The 4 Stages from Idea to Company
When talking about Tortuga [http://www.tortugabackpacks.com], I often break our history up into four stages: idea, product, business, and company. We needed a long time to move from one stage to the next, so they are easy to delineate in our case. Regardless of your velocity, each step
Writing Selfishly
This blog is a completely selfish endeavor. I hope that other people find it useful, but that's not why I write. My writing is a way of talking to myself. Not out loud but online. I write to myself or, sometimes, a past me. Tim Urban of Wait
A Thank You Letter to All the Bad CEOs
> Our CEO yells a lot. That's a real quote from someone I interviewed. I was so flabbergasted that I typed it up, in quotes, in my notes. For someone to mention this in an interview, the situation must have been bad. Even worse, other interviewees said similar
5 Signs That a Candidate Can Work Remotely
When hiring at Tortuga [http://www.tortugabackpacks.com], > [W]e look for signals that someone can be productive outside of an office. From Why We Work Remotely [https://www.fredperrotta.com/why-we-work-remotely/] Andrew Youderian asked me for more specifics on his Ecommerce Fuel Podcast [https://www.ecommercefuel.com/podcast/
The Middle Class Mindset is the Opposite of Lifestyle Design
> [T]he middle class in recent history has been defined by its ability to both earn and spend money in very predictable ways. —Venkatesh Rao Whether you call it the middle class mindset or a financial script, the point is the same. Those who adhere to it are following
Is Smart Luggage Already Over?
In the last three weeks, two of the early smart luggage brands, Bluesmart and Raden, have shut down. What does this mean for the rest of the new luggage startups? Following an announcement late last year, many major airlines banned smart luggage with non-removable batteries [https://www.theverge.com/2017/
How to Pay Remote Employees
Running a remote company in the US requires using terrible government websites and filling out onerous paperwork. Tortuga [https://www.tortugabackpacks.com] has seven US-based employees across four states. Four of those employees have moved between states while working for Tortuga. In total, we've registered with seven state-level
Made at the Same Factory As...
The clothing company Everlane has a world map of the factories [https://www.everlane.com/factories] on their website. That level of transparency is commendable. I've noticed a recent trend, particularly among bag and luggage companies, of a pseudo-transparency noting not which factories they work with, but their
Metrics That Don't Matter
> [Company] raises $X, now valued at $Y That's probably the most common headline for startup coverage. That coverage focuses on the wrong numbers. Startup founders and employees have already chosen to play the VC game. That's their call. Good luck. I worry about bootstrapped founders