qval blog

Traditional takes a hike for the Boulder business meeting

There are times when throwing on a suit and a tie and meeting in a conference room are appropriate, but often I find offices are a terrible place to do business. As it turns out business is just another part of life, and life is about relationships not projects.

On the day I decided to meet with Ruby guru Ara Howard, it was 75 degrees and sunny in Boulder for the first time in a long time. Ara and I agreed to go on a hike up Mt. Sanitas in in Boulder. Not only is a hike a great way to meet a person, it's also a great way to take the "suck" out of working on a beautiful day.

Here's the video I took at the top of Mt. Sanitas. The video shows that sometimes getting to know somebody means talking about baby carriers, hiking, and dogs. I learned a lot about Ara the person during the hike, and that's what relationships are all about.

Next time you schedule a "business" meeting, think about what you intend to accomplish and then use your open-minded judgment to make a decision regarding the best way to get it done. There are times when tradition rules in business, and there are times when it's 75 degrees and sunny outside and an amazing Boulder hike is calling.

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Bill Carroll

qval and Quist Valuation on Apple.com and 37signals.com

Apple did a business profile on Quist Valuation just around the time that we were beginning work on qval. Some months have passed since Apple first wrote the profile, and since then qval has split off from Quist Valuation as sister company. There is no doubt that switching to Apple at Quist was the gateway drug that lead us to 37signals products like Basecamp, and open source software such as Ruby on Rails.

With qval now less than a year old, it's pretty cool to see mention of us up on the Apple website and on 37signals. Sure, the profile is really a marketing piece for Apple, and while it may miss some of the finer points we would like to convey about qval and Quist Valuation, it captures our feelings about Apple and 37signals accurately.

The Profile on Apple.com:

Apple - Business Profiles - Quist Valuation: "‘We’re creating something that can capture the information that we need to do a valuation,’ he says. ‘If we have a program that makes it easy to capture information then an analyst doesn't have to spend his or her time cutting and pasting information into an Excel spreadsheet. It frees the analyst up to do things that are more analytical in nature. Our program is designed to replace dependence on the monotonous parts of the valuation process.’

Carroll decided to develop the software using Ruby on Rails, an open-source web programming language developed by a partner of 37signals."

(Via Apple - Business Profiles.)

And 37signals picking up the story:

37signals Product Blog: Apple profiles customer who saved $70k by using Macs and Basecamp: "Apple profiles customer who saved $70k by using Macs and Basecamp.

This Apple profile of Quist Valuation talks about how the company has used Basecamp and the Mac to replace $70,000 worth of Microsoft software and equipment."

(Via 37signals Product Blog.)

Product Blog update: Basecamp storage, podcast case study, Apple profiles a customer, Palm OS client for Backpack, etc. - (37signals): "Buzz/Press Apple profiles customer who saved $70k by using Macs and Basecamp

‘The Mac and Basecamp have replaced $70,000 worth of Microsoft software and related equipment. ‘We pay a few hundred dollars a month for an unlimited version of Basecamp,’ says Carroll. ‘It takes care of Microsoft SharePoint server, Microsoft Project server and most of Microsoft CRM. We’ve replaced a solution that would have cost at least $70,000 to fully implement and would have required a full-time tech consultant.’’"

(Via 37signals - Signal vs. Noise.)

We are very thankful to Apple and 37signals for all of the press! And of course Quist Valuation too. We are also thankful to Sara France, the wonderful and talented photographer who took the pictures for the profile. Sara has also been kind enough to plug us on her blog - More of my images on Apple.com

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Bill Carroll