Ask David Dellanave Questions Round 3
Dave aka Dillsmack started with me 3 years ago this August. I think his starting pay rate was 15$/hour. That did not last long. I think after about 3 months we actually started on our first partnership equity deal. Now Dave has a net worth well over 1 million dollars (and only 23). He could have left me any time for greener more stable pastures and I always told him if he thought there was a better deal for him to go for it. He instead chose to go for it with me and my crazy ass ideas.
We complement each other very well. While I am the eternal optimist and can find 10 reasons why something will work Dave will come up with 10 reasons why it wont and together we find winning ideas. So if you’re not familiar with Dave then you’re probably wondering what he does. Basically I tell people “He is the DJ and I am the rapper” which means I am the marketer and he is the programmer.
I could say more but I don’t want to jade the questions SO!!!!!!!!!
So without further ado lets open up this week’s Q & A to the guy most recently named Minneapolis Minnesota’s most eligible bachelor - my partner - 23 year old internet mogul David “Dillsmack” Dellanave.
This post is now closed for questions.
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What motivates you to be with shoe and not doing all that stuff by yourself.
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What are your interests outside of programming?
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I think the most obvious question is “How is it working with Shoe?”
I’d also like to know whether you’ve received and obviously turned down any other impressive offers.
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DJ and rapper? Why not Woz and Jobs?
My question, so Dillsmack how much hack have you done? I see some wardriving stuff at http://www.dellanave.com/projects/.
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What do you think every web developer should know about security as it pertains to server-side code?
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I don’t have a question, but I do have a comment.
The relationship between you two is one that ALL programmers should pay FULL attention to. Why? Because 99.9% of programmers are FLAKES!
FLAKES who either start a project and can’t finish it, or just do a half a$$ job.
Dave obviously did his job right from the jump, in turn you gave him more work, and eventually made him a full time employee, whom I’m sure is payed very well.
ALL programmers should take ownership in every project they do, there are plenty more Shoemoney’s out there who will pay you for a job well done.
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Do you still reside in Minnesota?
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Dave, did you originally begin programming at a young age or was it something like front-end design that led you into hard coding and such?
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Dave, have you got a mac too, like shoe
and how did you get in contact with shoe?
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Dave, what’s up with your own personal website? It’s pretty lame for a guy with such killer skills… Do you think you will ever put up a site that is more interesting or do you not have the time to put into your site?
Thanks in advance, Corey
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Who helps you guys structure the equity sharing/ partnership deals and how does that work?
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Do you like to watch movies about gladiators?
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How many hours a day do you work?
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Would you suggest to other webdeveloppers to work together with a marketer ?
I’m talking about the programmers who want to launch there own projects/sites.
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1 Million?!?! Ahh, congrats. Good for him :).
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Why did you decide to stick with shoe, and what do you believe is the most vital thing in your relationship with him?
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How is possible from something like spyfu to work, even though I know you guys don’t like the data?
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why have you not tried dating shoes babysitter?
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How did you get hooked up with Shoe?? How did you get a job working with him?
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Dave, at 22 and a millionaire I gotta know man, what kind of car do you drive?
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Dave, when Jeremy comes to you with an idea how do you start working on it? For example I like to sketch out what each page will look like on paper (paper prototype) and then I create a logic flow chart of how it will work.
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Wow, good what constitutes your net worth of million dollar?
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Kiley,
I’m here to challenge your theory that 99.9% of programmers are FLAKES. I’m speaking up for myself, because the majority of programmers are flakes and I get a bad name for it. Especially when I ask for a 50% down payment. Also, to people who hire us programmers. When we give you a quote, don’t come back and tell us that Indians can do something that would cost $2k for 3 cents. I love to program, yes I do, but I also have a family to feed, mortgage and bills. So Kiley, if you are looking for a David Dellanave, you got my web address, use the form to find me.
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And now for my questions..
How do you know when to trust an entretpreneur when working for equity? Do you draw up a contract? Do you do half equity, half pay? Do you guys go through planning on paper first then you hit the programming or do you just start with an idea and you start moving it around until it’s finished?
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When did you start programming, and what languages did you start with? Did you go to college, and if so what did you major in?
I know I know it’s a two part question, but I’m quite curious.
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For the two of ye really, how did you learn how to load balance and scale auctionads? Did you get someone else in. Seems like a big and important job for people with no experience.
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I find this interesting, since my business partner and I have a similar relationship.
David, what is the craziest idea Shoe has come up with and what did you have to say/do to get him off the track?
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How do you guys work remotely? Do you IM, Skype, etc? Any secrets to making that work?
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Do you have personal projects that you would like to share?
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If you were new to the internet today and wanted to make a living at it, where would you start… what would you do?
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do you like to get your dill smacked?
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Which language did you (and how old were you when you when you?) first learnt programming?
I’d also like a bit of information on how your first “equity split” went? Not too sure how to go about that but I think that’s what I’d like to do for my next project (with my own davey of course :p )
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How is your truck dashboard? Did you ever get sued by that sucky company?
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Shoe has to be one of the smartest guys in this business.
If you had to start over with nothing, what one piece on internet wisdom from Shoe would you want to use. Please
use something other than “just do it” phase.
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dang you stole my quesiton haha
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Which programming language are you most proficient at?
Thanks, Mike
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hard coding = static code, not a deeper level of coding :). For example: if you pull prices from a database and you want to temporarily override the price you could comment out the code that pulls the price and “hard code” in $9.95 (or whatever). I’m only clarifying because it’s a common misconception.
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2 questions in 1 post. Please answer both if you can
Do you use any web frameworks (django, cakephp, rails). I know Perl is your favorite language, but what do you think of Python?
Those are my two questions. Thanks Shoe and thanks Dave!
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where are the Mrs Shoemoney questions????
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Did you ever get carpal tunnel or tendinitis from programming? I did (tendinitis) so I quit doing work for other people..
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dave,
what is your 5 years goal?
how do you forecast about make money online in 5 years from now?.
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What are you going to do with all the cash you made from AuctionAds?
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Why do you think so many programmers have no idea how to make money with what they do, except from paychecks? You are an obvious exception, but I’m always working with programmers that put in 60+ hours for 70K or so a year when they could use their skills to rake in twice that on their own.
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Seriously, when are you and Shoe coming out with a Rap single I can promote for my ringtones campaign!
I kid, actually I’m just curious as to what you plan to do in the future? Goals, ambitions, etc.
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best question so far
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How much does an eyeball weigh?
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*LOL*…. here is a good question.. How do you put up with Shoe Day in and day out it has to get old… ? *L*
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When working on new business ideas, what step by step process do you go through to determine which tasks to do daily.
What process do you use to evaluate new business ideas? # of users, costs? revenue potential?
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When you first graduated from high school, where did you see yourself at age 23?
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Is your relationship with shoe more than just a friend thing?
j/k j/k
Here’s my real question…
Do you have a college degree?
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When you and Shoe are in the same room, can you really see yourself off the reflection on his head if the lights are bright?
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A lot of freelancers are flakes but not 99%. The problem is there is a certain level of anonymity which allows people with almost no experience to jump in and try and get some work. I guess there are pros and cons to working with freelancers
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Great question. Please share some of these details.
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cash + assets obv.
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MillionDollarHomepage obviously
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Hookers and blow!
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Hesitate to ask, where did moniker Dillsmack come from and
if printable what does it mean?
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23 and already made his first million. nice…
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Smack! What advice would you give to noobs about programming? i.e. where to start, what languages to focus on, what to prepare for in the near future….
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There are a lot of freelance websites where people are prepared to work for next to nothing. Do you think that makes it difficult for people in a similar position to you to achieve success?
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Where is a reliable place to get good PHP programmers, both US and foreign?
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Do you spend time on learning projects simply to try out some new API, language, or piece of technology? Or do you mostly learn new things along the way with “real” shippable projects?
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haha stole mine aswell
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How much harder is it to break through as a programmer when there is so many foreign providers offering cheap services? What did you do to compete with them?
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Hey David,
where do you see yourself in 5 years?
V
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It’s quite funny - if you do a Google search for Phoenix Imaging, Dillsmack’s critique still makes the first page. You do not want to give poor customer service to a net entrepreneur!
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Do you see yourself as a marketer as well as a programmer since working with Shoe and do you see yourself taking marketing projects of your own in the future?
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How do you know he’s not dating her?
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what programming tools do you use?
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When you started with Shoe 3 years ago did you imagine you would be this successful 3 years later? Or did you just think of it as a stepping stone to something better down the line?
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In case you had to look it up like me (Wikipeida):
Tendinitis is a painful disorder of a tendon
Carpal Tunnel a medical condition in which the median nerve is compressed at the wrist, leading to pain, paresthesias, and muscle weakness in the forearm and hand
That must have been some hardcore programming!
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Ok last one I promise!!
Do you think you could’ve been just as or more successful with anyone else?! Or was it the Shoemoney + Dave equation that = Success do you think?
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Do you know Max Action?
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How would you go about building an auctionsniper-esque widget for drupal/wordpress?
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Hmm….all hail the mogul, Dave.
Here’s my 2cents - who’d win GenX OS war? MS or Apple?” No apple biased answers please.
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In what projects have you worked with shoe?
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DDN, when you were 5, what did you want to be when you grew up?
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What is your sleeping schedule? How many hours of sleep do you average per night?
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Sounds like a great team with a simple philosophy, good ideas + practical talent = winning combination.
Do you find Jeremy a hindrance more than a help at times with his hands on approach to his projects or do you enjoy the constant Q & feedback?
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Me being a programmer myself can certainly say that not 99.9% programmer are flakes. I am in India and many of the time looking at the bids placed by programmers at freelance sites, the bid amount is unreal even by living cost standards of India or even any other developing nation. The only way they are able to offer such cheap rates is either subquality work or pirated work. So in summary indeed at freelance sites, the percentage of Flake programmers is significantly higher but ultimately at the end you get what you pay for.
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Do you know any young hardworking programmers that want to (and are capable) accomplish what you did? I got some killer ideas but no programming skills. Hook me up.
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What are the specs on your computer(s)? What OS do you run? What’s your programming editor of choice (eg. Notepad)? Thanks.
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how many hours do you work? and how’s your offline world?
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maybe i’d garner some rude comment from shoe….but anyway…
how’d you rate shoe? pleasant, cool, hothead, satirical, snarky, crazy…
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What you think where you will stand if you dont find Shoe?
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i say, ur design uses tables a lot… not a good idea…it loads a bit slow
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