Hey ColdFusion friends,

Please help me out and vote for me to meet Kevin Rose (Digg, Milk, Oink, etc.), who can help tremendously in my quest to build a successful ColdFusion-powered startup - Refynr.

[UPDATE]
Note that the top 5 vote-getters win the meeting with Kevin, so I don't have to be #1 to win this amazing chance of a lifetime.

http://commonred.com/kevin-rose (vote up on the red arrow below my face [Aaron Longnion]. You may need to sign up for CommonRed)

Thanks so much!

Aaron Longnion
Founder & CTO
http://refynr.com

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It's on Google Plus: https://plus.google.com/102177534078850027729/posts/JxuP7PVYSyi

What do you think about this serialized book being written on Google+?

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I'm pumped up!

Adobe offered me a 6-month contract (with possible hire or extension), and it was too good to refuse. I will be joining a team of veteran Adobe ColdFusion developers, and will get to work on the high-traffic downloads area of the site: get.adobe.com. I haven't worked on systems with so many millions of visitors per month before, so it will be a new challenge for me.

We may also work on some AIR-based apps and advanced javascript / jQuery stuff, so that should be fun, too!

I will move to San Jose in about a week, my family will stay in Austin for a while, and we'll decide later if they should move with me or not...

What does this mean for Refynr.com, my startup that _seems_ to be doing well, but isn't actually making money?

It runs pretty well as-is, but with some minor updates it should run better, even with only minimal time from me. I can't spend much time on it for a while, but may be able to spend more money on it. I don't know the future of Refynr yet; only time will tell... ;-)

What do you think of my latest move?

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After a few days of creating Circles, I realized that while Google+ was doing a good job of finding people from my GMail contacts that I'd want to connect with, G+ had no idea who my Twitter Followers and Friends were; I searched high and low and couldn't find a tool to find Google+ contacts from my Twitter contacts. Yesterday, I gave up searching and wrote my own tool to do it for you.

You can use Export.ly for free to get a CSV file of your Twitter Friends or Followers, then simply upload them to this tool and you'll get a list of links to peoples' Google Profiles, which very often go to their G+ Profile pages. Follow the instructions carefully.

http://refynr.com/Find_Google_Plus_Accounts_via_Twitter_Contacts.cfm

Keep in mind it's an Alpha product, so there may be bugs, it's a bit slow, and errors are possible. Let me know what you think and how it works for you.

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via refynr.com

Check out the latest features on the Refynr.com Features page

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We decided on this name for this book:
"From 9-to-5 Peon to Living the Dream, A Solo Entrepreneur's Journey"

Chapter 1: Can't get no...
https://plus.google.com/102177534078850027729/posts/Jf3suGCJbyH

Chapter 2: Entrepreneurial spirit 
https://plus.google.com/102177534078850027729/posts/FQUJRt7dBAZ

Chapter 3: Quitting my Job and Moving in with the In-laws
https://plus.google.com/102177534078850027729/posts/JiCefKddqZG

Chapter 4: Deciding on a Startup Idea, and How to do it Cheaply
https://plus.google.com/102177534078850027729/posts/VjtpQLtL192

Chapter 5: Finding my Way with the Early Concept
https://plus.google.com/102177534078850027729/posts/3nDwyhjYfxX

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Now that I've created my first startup, solo and bootstrapped in 10 months, I think I have a story worth writing about.

Follow along on Google+

Read the first book written via Google Plus

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[UPDATE 3, on July 15, 2011]: I solved the mystery of mySQL MAX(ID) queries timing out, though I don't know the root cause. Ideas?

I wrapped the query in question with a try/catch and sent the details to myself in an email with the UserID in the subject. I quickly saw a pattern that about 10 UserIDs kept showing up. I saw in the database that those accounts were for people that hadn't used Refynr for months, so I disabled their accounts and deleted their StreamItem data. Voila! The timeout errors are gone!

But I have no idea why. Some corrupt data? Some huge IDs that the system couldn't handle? Ideas?

[/UPDATE 3]

[UPDATE 4]

NOPE. That did NOT solve the problem. A couple of days later, presumably as the data grew again, the errors came back. I tried the trick from update 3 above, but new timeout errors kept coming up.

Next, I upgraded from MySQL 5.1 to 5.5. It didn't help.

Then, I even upgraded the server from 4G to 8G of RAM. That didn't help either.

I know I have poor database design, but I think in the long run I'm going to need something more scalable anyways, so I'm working on switching this table to MongoDB. So far, so good. It hasn't been too painful so far.

[/UPDATE 4]

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Okay, here's the situation:

1. I have a table called StreamItems that collects tweets/posts from Twitter and Facebook
2. The IDs from Twitter and FB are large numbers like 73054697145118720 and 100000057279452_212728265405748
3. The database server is dedicated for MySQL 5.1 Community, has 4G RAM, and is Quad Core
4. I've tuned the MySQL memory settings to match (I'm pretty sure I've done a decent job here, but could be wrong)
5. I get timeout errors at times when trying to get a MAX() or doing an ORDER BY on these IDs
6. Now that there's over 5 million Items saved, it can't handle the sorting necessary, so we need a better solution

My thought is to:

1. Create a table called StreamItemMaxIDs that stores the max IDs for each Twitter/FB account
2. Instead of scanning the whole StreamItems table for MAX or sorted IDs each time I need it, simply store the MAX ID in this separate table so that the query is fast every time

[I know that a NoSQL solution *might* be better (especially long-term), but am looking for a mySQL solution at the moment.]

So, should I keep the logic of updating the MAX IDs in the application-level code, or write a mySQL trigger? (Keep in mind I'm not a DBA)

Let me know if you need more info.

[UPDATE: here's the table schema]

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CREATE TABLE `StreamItems` (
  `StreamItemID` int(11) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
  `UserID` int(11) NOT NULL,
  `FilterID` int(11) NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
  `ItemText` varchar(2000) NOT NULL,
  `Source` varchar(64) NOT NULL,
  `DateTimeCreated` datetime NOT NULL,
  `DateTimeLastUpdated` datetime NOT NULL,
  `ExternalItemID` varchar(40) NOT NULL,
  `ExternalObjectType` varchar(16) DEFAULT NULL,
  `ExternalDescription` varchar(2000) DEFAULT NULL,
  `ExternalCreatedDate` datetime NOT NULL,
  `ExternalSource` varchar(512) NOT NULL,
  `ExternalFavorited` bit(1) NOT NULL,
  `ExternalLikesNum` smallint(6) DEFAULT NULL,
  `ExternalLinkURL` varchar(1024) DEFAULT NULL,
  `ExternalLinkName` varchar(128) DEFAULT NULL,
  `ExternalPictureURL` varchar(1024) DEFAULT NULL,
  `ExternalReplyStatusID` varchar(64) DEFAULT NULL,
  `ExternalReplyUserID` varchar(64) DEFAULT NULL,
  `ExternalReplyScreenName` varchar(32) DEFAULT NULL,
  `ExternalUserName` varchar(64) NOT NULL,
  `ExternalUserID` bigint(20) NOT NULL,
  `ExternalUserScreenName` varchar(32) NOT NULL,
  `ExternalUserImageURL` varchar(512) NOT NULL,
  `ExternalUserURL` varchar(512) NOT NULL,
  `ExternalUserProtected` bit(1) NOT NULL,
  `ExternalShareUserID` bigint(20) DEFAULT NULL,
  `ExternalShareScreenName` varchar(32) DEFAULT NULL,
  `ExternalIsMention` bit(1) NOT NULL DEFAULT b'0',
  `ExternalIsDM` bit(1) NOT NULL DEFAULT b'0',
  PRIMARY KEY (`StreamItemID`),
  UNIQUE KEY `idx_UserID_FilterID_Source_ExternalItemID` (`UserID`,`FilterID`,`Source`,`ExternalItemID`),
  KEY `idx_ExternalCreatedDate` (`ExternalCreatedDate`),
  KEY `idx_ExternalItemID` (`ExternalItemID`),
  KEY `idx_UserID_FilterID_ExternalIsDM` (`UserID`,`FilterID`,`ExternalIsDM`),
  KEY `idx_UserID_FilterID_ExternalIsMention` (`UserID`,`FilterID`,`ExternalIsMention`)
) ENGINE=InnoDB AUTO_INCREMENT=1 DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8;

[UPDATE 2: here's the dynamic SQL that times out under load]

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<cfquery name="local.rsGetMaxExternalItemID"
	datasource="#variables.settings.DSN_master#"
	timeout="#variables.settings.databaseTimeout#">
<!--- below are samples of old MAX() statements that ran slower than ORDER BY --->
<!--- SELECT		MAX( REPLACE(ExternalItemID, '_', '') ) AS ExternalItemID --->
<!--- SELECT 		MAX( CAST(ExternalItemID AS UNSIGNED) ) AS ExternalItemID --->
SELECT		ExternalItemID
FROM		StreamItems
WHERE		UserID = <cfqueryparam value="#arguments.UserID#" cfsqltype="cf_sql_integer" />
AND			FilterID = <cfqueryparam value="#arguments.FilterID#" cfsqltype="cf_sql_integer" />
AND			Source = <cfqueryparam value="#arguments.Source#" cfsqltype="cf_sql_varchar" />
<cfif StructKeyExists(arguments, "ExternalIsMention")>
	AND		ExternalIsMention = <cfqueryparam value="#arguments.ExternalIsMention#" cfsqltype="cf_sql_bit" />
</cfif>
<cfif StructKeyExists(arguments, "ExternalIsDM")>
	AND		ExternalIsDM = <cfqueryparam value="#arguments.ExternalIsDM#" cfsqltype="cf_sql_bit" />
</cfif>
ORDER BY	ExternalCreatedDate DESC
LIMIT 1
</cfquery>

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Okay, I know you can already use the Google Chrome Refynr app as a near-native desktop app.

So, why put it in Adobe AIR?

1. Cuz it can be an application within your PC or Mac, which makes it easier to navigate to and use.
2. You can add features on top of it - in this case: auto-refresh
3. Steve Good (http://stevegood.org/) offered to build the AIR version for free. Awesome! Thanks Steve "significantly better than" Good!!

What does it look like on my Mac?

Anyone else interested in this? We have a few small bugs to work out, and then the first Beta of Refynr Desktop may be available to test soon!

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About 3 months back, I really wanted more feedback about my home page and web app. I knew the home pages and app needed significant improvement in the UI and User Experience.

But I felt that I had asked too much of my 500+ Beta testers already, and needed some fresh perspectives. So, when I came across http://StartupLift.com, I gave it a try. It doesn't cost much :)

So, here's the page where new users gave public feedback via StartupLift on Refynr back in March.

It's hard to be publicly "roasted", but if you stay open minded, don't defend too much, you can learn a lot! I ended up making many of the changes suggested, and the Bounce Rate (as measured by Google Analytics) has gone from 65+% to about 45% now. That's a huge improvement, and I may do it again at some point to try to improve the Bounce Rate another 10-15 points.

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(full disclosure: I'm honored to be the brother of GEO's Founder, JD Longnion)

If you're in Austin, TX get a highly discounted oil change at one of 10 Austin locations, support a local startup, and make our world a little "greener"

Green Earth Oil Groupon Deal of the Day

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A new Refynr customer sent me an email pointing to this great TED talk warning to beware of "filter bubbles", and the user wrote, "I believe you need to do without the filters. I'm not going to be talking about something I don't know about and so some relevant and important tweets will be screened out. ... This TED talk explains why filters screen out the kind of thing that while not of immediate interest - are relevant.", and I replied to defend Refynr:

I love that TED talk, and have tweeted it and shared it with many friends... but I actually think the "filter bubbles" he's referring to are the auto-magic, algorithmic ones like Google search, FB News Feeds, and even smartr. Those tools are only *guessing* at what you want to see. Refynr puts you in control. If one week, you want to filter out everything about the "royal wedding" or "Opra", you can do that. If one day, you want to make sure you don't miss anything about a certain football match, add that to your Include filters. If you want to mute a certain @user or #stupidConference, just add it to your Exclusions ;-)  Some people don't want filters at all, some want an algorithm to do the filtering for them, but I want to be able to explicitly filter whatever I want at any given time - so that's what I created Refynr.

Another friend on Facebook sent me the following question, and also referred me to the TED talk: "Is Refynr a bad idea?" I replied:

that's a great TED talk. I've seen it and have been thinking about it a fair amount... 

I think the talk is more referring to Google, FB, and other services that are auto-curating content without your permission, thus removing the control from you. That's the biggest problem, but there's also the problem where people are putting their head in the sand, creating those "filter bubbles" for themselves.

Refynr, or similar explicit filter systems, I believe are essential for people or businesses who are very active on Twitter... once you follow more than 50-100 people, the information overload becomes just too much. People can go too far, and filter out everything except that which is in their comfort zone. It's my hope that people will not filter *that* much, but will create filters in such a way that they still learn new things, especially information that is important for people to know about the world.

Too information is a bad idea.
Over-filtering is a bad idea.
Auto-filtering, without consent, is a bad idea.

For the most part, people use Refynr to intelligently filter the info overload, so I think it's a good idea.

So, now I want to know: what do you think?

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Since I'm not that great with web design, CSS, or UX I've started simple with the design of Refynr.com's web app. This is a bad thing at times for my users, who expect a better user experience, so I incrementally improve over time. 

One problem was that the content is made up of streams/feeds of data from Twitter & Facebook, so there was a lot of scrolling. As you scrolled in the old version, you lost quick access to the navigation. Being totally out of touch with CSS these days, I didn't even know that I could have a "fixed" header with pure CSS; I actually thought I would have to use dreaded frames! And I had also investigated doing a fancy jQuery menu that annoyingly followed you down the screen, complete with bouncy animations... glad I didn't go that route!

I noticed that my blog theme had a fixed menu (see, on the left), and viewed source: what?! No frames?! So, I did some googling and found a great, beginner article (perfect for me!) to show my how to create fixed headers (or footers) via CSS: http://www.noobcube.com/tutorials/html-css/fixed-header-footer-layout-a-begin...

It was pretty easy, I didn't have to reoganize my HTML markup (except for adding an id or two to some DIVs), and voila, it works! I tested on Firefox 3.6, Chrome, Safari, and IE 7, 8 & 9... guess this technique has been available for a while... *sigh*. 

Here's what the old version looked like:

But here's the new version... w00t!

See the full gallery on Posterous

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Me too!

So, I added the functionality for you. And you can help me test it.

But first, you may ask, "What's the problem with Twitter Search?". Easy: spam!

Let's take this twitter search as an example: coldfusion OR railo OR CFML OR OpenBD

I put it in HootSuite, and here's what I get:

As you can see, many tweets are spam, but there are also quite a few good ones in there. Sure, you can do some negative filters with the built-in Twitter search, but you only have a total of 140 characters for your positive and negative filters combined. That ain't gonna work.

Refynr gives you up to 20 negative filters! With Refynr Filters, you can enter your Twitter Search string (all positive if you want), and let Refynr help with the negative (Exclusion filters). The Refynr filters also can filter out usernames (no @ sign needed) and #hashtags. Here's my sample Refynr Filter List for the CFML search:

And here's what the results look like in the Refynr web app interface. Remember, there's a mobile version, too (via jQuery Mobile):

A special thanks to Matt Gifford for adding Twitter Search API capabilities to MonkehTweet (http://monkehtweet.riaforge.org/), which a great, easy-to-use CFC library for Twitter API interaction. I love it!

Want to test it?

1. You'll need Refynr account. Sign up here: https://refynr.com/secure/signup.cfm. And connect to Twitter, and create a new Filter List with the Exclusions you want.
2. Log in here: https://refynr.com/secure/login.cfm
3. Use this URL to test with: http://refynr.com/secure/account/TwitterSearch.cfm?qTwitter=coldfusion%20OR%2...
4. Note that, for now, the Filter List that you have connected to your Twitter account is the only one that affects your Twitter search on the above URL

Next up?

• I need to figure out how to best integrate it into the Refynr UI. Thoughts?
• I will make it so that you can have a Filter List applied separately from your Home Timeline, and another for your Twitter Search. And I need to figure how many Searches I should support
• Test and get feedback.
• Iterate. Get feedback. Iterate. Repeat...

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Honored to be on the home page, with a cool review!

http://oneforty.com/blog/refynr-triberr-product-review/

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A week and a half ago, I finally got out there and met some non-programmers with startups. In Austin.

For the first 8 months of creating my first startup, I've been working out of my inlaws house, practically hiding from the outside world, near Flower Mound, TX.

Hiding was great for keeping focus, but horrible for making *real* contacts - I've made a ton of "friends" on Twitter, Facebook, and via my blog, but it's not the same when you don't talk to them in person.

What did I do, and how did it go?

I was in Austin for 4 days, but found plenty to do!

• April 19th - Social Media Club of Austin: a panel discussion - http://socialmediaclub.org/event/april-meeting-social-mobile-go-panel

  A lot of great discussions about Social Media, present and future, from expert panelists with cool companies in Austin. Met the http://helpattack.com guy - very impressed with what they're doing for good causes with Social Networks!

• April 20th - Intro to TechRanch Austin - http://www.techranchaustin.com/stakeholder

  Austin Gunter went over TechRanch, how it helps startups in general, and how it can help me specifically. Also met another entrepreneur who has a tech and business (MBA) background. He's a great guy, and hope to keep in touch with him, because he really knows his stuff!

• April 21st - Open Coffee for Startups, Central Austin - http://blog.damonc.com/2011/01/03/open-coffee-austin-rebooted/

  Heard about this on the Austin Startups Facebook Group, and decided to check it out. At first, I couldn't tell who at the coffee shop was part of the group, and so I didn't know what to do. It would be cool if there were signs or something to help new people figure out what to do. Eventually, I figured it out, and met some great people, such as the guy who started the Open Coffee, @Damon. I also met a real veteran marketing expert; I followed up, and we have a marketing meeting over coffee next time I'm in Austin. I soooo need this type of help!

• April 21st - Met with a potential business customer - private conversations
• April 22nd - Had lunch with @jdhancock

  This was great being able to meet a fellow Austinite, who's also a coder, social media guy, Refynr user, that even worked at the same Austin company as me (we didn't realize this until our lunch). He's very active with SM, was fun to just talk with, and gave great feedback on how he uses my software to do research. There's nothing more eye-opening than talking to users in person about your startup. Invaluable!

• April 22nd - TechRanch Austin Campfire - http://www.techranchaustin.com/campfire

  This was really awesome, and was the highlight of my trip! They gave a nice intro to the various programs that TechRanch offers, and then we got in groups (there were about 30 of us) of 5 or 6 - in the groups we each had 2 minutes to give a quick pitch, and then say what we could each offer to the group, and then what help we are requesting. The offer and requests were things like technical skills, marketing, sales, business knowledge, office space, legal expertise, accounting, etc. Wow! In about 20 minutes, I met people that could offer all types of help in many areas that I suck at - web app design, video editing, marketing, accounting, veteran entrepreneurs, and more.

  After those group discussions, they had a social happy hour right in the TechRanch facilities, where I could talk in more depth with the people who had the most useful skills for me. So, that marketing guy I met back on Wednesday did me a huge favor and broke down the best way to approach a business deal with my first potential corporate customer. Some techies gave me tips on improving my software. I met a founder whose company was at a nearly-identical stage as mine. I got to talk with the leaders of TechRanch, and it leaves me hungry for more. Can't wait to get back to Austin - which I'm planning next week!

Anyone else loving the Austin startup scene as much as me?  ;-)

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Whether real or just my own perception, I feel it's time to monetize my startup. There are nearly 700 users, and another 40 on the LaunchRock waiting list, but Refynr needs to make revenue, or I'm afraid it will whither and die...

Here's the current features (see http://Refynr.com):

1. Up to 30 custom filters to filter out the clutter from your Twitter Timeline & Facebook News Feed
2. A web client that works in all the major browsers, plus a mobile web version for iPad, iPhones, & Android devices (probably Win Mobile and BlackBerry, too)
3. Filtered Refynr Stream is saved permanently, so that you can read/search for any items later (such as after your vacation)
4. (Optional) Daily Emails, with the latest from your Refynr Stream

Here's the major features that customers/advisors have suggested for the future:

1. a Twitter-compatible API, so that feeds could be pulled into other clients/services, such as TweetDeck, HootSuite, etc
2. support for Twitter Lists
3. support for Twitter Search
4. ability to pull in RSS feeds, and add Refynr filters to them
5. sell Refynr to companies, as a way to let employees keep up with Social Networks, without the distractions. The company admin would be able to set Filters company-wide (or by department), and I could charge a premium for the service

I'm reaching out to any of you to ask if you can help point me in the right direction. As you may know, I'm a solo founder, first-timer, and bootstrapping Refynr. Getting free customers has gone pretty well, and the technology is solid, but soon I feel I need to move to the next step. The next step could mean getting investments or finding a way to monetize relatively quickly (or other?). I feel it's time for a next major step because:

• I have about 3 more months of my own money to put into Refynr before I start running low
• Acquiring more free customers without generating revenue is burning my cash faster and faster (server costs & no income)
• I have a Minimal Viable Product (MVP), but little marketing skills myself, so need an advisor/consultant to help with sales/marketing
• If someone could concentrate on marketing, then I could focus on the next set of features: RSS, an API, improved UI, etc.
• I am a beta tester for the Twitter Promotions ad platform (one of 600), so have a huge opportunity to market, if only I was good at it! :D

What I've tried:

• LaunchRock: gets people a little more excited because they are put on a waiting list and can tweet about it, but it hasn't made it viral enough to get the thousands of users.
• Pulling hundreds of new visitors to the site via Twitter Promoted Tweets - this gives me a lot of traffic, but the bounce rate tends to be above 70%, so I spend too much for a limited number of sign-ups. This may be that I'm not promoting to the right people on Twitter with these tweets...?
• Charging a one-time $5 fee to sign up. In a week, I was only able to get 3 people to sign up for a mere $5. That was very discouraging!! I know most people don't want to spend anything for Social Network stuff, and that a Trial would be more reasonable, but I figure if more than 3 people won't even pay $5 then the perceived value is not good. Am I not thinking about this right?

My questions to you:

1. What steps would you suggest I take next?
2. Are there current features that I should enhance to make Refynr more attractive?
3. Which of future features would be best to focus on first, in order to monetize?
4. Am I at the point where I need a co-founder?
5. Or should I work on getting funding?
6. Or should I try to find sales consultants to help?
7. Other thoughs, ideas, or questions?
8. I didn't want to put ads (Google) on Refynr because I think it defeats the purpose of de-cluttering your feeds. Should I reconsider?

Answer in the comments or email me: aaron *at* refynr [dot] com

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