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My 6 Star ⭐️ Journey

So when I started running, I never thought I would complete a marathon let alone the 6 World Major Marathons. Falling into the world of running kind of became a vortex of what’s my next race.

iTAB – Abbott World Marathon Majors

Boston ⭐️ (April 2022)

Running actual Boston was something I wanted to do with my wife who already BQ’ed her first marathon which was a major feat, I would lucky enough to get a charity bib through the Flutie Foundation. This race was easily one of my toughest days other than my first marathon. I came in with super high expectations, as I wanted to build off of my previous PB in the virtual marathon.

Year before running the actual Boston Marathon, I ran the virtual one with my local running group, we all got our jackets (blasphemy I know). But given that it was the 125th Boston Marathon, why not. It was a goal to work towards and made Covid seem less boring. I ended up running that and setting a PB of 3:43. A huge departure from my first marathon at 6:30+ 18 months prior. Running actual Boston was something I wanted to do with my wife who already BQ’ed her first marathon which was a major feat, I would lucky enough to get a charity bib through the Flutie Foundation. This race was easily one of my toughest days other than my first marathon.

I came in with super high expectations, as I wanted to build off of my previous PB in the virtual marathon. My wife and I were both set to go and even featured in the local newspaper.

A combination of high anxiety and deviating from my typical race prep got the better of me, that coupled with mystique of the marathon. Then disaster hit, 2km I got clipped and went down hard. My race plan was out the window and I had to mentally recover, all hopes of PB went out the door with it. At the 30km marker, They always say if you can lift your head and smile into the camera you will feel better. Word to the wise, watch your feet on the timing mat, because I went down hard.

There were many instances that I was contemplating to quit at that moment in time, but I owed it to not only myself but all the others that had put their faith in me.

While the result wasn’t horrible at 4:04, I felt I had truly let myself down. I took a lot of hard lessons from that day. At the same time, Laura had set a scorching new PB shaving over 7m off her previous best.

All in all it was an amazing experience. Being a COVID runner, I hadn’t been in a structured marathon since Disney. I have some unfinished business there and I will come back to Boston again to run that race.
All in all it was an amazing experience. Being a COVID runner, I hadn’t been in a structured marathon since Disney. I have some unfinished business there and I will come back to Boston again to run that race.



New York ⭐️ ⭐️ (2022)
Post Coming Soon

Chicago ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ (2023)

Post Coming Soon

London ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ (2024)

Post Coming Soon

Tokyo ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ (Bib Secured)

Berlin ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ (Scheduled)

How to Spot a Bot! A Definitive Tweetstorm on how to fight Twitter Bots

Over the past year I have been tracking some pretty crazy activity on social media, specifically Twitter. I have long believed there has been an active campaign of bots trying to influence behaviour online. As a fan of Harrison Ford I loved the movie of Bladerunner. An officer sought to differentiate people from bots. I started to catalog repeatable behaviours, I wanted to share my guide of how to spot bots and how to fight them.

So here we go …

Then it got out of hand ….

Oops messed up my numbering!

Why I Moved Back to the Waterloo Region

Over the past week, there has been lots of news about the uncertain future of BlackBerry, the impact of it shedding jobs and speculation about the impact to the community and the tech future of Waterloo Region. I couldn’t help but reflect back on why I returned to this area.

Nearly two years ago, as I sat in gridlock in Toronto struggling to pick up my daughter from day care on time, I had a revelation. I couldn’t scale a business and a family in Toronto, given that both my wife and I were busy professionals. I loved Toronto for many reasons but ultimately couldn’t reconcile spending 20 hours on the road each week instead of spending that time with family, my business or taking care of myself. Once we made the decision, we knew what we had to do. We loved our urban lifestyle, but it was time to return to our hometown to achieve a better work/life balance.

I spent the first 25 years of my life living in Waterloo Region. I went to high school in Waterloo and drove past Research In Motion (now BlackBerry) when it only had one building (not a sprawling campus). Before even starting school, I was able to go to computer camp and learn from some great minds showing off the first iterations of a GUI in the early 80s. I got my first computer when I was five years old and didn’t look back. I progressed through school, and ultimately attended both University of Waterloo andWilfrid Laurier University. Upon reflection, I don’t think I realized how much this area had to offer to others and myself. The plain reality is that there is a significant talent pool and two internationally recognized universities creating high-quality engineers, programs and business grads. Historically, it has been a hotbed for technology in Canada, and that has only increased as more startups flock to the community. It has reached a point of critical mass in the past 5 years.

In June of 2012, I founded my company Printchomp. One of the first decisions I made was to base my company in Waterloo Region. I did so because I saw huge opportunity in the area. When people hear the word “startup,” they automatically seem to think of Silicon Valley in California, but as much as I love the Valley, I realized the benefits of being in Waterloo Region. There is an amazing wealth of talent coming out of University of Waterloo, Wilfrid Laurier University and Conestoga College. This is a huge boon to companies looking to grow. The University of Waterloo co-op program is one of the most aggressive for placing quality talent in quality companies around the world, and the biggest companies of the world know that. Evidently, I am not the only person who thinks so. Jack Dorsey (Twitter/Square) was in town two weeks ago and recently announced the new Square office in the area with plans to expand. “We’ve seen this in a lot of other college towns … but this one is quite special,” said Dorsey. He sees the same thing many others do: Amazing raw talent. Google, Electronic Arts and McAfee (among many others) aren’t here by accident. As of 2011, Google established a 34,000 square foot facility in the area with regular rumblings of further expansion, which came to light yesterday asMotorola/Google plans to open an office. There are more than 240 foreign-owned firms that call Waterloo Region home, and have set up shop here due to the access to highly skilled and educated individuals. Aside from these companies, there are countless other homegrown success stories from Descartes, Open Text, Christie Digital and a rising new star in Desire2Learn. These established players are coupled with many hot startups including Kik, Vidyard, TribeHR, Embium, Enflick, Titan File, Thalmic Labs and Sweet Tooth.

At the same time, I return to this community as it is reaching a crossroads. The mighty giant that helped bring further international notoriety to the community has been humbled. BlackBerry went from an $80 billion market cap to the current offer by Fairfax Capital for 4.7 billion. To say that this won’t be felt in the community would be, I believe, overly optimistic, but focusing only on the potential downside here is missing the forest for the trees. BlackBerry has invested into the community for over 30 years and those investments are not going away. Those investments include multiple world-class facilities. These include the Perimeter Institute, CIGI (Centre for International Governance Innovation), and the Institute for Quantum Computing, with a focus in nanotechnology plays an important role in another emerging field. These institutions were put in place by the founders of RIM in conjunction with the universities and community and will continue to deliver dividends into the future.

When I left the community almost a decade ago, a small organization calledCommunitech was holding weekly lunch-and-learns in a local hotel conference room. It has since morphed into an international brand, bringing in dignitaries and business leaders from all across the world working with CTT (Canadian Technology Triangle) andC100 to grow the Waterloo Region into the technology hub that it is now. One of the things that changed in the last five to 10 years has been the level of interaction with other technology ecosystems which only fuels further growth. Whether it is within Canada or internationally, more people are taking an interest and interacting with the ecosystem.

Since moving back three months ago, I meet one hungry entrepreneur after another. I am heartened that this heralds a bright tech future in Waterloo Region beyond the platform that BlackBerry and many other institutions have helped provide. I have spent a fair amount of time in Silicon Valley in the past 10 years and the amount of Canadian influence there is growing (the Maple Syrup Mafia, as we call ourselves), as is our worldwide influence in the tech space.

To classify what is going on in Waterloo Region as just a story about BlackBerry’s demise is truly a mischaracterization and missing the bigger picture. Yes, it is definitely a blow to the community. There will be some talent that relocates, but the majority of the talent will join a new workforce of many other established or up and coming technology companies in the area. Whenever you have major job losses there are negative impacts to real people and their families. That said, there is a far bigger story emerging. Waterloo Region will continue to contribute to the world technology scene. As with any environment, we will naturally see some ebbs and flows. It will take some time to digest and chart a new path forward, but the community and the infrastructure that have been set into motion are rock solid. The world is watching, and Waterloo Region is ready to step up to the plate once again and deliver.

Joseph Puopolo is the CEO and founder of Printchomp.

Lessons learned from Startup Life and Crossfit

So I have been horrible at keeping up my blog lately. This is my vain attempt to get back into the swing of things now that my life is getting close to a new normal. I moved back to Waterloo 2 months ago to help achieve some work/life/health balance.  My workout life has been a roller coaster, one minute I can run 41k another seemingly I am wheezing to run 5k. I wanted to take things back under control, so I joined Crossfit. For those that are not familiar it is a pretty intense series of workouts designed to push you and essentially make you Stronger, Fitter and  Faster. So after tonight of completing an epic workout and can’t sleep because my muscles ache I was reflecting on what Printchomp and Crossfit have in common.

1.     Push your limits – Whether it is building a new business or getting in shape it is all about pushing your limits. Seeing how far you can push yourself. You don’t know how far you can go or achieve if you don’t push yourself hard. Whenever you stop pushing yourself, you deprive yourself from getting to a goal faster or sooner. So don’t take your foot off the gas pedal, you only have limited time on this earth so make the most of it.

2.     Surround yourself with people that push you – You are only as good as the people you surround yourself with. If you only hang out with uninspired, lazy individuals soon you will become one. Both in Printchomp or Crossfit both are highly motivated to achieve their goals. At a critical point of my workout I was behind (it was a timed workout). I might not have completed it in the allotted time if a colleague hadn’t pushed me to work harder to complete the workout. You also need good people to help you constantly raise your game and constantly improve.

3.     It is ok to be uncomfortable  – The old adage of getting out of your comfort zone.  It has become so clichéd. Pushing yourself to do new and tough things is the only way you improve. If you don’t fail or had a chance of failing you have no way to get better. When I first ventured out to create my own business, it was a scary experience. However if I didn’t take that first step to start something, I would have never went beyond what I knew. For me never trying is far scarier than trying something with a chance of failure.

4.     Form is everything – Form is everything when working out, so to does it matter how you work when you create a business. When working out form is critical to make sure you don’t get injured. Form is crucial when dealing with customers, partners and others. If your form is bad, you will likely get hurt. One miss-step can cost you badly, whether it be an injury or your reputation.

5.     You can achieve all of your goals in one workout – If you go in to creating a business or a workout and think you will get to your goal in one day or even one week you are being foolish. Both are about setting measured and regular goals so you can consistently improve to hit your goals. The plain reality is that it takes a lot of hard work and perspiration to achieve your goals. You don’t win a baseball game with homeruns you usually win it with a lot of singles and doubles (Whoa I know, one more sports analogy and I am going to lose it on me here).

So yes kinda cheesy, I mind as well have thrown on a sports montage. That said there are a lot of parallels in what ever you choose to pursue and the hard work and sacrifice you need to put in to get there.

 

In it’s 29th Incarnation the spectacle that is WrestleMania only gets bigger

On March 31st, 1985, WrestleMania was born at Madison Square Garden in New York. Last night, Wrestlemania returned to its roots in New York/New Jersey. WrestleMania 29 was hosted across the river at the Met Life stadium, where over 80,676 people packed in to see this spectacle. The event at the Metlife Stadium set a gate record with nearly $12.3 million, besting the previous gate record of $8.9 million by U2. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was also in attendance in his patented fleece pull over supporting the event and putting over the economic benefit to New Jersey and fundraising for Hurricane Sandy.

Over nearly 30 years, WrestleMania has morphed from a popular culture phenomenon to a major media presence. In addition to having the long running television show with over 1000 episodes, it continues its reach into feature films, philanthropy and social media. While each of these components would be impressive on its own, the effectiveness of it as a media machine is how these individual elements function together to grow its media “Universe”. The goal of any of its performers is to be able to transition seamlessly between multiple media to further extend WWE’s global brand. WWE performers now go between movies, television shows, appearances and other philanthropic activities.

This year’s event featured a first. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson went into the event as not only the WWE champion but also the reigning box-office champ with his new movie GI Joe: Retaliation. Dwayne personifies the aspirations and the direction of the organization. The organization has always tried to transcend its roots of being a wrestling company and further transform into a worldwide media company.

John Cena achieved a measure of redemption by achieving a victory over the Rock to become the champion. Aside from it being John Cena’s 11th championship, at the press conference John demonstrated the global aspirations of the company especially within the Asian market. A Chinese journalist asked John a question regarding the timeline for a return to China. Without missing a beat, John quickly replied in Mandarin. Like many other brands, WWE recognizes the importance of reaching into the growing Asian market for growth. WWE has always been able woo international audiences as reflected in the international diversity of the press corps.

For those monitoring social media, specifically Twitter, during WrestleMania or any other WWE event for that matter, trending topics on any given night can be dominated by WWE trending topics. WrestleMania had dozens of trending topics last night as different performers took the stage.

After filling the Met Life stadium, the WWE doesn’t miss a beat. As a company without an off-season like other traditional sports, they will be going right into the Izod center with over 18,000 fans waiting to see the aftermath of their biggest show of the year on Monday.

Why You Shouldn’t Build A Business On An API Call

I am constantly amazed by the number of startups that build applications and take a huge business risk by building their company on an API call. Countless apps, particularly social apps, have popped up through the last 24 months that have taken data from other systems and re-displayed it in their systems. While there is widespread usage of APIs (and not for a moment am I suggesting that people not use them at all), I just think that start-up founders consistently underplay the business risk.

The risk is clear, if the data dries up so does your business. For all that have created apps based largely on API calls, consider what would happen if that information fire hose wasn’t there anymore. The companies who provide these APIs may not disappear, but it will definitely be a game-changer. The changes to Twitter’s API should serve as a warning sign and an important reminder. Countless third-party Twitter apps have found all their hard work rendered useless by the latest release of their 1.1 API, as the vital flow of data has come to a halt or slowed greatly. Some might blame Twitter and say how dare they shut down the fire hose to the community. I think a lot of responsibility needs to be placed on the developers who consciously build on an ecosystem they knowingly can’t control.

Two examples cited directly by Michael Sippey on the Twitter blog are Tweetbot and Echofon. In the words of Sippey, “Nearly eighteen months ago, we gave developers guidance that they should not build client apps that mimic or reproduce the mainstream Twitter consumer client experience. And to reiterate what I wrote in my last post, that guidance continues to apply today.” I am not here to parse the he said she said, just to offer a warning to startups building their business on an API.

If your startup could have its throat cut by a TOS (Terms of Service) change or API change, you shouldn’t just brush inherent risks to your company under the carpet. Moving beyond the risks to your company you should also consider what the true value you are providing to your users. In many cases (especially in the case of social), apps merely have a new UI on top of the information of Twitter or Facebook.

On the contrary, there is something amazing to be said for companies who build into the ecosystem and allow their functionality to be seamless across a broader group of applications. The best example that comes to mind is 37 Signals universe and the way they have built and integrated into countless other useful applications. They allow vital business information to flow freely flow between systems.  The trouble I have with many other companies and apps that have emerged is their sole dependence on other ecosystems to drive data into their systems via an API.

Perhaps I have an old-fashioned view of the Internet when I propose the following.  Your application needs to be able to offer some additional value beyond what you can drive via an API call and the subsequent data derived from it. There are definitely edge cases for this statement, but there is an underlying problem in how people are approaching the creation of a new business. Create your own mechanism for your users to contribute data into your system and encourage them to be active users with their own accounts in your system. Your system needs to be able to able to stand on its own two legs. For many young startups, API calls have become a crutch in lieu of generating their own data.

Some soul searching needs to occur for a lot of young entrepreneurs who are trying to create something people will find interesting and use. Just because you can make an API call and slap a slightly new UI on it doesn’t make it a business.

Originally Published on TechCrunch

An impassioned plea to other Start-up founders to use automated tests

As our team gets closer to launching our latest start-up, I wish to pass on a piece of advice that has been a tough lesson for me to learn. Working on the business side of the shop, I have fought against automated tests for a while.  That all changed recently. My epiphany came after dealing with a few problems, doing some research and receiving sage advice from multiple people while working on Printchomp. The conclusion I reached was that automated tests save developers time and let you deliver more. This was a painful admission, but a correct one. Let me explain further as to how I came to this realization:

1.     Time it takes to do QA (Quality Assurance) without automated tests – I have been in multiple start-ups where automated tests didn’t exist, and let me just say the QA overhead was astronomical. Every time a new feature was rolled out we would have to check the code in multiple browsers in painstaking detail to see if a user could still make it through the checkout process. Due to the fact that basic testing flows weren’t in place, we would waste countless hours every time a new change or feature was introduced.

2.     It keeps the locus of control of the QA process closer to developers – I have advocated for a long time that there needs to be closer ownership of code by developers themselves. I have seen many instances where code was checked carelessly, and then tossed over the fence for the QA and business folks to find and fix the errors. With automated testing, developers can run more localized testing and make quick fixes that don’t involve monopolizing QA.  Running unit tests ahead of code check-ins are an invaluable step to save headaches later and reduce stress between stakeholders.

3.     You build faster – While it seems counter-intuitive, building tests saves you time in the long run. The knee jerk reaction is to spend your time building new features. I have had this reaction many times, but I realized I needed to change it. The best way, I think, is to think of your product as the Starship Enterprise. Scotty, an engineer, can only check so many things at once.  An automated test multiplies the ability of Scotty to diagnose and test multiple things. As Captain Kirk, your goal is to keep the Enterprise going forward. Something as simple as automated testing can keep you going at light-speed. One of the biggest time sinks in development is finding the problem. With proper tests in place you can isolate and figure out where the issue is.

4.     Ramps up training of new developers – With automated tests in place, it is easier for new developers coming into the system to understand code that they didn’t write. There is no one, probably not even your CTO, that will know every line of code in your system. If you have mechanisms in place for people to review and test, new users can quickly learn how the system works, key break points and key flows.

5.     Listening to wise people – whether it is from my CTO, Declan Whelan (an agile-ista), or getting amazing knowledge from people like Joe Stump, you need to listen to the smart people around you and let them put in place an infrastructure for success.  It also empowers you to give you the courage to go quickly, and push a feature that will work. Automated tests ensure that you can be confident that the feature you just pushed will work and you don’t hold your breath waiting for something to fail.

In conclusion, automated tests save time and help you get to market faster. If your goal is to rush to MVP without putting in place a scalable infrastructure that allows you to grow your code base, you are not only making a technical mistake but a business mistake. All startups that have dreams and design to grow and scale fast should be actively considering testing against all their main user flows. Those that don’t will do so at their own peril.

A 5km run that turned into a 40km run – a story about a startup

So as everyone has probably heard already, I recently lead the charge to launch a new startup called Printchomp. I started this back in April and needless to say it has been a whirlwind. I have had my share of highs and lows building something from nothing and it was nothing like I have ever done before. It drew a perfect parallel to another adventure I decided to undertake this week (this one purely by accident).

I was out for a simple 5km run 2 days after launch and I decided, what would happen if I just went a little bit further. That little bit further turned out to be 40km, just shy of a marathon distance run. I had never run this distance around the Bay before, but I had a voice in my head saying to me push a little further. My longest run for the year was 14km and mostly downhill so, was I skeptical if I was going to make it back. I guess that is the thing when you start a business or push outside of your comfort zone, you have to believe you are going to make it. The run to me became quickly a metaphor to starting a business. You have to be willing to put yourself in harms way, receive the slings an arrows of potentially failing to achieve your goals.

I became aware of on the run, no one was there to save me but myself. The success of your business rests on a the edge of a sword, and depending on what you are willing to put into it. You may just fail or you could succeed beyond your wildest dreams.

After getting to the finish line after a long run or a new launch,  A new race begins.  The voyage of turning an MVP into a service that the masses want to use. The brief glory, of getting to the finish line is quickly eclipsed by the reality that your race has only just begun.

In many ways the run was very cathartic for me. It gave me an opportunity to put things into perspective but also focus on the task at hand. It gave me an opportunity to look back on my failings and look for ways to improve and get better. Self reflection is a tricky thing, you have to pull away all of the noise and focus on the what is most important. Mind you on a 40km run you have a lot of time to think about a lot of things (Very Forrest Gump of me I know). I thought about previous jobs, people I have loved and lost, my family, my wife my child. At the end of the day, you make your own reality. This isn’t to say that you should pretend and live in a fake world.  On the contrary, one has the ability to choose what you make of your life.

Whoever says they are a self-made are lying to themselves. People invest time, energy and faith in you everyday. You need to take pause and appreciate when they do so, because you are better for it. I am better for it.

To all of those that have put their faith in me to create something from nothing, I say this, will is a powerful thing. A person may have many talents, but if they don’t have will to use them, they are squandered. Creating a business is like any other form of self expression. When you paint a painting, sing a song, or act on stage, you put yourself out there to be judged by the masses. Lauded for your victories or mocked for your defeats. If this run taught me anything it is this, don’t be afraid to push yourself out of your comfort zone. It is then and only then you will find out what you are made of.

5 Things a start-up founder should think about 30 days from launch

30 days out from launch I was reflecting on the top things I need to do to help make my company as successful as possible. Here were the top 5 things

1. MVP, MVP, MVP – This isn’t the time to get fancy with all the bells and whistles. You can always build them later. This is about making sure your system works. The question here should be “Is the baseline user experience working?”. I have been tempted to ask for this, that and the other. At the end of the day, the system needs to work in its purest form.

2. You are the Quality Assurance and the product manager – Testing is never a fun activity, but guess what? It is your responsibility to go out and test every freaking button, every square pixel of your user experience. IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO FIND ALL OF THE BUGS!

3. Focus and inspire your team – As the fearless leader of your team, it is your job to keep everyone pumped and excited and firing on all cylinders. It is easy for everyone to get distracted with background noise. Whether it be showing up with pizza while everyone works into the night, or passing on an encouraging word to someone who is really rocking it, it is your job to help everyone stay on their A game.

4. Prime the pump – Work with your perspective partners and customers ahead of time. If you haven’t done this yet, this is the time you want to start speaking to them. You want to hit the starting line with a running start not with a dead stop. This will rapidly help and ensure you will get moving faster.

5. Ask for help – You are only one person. Although you may be running yourself ragged to be all things to all people internally and externally, you need to not be afraid of asking for help. Friends, family or colleagues (assuming that you haven’t pissed them off) are generally more than willing to help you. Make sure you keep track and get ready to thank those people when you achieve what you set out to do. More times than not, people can forget or not be appreciative to all the people that helped them along the way.

Technical folks not respecting marketing makes me a Sad Panda

Lately, I have had the opportunity to sit across the table for a coffee or a beer with a lot of technically talented people. Some of them I have actively recruit into Printchomp, because I recognize their skillset and ability and what they bring to the table. I have however seen some irritating trends. So people may be working on their pet project, which is totally fine, but then as an after thought they wonder how can I get millions of people to using it.  This point leads me to my general hypothesis: that there are two equally important parts to balance the equation, the business part and technical part.

I just sat in on a MBA class of students pitching their company ideas, and one resounding thing came back time and again. Many spent the presentation talking about a cool new technology, but not the pain it was solving. This is how I feel sometimes when I am listening to pure technologists describe their product to me. Yes it might be technically excellent but why the hell would I want to use it?

There are some interesting lean principles regarding validation and testing hypotheses that can help pure technical people avoid those traps. That said I don’t think enough technical folks test those assumptions. It really comes back to why are you building this feature or product. One of the other judges at this university pitch presentation hit the nail on the head, build what you can sell not sell what you can build.

I will go to my final point. There is a lack of respect for marketing and business development. Converting people to using your service or product doesn’t “just happen”. There are some instances where things can strike a nerve and go bonkers, but the vast majority of things need to build an audience. Audiences are built using  good messaging and tactics, executed by a person who knows what they are doing.  If you are an engineer and approach a friend to help you with marketing, don’t expect that they will impart all their knowledge in 10 minutes. Imagine your disgust if they expected you to tell them all about development in 10 minutes, it ain’t gonna happen.

People need to consider tough questions like Cost Per Acquisition (CPA). They also have to know whether it is even worth it to acquire that customer, if you don’t have a downstream strategy, what is the point. One company in the pitch competition was stating their key differentiator to Dropbox was unlimited storage. I went on to painfully explain how one user could effectively break their business model.

Before I close, let me leave with these points. Can an engineer build something without the help of a businessperson? Absolutely! That said, they will increase their chances success by order of magnitude by leveraging talents that can help validate whether there is a market need for this and how to communicate those features to the marketplace.  Ask yourself, is this a business or is this an exercise in “can I build this”?

This is not an attack, but a request for the same respect you would demand of yourself.