your security team is probably an infuriating obstacle – but it doesn’t have to be this way | Security is empty, meaningless theater — or, at least, that’s the lesson taught to most employees of most large companies. Security is your password expiring every few months, your inability to access crucial services if you’re new or a con... |
| Jun 14, 2019 | How to make remote work work | Every time I see a “the future of work is remote” article, I think to myself: “How backwards! How retro! How quaint!” That future is now, for many of us. I’ve been a fully remote developer-turned-CTO for a full decade. So I’m always baffled... |
| May 9, 2019 | Against the Slacklash | Such hate. Such dismay. “How Slack is ruining work.” “Actually, Slack really sucks.” “Slack may actually be hurting your workplace productivity.” “Slack is awful.” Slack “destroys teams’ ability to think, plan & get complex work out the... |
| Apr 22, 2019 | The new new web | Over the last five years, almost everything about web development has changed. Oh, the old tech still works, your WordPress and Ruby On Rails sites still function just fine — but they’re increasingly being supplanted by radical new approach... |
| Mar 4, 2019 | How to be remote | I’ve been interviewing a lot of developers lately at my day job as the CTO of a tech consultancy, and I’ve noticed an interesting trend. Many of them seek us out because they want to work remotely. That’s not new. What’s new is that an incr... |
| Feb 24, 2019 | How Netflix is eating the Academy | It’s Oscar night! Do you care? If you’re me, and/or the statistically average watcher, the answer is: a whole lot less than you used to. Last year’s viewership hit an all-time low. Whither Hollywood, which just does not dominate the cultura... |
| Feb 14, 2019 | When do you go native? | So you’re a startup founder. Or you’re in charge of a new project at a big company. (Or maybe you just imagine being either of these things.) And you suddenly realize: you have to make a whole slew of massive decisions right now, based on i... |
| Feb 12, 2019 | A modest proposal to make apps suck less | Ben Schippers Contributor
Ben Schippers is a co-founder of HappyFunCorp.
More posts by this contributor
A modest proposal to make apps suck less
The technology industry needs to think more seriously about device addiction
As the landscape f... |
| Oct 28, 2018 | The tools, they are a-changing | Building web services and smartphone apps, which is most of what I’ve been doing professionally at HappyFunCorp1 for the last decade or so, used to be pretty straightforward. Not easy, but straightforward, especially when the client was a c... |
| Sep 30, 2018 | What the heck is going on with measures of programming language popularity? | I looked at the TIOBE index today, as I do every so often, as most of the software pros I know do every so often. It purports to measure the popularity of the world’s programming languages, and its popularity-over-time chart tells a simple ... |
| Sep 16, 2018 | What is the meaning of LinkedIn? | Thanks to John Biggs for inspiring this piece; I cosign most of what he says here. I have long been mystified by LinkedIn, because of its spectacular uselessness (for me) as a professional social network. But I also assumed it was useful fo... |
| Aug 8, 2018 | Everything is… less terrible | To hack: to study a system’s flaws and emergent properties, and use them for your own ends; to instill your own instructions into a computer’s memory, and coerce its microprocessor to run them. To pick at the air gaps and missed stitches in... |
| Mar 21, 2018 | The Authoritative Guide to Blockchain Development | Cryptocurrencies, ICOs, magic internet money---it's all so damn exciting, and you, the eager developer, want to get in on the madness. Where do you start?
I'm glad you're excited about this space. I am too. But you'll probably find it's unc... |
| Mar 21, 2018 | The Authoritative Guide to Blockchain Development | Cryptocurrencies, ICOs, magic internet money—it’s all so damn exciting, and you, the eager developer, want to get in on the madness. Where do you start?
I’m glad you’re excited about this space. I am too. But you’ll probably find it’s uncle... |
| Feb 25, 2018 | The three key CTO skills | I’ve been CTO of HappyFunCorp since last year, and it has been a deeply edifying experience. Everything people told me was mostly true: I write less code; I go to more meetings, and turn up in more conference calls; I think more strategical... |
| Jan 15, 2018 | A modest primer for Ethereum programming | Jon Evans Contributor
Jon Evans is the CTO of the engineering consultancy HappyFunCorp; the award-winning author of six novels, one graphic novel, and a book of travel writing; and TechCrunch's weekend columnist since 2010.
More posts by th... |
| Dec 16, 2017 | The technology industry needs to think more seriously about device addiction | Ben Schippers Contributor
Ben Schippers is a co-founder of HappyFunCorp.
More posts by this contributor
A modest proposal to make apps suck less
Tesla, a great family brand
Mobile programmers have the ability to build software that provides... |
| Dec 3, 2017 | Metascarcity and Bitcoin’s future | The problem with writing about Bitcoin is that the subject has become so emotional. The very name inspires triumph, greed, resentment, or fury. Triumph from those handful of hodlers (yes, really) who are watching the destiny they long foret... |
| Sep 27, 2017 | Tesla, a great family brand | Ben Schippers Contributor
Ben Schippers is a co-founder of HappyFunCorp.
More posts by this contributor
A modest proposal to make apps suck less
Tesla, a great family brand
Tesla talks a lot about safety, and rightfully so. They have beaten... |
| Sep 24, 2017 | The abyss of analytics | I want to talk about a mistake I see client after client making. (I work at a tech consultancy. We have a lot of clients. Not all of them make this mistake! …But many do.) That mistake is to obsess over analytics data, without any strategy;... |
| Aug 13, 2017 | Not even remotely possible | Down with the tyranny of geography. Down with commuting, “the daily activity most injurious to human happiness.” Down with allegedly “collaborative” open floor plans built such that “high-level executives […] are exempt from this collaborat... |
| Apr 2, 2017 | Why do developers who could work anywhere flock to the world’s most expensive cities? | Politicians and economists lament that certain alpha regions — SF, LA, NYC, Boston, Toronto, London, Paris — attract all the best jobs while becoming repellently expensive, reducing economic mobility and contributing to further bifurcation ... |
| Mar 27, 2017 | With a service that donates to the ACLU when Trump tweets, Make Tweets Great Again is a prime example of apps as activism | Earlier this month, Sarah Silverman tweeted about a new website called Make Tweets Great Again that had sprung up to give money to the ACLU every time President Donald Trump dropped a tweet bomb from his personal account.
HA! This is great-... |
| Feb 9, 2017 | As interest rates climb, explore insourcing | Ben Schippers Contributor
Ben Schippers is a co-founder of HappyFunCorp.
More posts by this contributor
A modest proposal to make apps suck less
The technology industry needs to think more seriously about device addiction
Most people and mo... |
| Dec 11, 2016 | Death to JIRA | Jon Evans Contributor
Jon Evans is the CTO of the engineering consultancy HappyFunCorp; the award-winning author of six novels, one graphic novel, and a book of travel writing; and TechCrunch's weekend columnist since 2010.
More posts by th... |
| Nov 30, 2016 | The connected car and another fragmented market | Ben Schippers Contributor
Ben Schippers is a co-founder of HappyFunCorp.
More posts by this contributor
A modest proposal to make apps suck less
The technology industry needs to think more seriously about device addiction
As any new industr... |
| Sep 23, 2016 | Solve real problems, provide real solutions | Ben Schippers Contributor
Ben Schippers is a co-founder of HappyFunCorp.
More posts by this contributor
A modest proposal to make apps suck less
The technology industry needs to think more seriously about device addiction
We love the intern... |
| Aug 23, 2016 | Tech is primed for an upswing | Ben Schippers Contributor
Ben Schippers is a co-founder of HappyFunCorp.
More posts by this contributor
A modest proposal to make apps suck less
The technology industry needs to think more seriously about device addiction
The past 15 months... |
| Jul 24, 2016 | How much does it matter if your software quality sucks? | Jon Evans Contributor
Jon Evans is the CTO of the engineering consultancy HappyFunCorp; the award-winning author of six novels, one graphic novel, and a book of travel writing; and TechCrunch's weekend columnist since 2010.
More posts by th... |
| Jul 16, 2016 | Big data and its developer fallout | Ben Schippers Contributor
Ben Schippers is a co-founder of HappyFunCorp.
More posts by this contributor
A modest proposal to make apps suck less
The technology industry needs to think more seriously about device addiction
As the internet so... |
| Jun 25, 2016 | The hungry consumer and the software pivot | Ben Schippers Contributor
Ben Schippers is a co-founder of HappyFunCorp.
More posts by this contributor
A modest proposal to make apps suck less
The technology industry needs to think more seriously about device addiction
The internet has b... |
| Jun 2, 2016 | Prima donna engineers | Ben Schippers Contributor
Ben Schippers is a co-founder of HappyFunCorp.
More posts by this contributor
A modest proposal to make apps suck less
The technology industry needs to think more seriously about device addiction
In a world where e... |
| Mar 20, 2016 | These are testing times: mavericks vs. ice people | Jon Evans Contributor
Jon Evans is the CTO of the engineering consultancy HappyFunCorp; the award-winning author of six novels, one graphic novel, and a book of travel writing; and TechCrunch's weekend columnist since 2010.
More posts by th... |
| Mar 16, 2016 | The downside of an over-capitalized market | Ben Schippers Contributor
Ben Schippers is a co-founder of HappyFunCorp.
More posts by this contributor
A modest proposal to make apps suck less
Tesla, a great family brand
I recently took the opportunity to visit with influential friends a... |
| Feb 6, 2016 | How To Fix Tech’s H-1B Problem | Jon Evans Contributor
Jon Evans is the CTO of the engineering consultancy HappyFunCorp; the award-winning author of six novels, one graphic novel, and a book of travel writing; and TechCrunch's weekend columnist since 2010.
More posts by th... |
| Feb 3, 2016 | App Fatigue | Ben Schippers Contributor
Ben Schippers is a co-founder of HappyFunCorp.
More posts by this contributor
A modest proposal to make apps suck less
Tesla, a great family brand
In the 1980s and 1990s it was all about shrink-wrapped software … a... |
| Dec 22, 2015 | The Startup, The Burnout | Ben Schippers Contributor
Ben Schippers is a co-founder of HappyFunCorp.
More posts by this contributor
A modest proposal to make apps suck less
Tesla, a great family brand
Burnout is as real as it gets. Burnout is a period of life when you... |
| Dec 21, 2015 | HappyFunCorp Launches Happy Fun App To Make Instagram More Social | For the past year and a half the Brooklyn-based development shop, HappyFunCorp has been laboring over a new graph that would offer new ways to interact with Twitter and Instagram.
Now, just in time for the holidays, the company is unveiling... |
| Nov 26, 2015 | The Art Of The Pitch | Ben Schippers Contributor
Ben Schippers is a co-founder of HappyFunCorp.
More posts by this contributor
A modest proposal to make apps suck less
Tesla, a great family brand
I’m fortunate in my day-to-day. I have the privilege of hearing new... |
| Oct 25, 2015 | Engineers Build Ugly Products | Ben Schippers Contributor
Ben Schippers is a co-founder of HappyFunCorp.
More posts by this contributor
A modest proposal to make apps suck less
Tesla, a great family brand
Why do engineers build ugly products? What is it in the nature of e... |
| Sep 12, 2015 | Surviving The Technical Cambrian Explosion | Jon Evans Contributor
Jon Evans is the CTO of the engineering consultancy HappyFunCorp; the award-winning author of six novels, one graphic novel, and a book of travel writing; and TechCrunch's weekend columnist since 2010.
More posts by th... |
| Aug 29, 2015 | Graduated From An Engineering Bootcamp? Now What? | Ben Schippers Contributor
Ben Schippers is a co-founder of HappyFunCorp.
More posts by this contributor
A modest proposal to make apps suck less
The technology industry needs to think more seriously about device addiction
While hip hop may ... |
| Aug 16, 2015 | Engineering Firm HappyFunCorp Eyes More Acquisitions | HappyFunCorp has been living up to its name, according to co-founder Ben Schippers — at least if you associate happiness and fun with profits, growth and acquisitions.
Last year, I visited the design and engineering firm’s Brooklyn offices ... |
| Jun 6, 2015 | On Managing Developers | Jon Evans Contributor
Jon Evans is the CTO of the engineering consultancy HappyFunCorp; the award-winning author of six novels, one graphic novel, and a book of travel writing; and TechCrunch's weekend columnist since 2010.
More posts by th... |
| May 9, 2015 | Facebook Development Through The Years | Ben Schippers Contributor
Ben Schippers is a co-founder of HappyFunCorp.
More posts by this contributor
A modest proposal to make apps suck less
The technology industry needs to think more seriously about device addiction
Editor’s note: Ben... |
| Mar 28, 2015 | A Farewell To Jobs | Jon Evans Contributor
Jon Evans is the CTO of the engineering consultancy HappyFunCorp; the award-winning author of six novels, one graphic novel, and a book of travel writing; and TechCrunch's weekend columnist since 2010.
More posts by th... |
| Mar 21, 2015 | The Terrible Technical Interview | Jon Evans Contributor
Jon Evans is the CTO of the engineering consultancy HappyFunCorp; the award-winning author of six novels, one graphic novel, and a book of travel writing; and TechCrunch's weekend columnist since 2010.
More posts by th... |
| Mar 12, 2015 | New-Age Bootstrapping Is Not A Money Problem, It’s A Product Opportunity | Ben Schippers Contributor
Ben Schippers is a co-founder of HappyFunCorp.
More posts by this contributor
A modest proposal to make apps suck less
The technology industry needs to think more seriously about device addiction
Editor’s note: Ben... |
| Jan 31, 2015 | Three Reasons Why Your Software Is So Far Behind Schedule | Jon Evans Contributor
Jon Evans is the CTO of the engineering consultancy HappyFunCorp; the award-winning author of six novels, one graphic novel, and a book of travel writing; and TechCrunch's weekend columnist since 2010.
More posts by th... |
| Jan 12, 2015 | Built In Brooklyn: HappyFunCorp Helps Startups Build New Products | For the tenth and final episode of Built in Brooklyn, we tried to do something a little different — instead of visiting another startup, we talked to the team at HappyFunCorp, a design and engineering firm that’s helped a bunch of local sta... |
| Aug 20, 2014 | Pizza ordering app launches out of Park Slope [Startup Roundup] | Who’s getting buzz?
Push for Pizza is a new app out of Park Slope that lets you order a cheese or pepperoni pizza for delivery with the push of one button on your phone. It’s as simple as possible, according to the Brooklyn Paper, which quo... |
| Jul 13, 2014 | New York Gets Another Learn To Code Academy | New York is getting a new tech skills training academy. The twist it that the just launched academy is being created by a dev studio drawing on their existing expertise making apps for others to teach budding entrepreneurs the web developme... |
| Jun 10, 2014 | Pyne Offers A Simple Way To Poll Everyone (Or Just Your Friends) | “Oh jeez, another Q&A app.”
That was my knee-jerk reaction when I heard about a new startup called Pyne, which has created what it says is an app that allows users to “poll the world.” But then co-founder Tony Peccatiello gave me a demo... |
| Jun 7, 2014 | Dear Clients, Please Stop: Ten Ways Founders Sabotage Themselves | Jon Evans Contributor
Jon Evans is the CTO of the engineering consultancy HappyFunCorp; the award-winning author of six novels, one graphic novel, and a book of travel writing; and TechCrunch's weekend columnist since 2010.
More posts by th... |
| May 10, 2014 | Google Maps Has Forsaken Us | Jon Evans Contributor
Jon Evans is the CTO of the engineering consultancy HappyFunCorp; the award-winning author of six novels, one graphic novel, and a book of travel writing; and TechCrunch's weekend columnist since 2010.
More posts by th... |
| Jan 25, 2014 | Failure Modes | Jon Evans Contributor
Jon Evans is the CTO of the engineering consultancy HappyFunCorp; the award-winning author of six novels, one graphic novel, and a book of travel writing; and TechCrunch's weekend columnist since 2010.
More posts by th... |
| Nov 16, 2013 | Android vs. iOS Development: Fight! | Jon Evans Contributor
Jon Evans is the CTO of the engineering consultancy HappyFunCorp; the award-winning author of six novels, one graphic novel, and a book of travel writing; and TechCrunch's weekend columnist since 2010.
More posts by th... |
| Sep 21, 2013 | ‘Scuse Me While I Solve This Immigration Problem | Jon Evans Contributor
Jon Evans is the CTO of the engineering consultancy HappyFunCorp; the award-winning author of six novels, one graphic novel, and a book of travel writing; and TechCrunch's weekend columnist since 2010.
More posts by th... |
| Mar 9, 2013 | Bring On The Platform Wars! | Jon Evans Contributor
Jon Evans is the CTO of the engineering consultancy HappyFunCorp; the award-winning author of six novels, one graphic novel, and a book of travel writing; and TechCrunch's weekend columnist since 2010.
More posts by th... |
| Feb 9, 2013 | Technical Debt Will Kill You Dead (If You Let It) | Jon Evans Contributor
Jon Evans is the CTO of the engineering consultancy HappyFunCorp; the award-winning author of six novels, one graphic novel, and a book of travel writing; and TechCrunch's weekend columnist since 2010.
More posts by th... |
| Dec 15, 2012 | Mamas, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Writers | So this is awkward. Ownshelf is a new service that lets people store and share ebooks online. Pretty nifty, huh? They reached out to me in part because I’ve released several of my own books for free under a Creative Commons license. (For th... |
| Oct 27, 2012 | How Long Will Programmers Be So Well-Paid? | Last week Glassdoor published its most recent software engineering salary report. Short version: it pays to code. Google and Facebook employees earn a base salary of ~$125K, not counting benefits, 401k matching, stock options/grants, etc., ... |
| May 12, 2012 | No Shortcuts, No Mercy: The Bloodsport Of Recruitment | One year ago I wrote an article called “Why The New Guy Can’t Code,” about how the industry-standard process for hiring software engineers is broken, shortsighted, and counterproductive. It remains my most-read TC post. Of course, I was far... |
| Feb 20, 2011 | Quora vs. StackExchange: Why, Joel, Why? | The Q&A land rush is on. Quora, of course, has been hyped to the moon, and not without reason. Fortune magazine recently profiled five more Q&A sites, and three new ones just launched: Cloudy, where your friends answer your question... |
| Dec 24, 2010 | It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad App World | Editor’s note: Contributor Jon Evans is an author and software engineer. He hails from the Great White North, but we let him write here anyway.
Report from the app-development trenches: it’s gettin’ kinda crazy out there. I’ve lost track of... |
