Kalzumeus Software
My name is Patrick McKenzie (better known as patio11 on the Internets). Once upon a time, I was an engineer. I had an idea for some software. Programming it was pretty easy. Marketing it was not, but I really enjoyed the new challenge. At some point over the years, I graduated from being an engineer to running a software business. I’ve been blogging regularly since 2006 — check out my greatest hits] for a curated list of the best stuff I’ve produced, or read this if you want the brief overview.
Kalzumeus Software is named after a dragon in a long-forgotten RPG campaign. It’s so hard to find available .com domain names these days, I swear.
I love talking to other small businesses at any time, for any reason: please, drop me an email. I respond to as many as I can, time permitting. Nothing makes me happier than helping people out. See the Standing Invitation for details.
These days I’m working at Stripe on Atlas. Opinions expressed on this site are my own.
Some Things I've Done
I've run a few small software companies over the last few years, but am not actively involved in any at present. Some examples:
Bingo Card Creator
Bingo Card Creator makes bingo cards for teachers. This was my first business; I ran it from 2006 through 2015.Appointment Reminder
Appointment Reminder makes automated phone calls, emails, and text messages to the clients of professional services business. I founded it in 2010 and sold the business in September 2016.Kalzumeus Software
Kalzumeus Software is the catch-all umbrella for my consulting business (which was mostly active from 2010 through 2012) and occasional side projects.Recent Blog Posts
Kalzumeus Software Year In Review 2016
December 30, 2016
December 30, 2016
I’m Patrick McKenzie, perhaps better known as patio11 on the Internet. I ran a succession of small software businesses from 2006 through 2016. They started out as a side project and took over my professional life.
I try to publish a retrospective at the end of every year, including what happened, what I learned from it, and what the numbers looked like. This helps force me to plan, keeps me honest about how plans worked out, and hopefully helps some readers improve their own businesses. You can read the writeups for 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014. (I didn’t do one of these writeups in 2015. Starfighter had just launched; the entirety of the writeup would have been “This was the year I worked on Starfighter.”)
I’m Joining Stripe to Work on Atlas
September 09, 2016
September 09, 2016
I sold Bingo Card Creator, the business I’m probably best known for, through FEI last year. Thomas Smale, the principal of that brokerage, is now a buddy of mine, and he agreed to chat with me a bit about what goes into buying and selling online businesses. I think it is of particular interest to those of you with SaaS businesses already, but it might also be interesting for those of you who might found one eventually, as you can make early decisions (like e.g. technology stack) which built improved saleability into the business from day one.