We are midweek (or a little past) in our weeklong Hackathon to get the website up and running. The original plan was to build with a wordpress front-end and build some sort of hybrid back-end which involved manual entries and a PHP wordpress plug-in to run some of the instantaneous calculations that had to be built. The original plan was to go fully in php and work with wordpress, but after three days of toiling and figuring out what he could do, my buddy M. (who traveled up from Charleston to help out), had a long conversation with me about next steps...and together we all decided to scrap the entire wordpress build out and have M. build a completely custom web application with Rails. A little scary because of the huge pivot and change in how we are going to progress, but I think it makes sense.
First, we are no longer going to be fighting wordpress for beta. Second, the manual nature of the website is unacceptable. If users do not have instant gratification with the least possible friction, then the website is dead. A single annoyance kill the experience. Third, this will allow J. to focus more strongly on UX and UI components and mapping out the best ways to improve the way the site works and feels. Fourth, I think the web app, although primitive and basic, will be far more responsive than wordpress. This was the way to go. Ultimately, it is a difficult transition to suddenly make 4 months in, but it had to be done.
Today was also the crowdfunding hearing before the House Oversight Committee. The panel was pretty persuasive and pretty excellent at putting together their argument. I thought I would be annoyed to watch it, but i was actually pretty impressed. I will certainly watch it in full, take notes and put up a full blogpost on the company blog.
I also spent a couple of hours going over Slow Money NYC documentation relating to setting up a loan fund for food-related businesses and investments. I had been putting it off, but I took the time and finally put pen to paper. Hopefully it's helpful. Realistically, all I do is raise a bunch of problems no one cares about. Some part of me is still a lawyer I guess.
I also interviewed another student intern from Columbia. This time, the student was aiming to work in equity research for a large investment firm, as a goal. As well as to learn about working in an American work setting. Unfortunately, we don't really offer either of those things. He was a nice kid though. He just wanted something else. This will be my first time having to reject someone outright, so that'll be interesting.
In more interesting news, I got a part-time job today. I will be working as a flex time out of the office immigration attorney. Now I have some income to supplement my life. Whoo.
First, we are no longer going to be fighting wordpress for beta. Second, the manual nature of the website is unacceptable. If users do not have instant gratification with the least possible friction, then the website is dead. A single annoyance kill the experience. Third, this will allow J. to focus more strongly on UX and UI components and mapping out the best ways to improve the way the site works and feels. Fourth, I think the web app, although primitive and basic, will be far more responsive than wordpress. This was the way to go. Ultimately, it is a difficult transition to suddenly make 4 months in, but it had to be done.
Today was also the crowdfunding hearing before the House Oversight Committee. The panel was pretty persuasive and pretty excellent at putting together their argument. I thought I would be annoyed to watch it, but i was actually pretty impressed. I will certainly watch it in full, take notes and put up a full blogpost on the company blog.
I also spent a couple of hours going over Slow Money NYC documentation relating to setting up a loan fund for food-related businesses and investments. I had been putting it off, but I took the time and finally put pen to paper. Hopefully it's helpful. Realistically, all I do is raise a bunch of problems no one cares about. Some part of me is still a lawyer I guess.
I also interviewed another student intern from Columbia. This time, the student was aiming to work in equity research for a large investment firm, as a goal. As well as to learn about working in an American work setting. Unfortunately, we don't really offer either of those things. He was a nice kid though. He just wanted something else. This will be my first time having to reject someone outright, so that'll be interesting.
In more interesting news, I got a part-time job today. I will be working as a flex time out of the office immigration attorney. Now I have some income to supplement my life. Whoo.
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