Dec 6, 2020Initial Equity Grants vs RefreshesI’ve been wondering why startups take a different approach for the initial grants in year 1 vs refresh grants in years 3–4+? That is, when you join you get a big grant in year 1 with no more grants for 3–4 years. …Startup2 min read
Sep 14, 2020Engineering GrowthI was recently asked to prepare some statements for new hires at my company about engineering growth. What does it mean to grow as an engineer? This is a very personal question. The “right” answer seems to be “to increase your impact”. In reality, this often means working on projects…Engineering6 min read
Aug 31, 2020The Relationship Between Marketing, Retention, and IncomeMy wife has started a women-focused coaching business, particularly around helping her clients improve their writing and communications. ( Get in touch if you need help!) Many of her clients are entrepreneurs and the writing is particularly marketing-oriented. This has been fascinating and awesome to watch. At the same time…Marketing6 min read
Aug 16, 2020Preventing CSRF attacks on a Single Page App with REST APItl;dr — If your SPA uses a private REST API, use CORS and a CSRF Token header. …Csrf6 min read
Jul 23, 2020CLI Design Best PracticesHaving chartered and led my company’s “CLI Foundations” team, which built and owns their primary two CLIs, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about CLI design. So when I stumbled upon this tweet today, I had to jump in: There’s so much thought and effort put into “User…Command Line Interface10 min read
Jul 17, 2020Salary Growth vs Earnings Growth, or Why the Wealthy are EntrepreneursSeveral years ago, I discovered that you could buy small businesses from their founders at a reasonable price. …Entrepreneurship2 min read
Apr 9, 2020House Hacking: A Real Life ExampleThere’s a ton of interesting articles on BiggerPockets about House Hacking. But I hear people saying it doesn’t actually work, or its not worth it, or you can’t literally live for free. So here’s the real-life numbers from my very first house hack, back in 2015. Numbers at a glance: …House Hacking3 min read
Nov 21, 2018Handling Extra Income When Pursuing Financial IndependenceThe funny thing about increasing your income in a household that’s pursuing Financial Independence is that it works so differently than other households. If you start a side hustle that earns an extra $500/month, normally you may think “I’m already hitting my savings goals, so I’m free to spend this…Personal Finance1 min read
Jan 18, 2018The New 2018 Tax Law and YouThe internet is full of discussions about the new tax law that went into effect for 2018. In particular, people seem to really dislike the new $10,000 cap on State, Local, and Property Tax deductions. …Taxes3 min read
Nov 24, 2017Personal Capital’s Tactical Weighting ApproachLast week I had the free Personal Capital consultation. My “advisor” had run a portfolio analysis based on my aggregated information in the PC dashboard for me and wanted to share the results. …Personal Capital6 min read
