3. Categories

      Functional Areas: Funding, Legal, Marketing, Recruiting
      Skills: Leadership, Productivity

  4. About Joel Spolsky

    Joel Spolsky (born 1965) is a software engineer and writer. He is the author of Joel on Software, a blog on software development targeted mainly at writers of Windows software. He was a Program Manager on the Microsoft Excel team between 1991 and 1994 and later founded Fog Creek Software.

  7. Quotes

    1. “ Their software is just a bunch of text fields! ”
      In Real Unfair Advantages

  1. Joel Spolsky

    Comments Leave a Comment

    1-17 of 17

    1. Mentioned In 17 Articles

    2. Surviving Technical Due Diligence

      Explore On Startups by Dharmesh Shah (May 20 2012)

      Surviving Technical Due Diligence ...the code maintainable? Usually it is. You might notice many of these questions below originate from Joel Spolsky's 12 point test, which I think it's OK to plagiarize because they are just common sense. continuity... (Read Full Article)

      Mentions:   Oracle   Joel Spolsky

    3. Recruiting programmers to your startup

      Explore cdixon.org (Jan 3 2012) Recruiting

      ...nced developer. In the real world, it it often dangerous to just throw code away and start over, as Joel Spolsky explained at: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000069.html So the issue is, does manag... (Read Full Article)

      Mentions:   Joel Spolsky   Google   Foundry Group

    4. The Big List: The Best and Worst Startup Stuff In 2011

      Explore On Startups by Dharmesh Shah (Jan 2 2012)

      The Big List: The Best and Worst Startup Stuff In 2011 ...d the interview, either in audio or video modes. A few favorite interviews from the last half 2011: Joel Spolsky of Trello and Stack Exchange; Sarah Prevette of Sprouter talking about rising from the dead; Eric R... (Read Full Article)

      Mentions:   Joel Spolsky   Jason Calacanis   Mark Suster

    5. Hiring Employee #1

      Explore A Smart Bear (Dec 12 2011) Recruiting

      Hiring Employee #1 ...ne, here are some of my favorite articles, in no particular order: * Smart, and gets things done by Joel Spolsky — The classic guide to what to do during the interview and how to know whether to “hire” or “not hi... (Read Full Article)

      Mentions:   Joel Spolsky   Dharmesh Shah

    6. How To Systemize & Automate Your Business To Replace Yourself

      Explore mixergy.com (Oct 10 2011)

      How To Systemize & Automate Your Business To Replace Yourself ...s, or programs, you can use to collect that. You can use a to-do list, you can use Trello, which is Joel Spolsky’s new company. You can use just about anything. But you’re saying bucket it, and have it be it’s ow... (Read Full Article)

      Mentions:   Joel Spolsky   Adobe   Google

    7. Turning Less Traffic Into More Sales?

      Explore mixergy.com (Sep 30 2011) Marketing

      Turning Less Traffic Into More Sales? ...ic after the first three hours, and it was up and down a little bit later in the day. Andrew: I had Joel Spolsky on Mixergy here earlier this week. He is one of the top software entrepreneurs in our space. He’s t... (Read Full Article)

      Mentions:   Joel Spolsky   Kanye West   Steve Jobs

    8. Dear Friend: Sorry. My heart says yes, but my schedule says no.

      Explore On Startups by Dharmesh Shah (Jul 21 2011)

      Dear Friend: Sorry. My heart says yes, but my schedule says no. ...to help others). And, there are a bunch of cool people that jump in and answer questions (including Joel Spolsky himself). 4. If you're a super-awesome developer (and I mean really, really awesome) and looking ... (Read Full Article)

      Mentions:   StackExchange   Joel Spolsky   India

    9. How to value your company for sale (Part 2)

      Explore A Smart Bear (Jun 27 2011)

      How to value your company for sale (Part 2) ...l. There are plenty of folks who wouldn’t sell their company for a billion dollars; Jason Fried and Joel Spolsky are public examples from the bootstrapped startup world. I’ve heard various reasons from these guys... (Read Full Article)

      Mentions:   Jason Fried   Joel Spolsky   Mark Suster

    10. Launching Tech Ventures: Part IV, Readings

      Explore Platforms and Networks (Apr 10 2011)

      ...TO vs VP Engineering roles.Angel investor/Hunch CEO Chris Dixon summarizes ideas from software guru Joel Spolsky about how to hire programmers.Ken Norton on how to hire a product manager.Jason Cohen on hiring sta... (Read Full Article)

      Mentions:   Jessica Livingston   John Mullins   London Business School

    11. How To AMP Your Engineers: Ideas For Energizing Your Best

      Explore On Startups by Dharmesh Shah (Feb 2 2011)

      How To AMP Your Engineers: Ideas For Energizing Your Best ...ody's empowered and that every engineer is like a VP of Engineering at a different (lamer) company. Joel Spolsky came out a while ago and actually fessed up that Fog Creek, despite all the rah-rah talk, had chang... (Read Full Article)

      Mentions:   Boston   Joel Spolsky   Harvard Business School

    12. Three critical areas that will fall flat without a strong company culture

      Explore Savage Thoughts (Oct 28 2010) Marketing

      ...ustomers, prospects will be more likely to give you a try. For further insight here, see point 7 of Joel Spolsky’s post on customer service (hat tip to Paul Farnell). (Read Full Article)

      Mentions:   Joel Spolsky   Zappos   Paul Farnell

    13. Why Every Entrepreneur Should Write and 9 Tips To Get Started

      Explore On Startups by Dharmesh Shah (Sep 27 2010)

      Why Every Entrepreneur Should Write and 9 Tips To Get Started ...perienced entrepreneurs out there such as Paul Graham, Dharmesh here at OnStartups, Jason Fried and Joel Spolsky have prevented young entrepreneurs from making mistakes that they might have made otherwise. Open ... (Read Full Article)

      Mentions:   Boston   Jason Fried   Joel Spolsky

    14. Video From Business Of Software 2009: Building Great Software Businesses

      Explore On Startups by Dharmesh Shah (Aug 23 2010) Marketing

      ..., my favorite is the Business of Software conference organized be Neil Davidson (of Red Gate) and Joel Spolsky (of Fog Creek).  There are several reasons for this.  The speakers are great and have enough stag... (Read Full Article)

      Mentions:   Boston   San Francisco   Joel Spolsky

    15. Real Unfair Advantages

      Explore A Smart Bear (Jul 19 2010)

      Real Unfair Advantages ...ng millions of people respect and support. Competitors could build trivial web applications too (as Joel Spolsky is fond of saying, "Their software is just a bunch of text fields!"), but without the single-mi... (Read Full Article)

      Mentions:   Joel Spolsky   Microsoft   Austin

    16. The Other Half of "Artists Ship"

      Explore Paul Graham (May 21 2010)

      ... a cost, and send them looking for it. If companies started doing that, they'd find some surprises. Joel Spolsky recently spoke at Y Combinator about selling software to corporate customers. He said that in most ... (Read Full Article)

      Mentions:   Joel Spolsky   China   Steve Jobs

    17. Answers OnStartups Roundup 1 - March of the parentheticals

      Explore On Startups by Dharmesh Shah (Nov 20 2009)

      Answers OnStartups Roundup 1 - March of the parentheticals ...t the beginning. See, Answers OnStartups is built on the same technology as StackOverflow, through Joel Spolsky's StackExchange program. (Yup that's our Dharmesh on the front page! Which reminds me, that's a g... (Read Full Article)

      Mentions:   StackExchange   Bob Walsh   Joel Spolsky

    18. Answers.OnStartups: Community Q&A For Startup Entrepreneurs

      Explore On Startups by Dharmesh Shah (Oct 8 2009)

      Answers.OnStartups: Community Q&A For Startup Entrepreneurs ...o really use it to appreciate it. In any case, I’m a big fan of the site.  So, I was thrilled when Joel Spolsky (who, along with Jeff Atwood of Coding Horror) decided to make the software that powers Stack Ove... (Read Full Article)

      Mentions:   Adam Smith   San Francisco   Joel Spolsky

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