Today we’d like to introduce you to Rob Kaufman.
Rob, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I was fortunate to know early in life that I wanted to write software. My dad was a developer for NASA, but I knew I wanted a more entrepreneurial bend to my career. I set a goal to start my own company before I turned 30, so at 26, when the startup I worked for fell apart, I jumped at the chance to start consulting. From the start, the big goal of Notch8 was to observe what made projects succeed and what caused them to fail and to learn from that. We’ve seen a lot of projects since then and have learned a lot about defining that success and aligning our projects to reach it. More importantly, though, it’s honestly really rewarding to help people build great software and get their dream out into the world.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
For the first few years, Notch8 it was just me solo. I started experimenting with ways to expand and had almost given up. A former boss of mine, Matt Clark, reached out to me to help relaunch photos.com for Getty Images. As that contract wrapped up, he told me he was moving on and hoped to do something similar to what I had done. Bringing Matt into Notch8 was a great fit and we’ve been growing it together ever since. Like all consultancies, we’ve had our ups and downs. Agencies like ours tend to be feast or famine when it comes to work coming in. Over the years we’ve developed a strategy to smooth out the hard times by balancing our client portfolio in the same way one might balance a stock portfolio. Some high risk, high growth clients; some tried and true, less lucrative clients; and a generally higher number of clients than similarly sized organizations. It is a little more work day to day, but it means not having to lay off great developers just because a client decided to change direction.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Notch8 – what should we know?
When we work with a new client, it is very clear that they’ve been dreaming of the app or service for a while. We work with them to draw that vision out and make it a reality. Along the way, we help them trim and form the product to get something that can really have a chance at succeeding. We work primarily with Ruby on Rails, ReactJS and React Native at the moment, but we are very much about using the best tool for any job. Because we focus on the long term with our clients, it lets us focus more on building something that will be able to scale and stand the inevitable changes that any software project goes through. I’m proud to say that the first company to ever write “Notch8” on a check still works with us today. That long term focus also means we don’t have some of the same problems that other developers do. We don’t feel threatened by our clients bringing on developers and in fact welcome the chance to help them build and mold internal teams. We believe the stronger a client is the better the chance of them doing more work with us in the future. We provide training, manage apprenticeships and do long term maintenance on the projects we build.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
I’ve always tended to be the type to jump off a cliff and then start figuring out how to land. Part of that is I have such a strong support network that I know I’ll land ok one way or another. Being able to take managed risks is hugely important to getting me where I am today. Another big piece of the puzzle for me was understanding how much of a role good relationships play in business. Going out of your way to be nice to someone or respectful can have a huge impact on your future success. I know the saying is that nice guys finish last, but I’ve always found that through helping others might slow you down, you always have the help you need to finish that way.
Pricing:
- Ongoing maintenance plans start at $300/month
- Code audits start at $600
- Contact us to start a proposal for any kind of work!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.Notch8.com
- Email: connect@notch8.com
Getting in touch: SDVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
