The Art of the Accidental Launch

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On Tuesday we pushed a major update that allows you to sign in to Groupnotes using your Facebook account. If the email you signed up for Groupnotes with is the same one you use for Facebook, log in with your Facebook to easily invite and Groupnote with your Facebook friends! (Yeah, I totally just used it as a verb.)

At the same time, we briefly opened Groupnotes to the public. Now this wasn’t the typical champagne poppin’, party throwing launch, but more of an accidental one. Whoops. It was open for about an hour until we realized what we did and closed it again.

So to the 23 of you sneaky users who made it onto the system, well done. We’ll let you stay. For the rest of you, find a friend to invite you or sign up now!

Stick it to the web!

Greg

Four Weeks

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Thursday, March 28th. A day that may not hold a lot of significance in your life. But in ours, it’s a big one.

We now have four weeks to Demo Day.

So what does this mean? Well, it means that we’re two thirds of the way through this crazy three month sprint called HYPERDRIVE. For the last eight weeks, we’ve been working hard (with the exception of the odd event) to make Groupnotes as awesome and useful for you, our favorite user! In the next four weeks, we want to get as many of you using Groupnotes as possible so we can show everyone at Demo Day that if they’re not using Groupnotes, they’re missing out!

So if you’re not using Groupnotes, find a friend who is and ask them to invite you! If you’re the trendsetter of the group and the first of your friends to find us, sign up for our beta and we’ll get you an invite very soon. You can then invite your friends and get all the praise (and probably gifts or drinks) for introducing them to Groupnotes!

With a clock counting down the seconds until April 25th looming ominously overhead, it’s back to work for now.

Stick it to the web,

Greg

Pitchin’ at Communitech Mic Nite

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On Thursday night, we took part in Communitech’s Mic Nite pitch competition. The judging was based on an audience vote so we figured that we better pull out all the stops to win over the crowd.

Decked out in our matching orange pants, we hit the stage with our handmade props for our “real life explainer video”. This even included a very cute dress for Jason to demonstrate how Groupnotes can help you shop online with your friends!

It came down to a tight decision between us and a poetic pitch from our friends at Dandy, but with the help of our handmade poster board megaphone, we were able take home the title! We walked away with a new BlackBerry Z10, the prestigious ”diamond” encrusted microphone, and some great new connections.

Mic Nite

It was great to get out and hear some great pitches from a few of the fantastic local companies. If you missed it, Demo Day is right around the corner and will feature us along side the other 10 cohort 2 companies! Be There!

In the meantime, sign up for our beta and Stick it to the Web!

Greg

Matt at Mic Nite

Matt with the Z10 and Diamond Mic

Startup Music Monday: We Are Never Ever Writing Code Together!

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Sorry for the lack of posts last week, folks. We’ve been busy pushing release and bringing more of your fine faces onto the platform! To those we’ve invited to the beta, WELCOME – We hope you’re loving it! And to those who are still waiting, don’t worry, you just get a more stable version ;D

If you really can’t wait, a tweet to @groupnotes or an email to one of our sexy founders (as you saw in our wondrous music videos) goes a lonnng way ;)

Now for the good stuff, as I’ve promised a few people another startup song, this week I present: We Are Never Ever Writing Code Together! The original is sort of depressing yet upbeat, so let’s go with that. My good pal T. Swizzy (you gotta EARN the right to call her that) is totally in love with the changes I made.

So without further adieu…

Startup Jams: We Are Never Ever Writing Code Together
by Matt Gardner (founder of @groupnotes)
Original by T. Swizzy

(Once again, sing along to the Karaoke Version!)

I remember when we found bugs, the first time
Saying this is it, this code sucks, ’cause like
We haven’t pushed production in a month
When you said we’d, add a, break

Sweet!

Then you come around again and say
Hey guys, I missed one but I swear we’ll push this change
Trust me
Remember how you said it’ll take a day
I say, “We’ll ship this”, we break it, then stay up, “I hate code.”

Oooooh, we tried to launch again last night
But oooooooh, this time, I’m telling you, telling you

We are never ever ever writing code together,
We are never ever ever writing code together,
You go code in java, code in ajax, or PHP
But WE are never ever ever ever writing code together

Like, ever…

I’m really gonna miss your paradigms
And me coding but I’m thinking they’re not right
And you would code away and add some bugs to mine
With a lack of comments that are of any use to me

Ooh, you broke our node again tonight
But ooh, this time I’m telling you, I’m telling you

We are never ever ever writing code together,
We are never ever ever writing code together,
You go code in C#, code in Python, even C (even C!)
But WE are never ever ever ever writing code together

Ooh, yeah, ooh yeah, ooh yeah
Oh oh oh

I used to think your code was forever ever
And I used to say, “Program together…”
Uggg… so he starts a hangout and he’s like, “There’s still some bugs,”
And I’m like… “I just… I mean this is exhausting, you know, like,
We are never writing code together. Like, ever”

No!

We are never ever ever writing code together,
We are never ever ever writing code together,
You go code in Scala, code in Pascal, or Ruby
But WE are never ever ever ever writing code together

We, ooh, writing code together, ohhh,
We, ooh, writing code together

You go code in Haskell, code in Smalltalk, Objective C!
But WE are never ever ever ever writing code together

So yeah, keeping those MTV dreams alive over in the Groupnotes cave!

Remember to follow us on twitter if you want this madness to continue, these posts will happen every time inspiration hits ;D

Stick it to the web,

Matt (what else do you do at the office at 2:15 on a Monday morning?)

T Swizzy <3 Groupnotes

Think we have mad songwriting skills? See what we do when actually working and sign up for our beta here!

Party in the Groupnotes Cave

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Matt was inspired by our sing-along the other day so he wrote a little ditty. To the tune of Party in the USA:
 
(Matt edit: Sing along to this! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCHcPmUHKsc)
 
I hopped out the car at Communitech
With a dream and my team again
Welcome to the land of startups bootstrapped,
Are we gonna fit in?
 
Sat in my cave,
Here we are for the first time
Look to my right and I see the other Groupnotes Guys
This is all so crazy
All the mentors seem so famous
 
My tummy’s turnin’ but I’m never feelin home sick
Just enough pressure and we’re nervous,
That’s when the developers started to code
And a Mongo DB turned on
And the AWS server was on
And the Production Code was on
 
So I put my eyes up
They’re takin’ their notes,
Beta users givin’ feedback today
We’re noddin’ our heads like yeah
Using keyboards like yeah
We got our hands down,
We’re pushing new code
I know we’re gonna be OK
Yeahhhhh, it’s a party in the Groupnotes Cave
Yeahhhhh, it’s a party in the Groupnotes Cave
 
Get to events in a team car
Everybody’s looking at us now
Like “Who’re those guys, that are workin’ so hard?
They gotta be from Canada”
 
Code hard with the devs all around me
It’s definitely a sweet weekend party
’cause all I see is them make code
So our users can share more memos
 
Their fingers flyin’ and they’re tryin’ out a new trick
Now no pressure and a purpose
That’s when we all dropped our newest build
and the good feedback was on
and the next iteration was on
and a T. Swift song was on
 
So I put my eyes up
They’re takin’ their notes,
Beta users givin’ feedback today
We’re noddin’ our heads like yeah
Using keyboards like yeah
We got our hands down,
We’re pushing new code
I know we’re gonna be OK
Yeahhhhh, it’s a party in the Groupnotes Cave
Yeahhhhh, it’s a party in the Groupnotes Cave
 
Don’t feel like hoppin’ on a flight (on a flight)
Not back to our hometowns tonight (town tonight)
Something stops us every time (every time)
We see our products used and we feel alright
 
So I put my eyes up
They’re takin’ their notes,
Beta users givin’ feedback today
We’re noddin’ our heads like yeah
Up in HYPERDRIVE like yeah
We got our hands down,
We’re pushing new code
I know we’re gonna be OK
Yeahhhhh, it’s a party in the Groupnotes Cave
Yeahhhhh, it’s a party in the Groupnotes Cave
 
At least if the startup thing doesn’t work out, we know Matt has a budding career as a songwriter! (Matt edit: TOTALLY DO!)
 
Stick it to the web,
Greg (Matt edit: And Me! ;D)Derp.
Think we have mad songwriting skills? See what we do when actually working and sign up for our beta here!

Nicki Minaj loves Groupnotes

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“I used Groupnotes to write my hit single, Superbass!” – Nicki Minaj

“OMGGGGGGGGGG, the Groupnotes guys are soooooo dreamy. Dems my boys!” – Miley Cyrus

In real news, we started rolling out our beta earlier this week! If you haven’t got your access key yet, it will be coming soon. If you haven’t signed up yet, GO HERE!

Stick it to the web,

Greg

Want beta signups? Use Betali.st!

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As a dedicated follower of this blog, you undoubtedly know that we are collecting signups for our much anticipated beta that will be available very soon! This past Sunday, something very exciting happened. Our signups spiked.

Why?

We were featured on betali.st.

Betali.st is a site where you can “be the first to discover and get access to the latest internet startups.” So if you’re an internet startup, it’s where your early adopters hang out.

So we just wanted to say a HUGE thank you to Betali.st for putting us on their site and I highly encourage anyone looking for people eager to try their software to sign up! They even featured our HYPERDRIVE friends Dandy this morning!

We’ll be releasing the beta VERY soon. I promise you’ll have it before  I finally get Mailbox. There’s only 566 920 people in front of me…

If you still haven’t signed up, what are you waiting for? Go signup now and help us

Stick it to the web!

Greg

Week 1 in the Cave

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It’s been one week since we moved into our cave in HYPERDRIVE and what a week it has been! It’s flown by in a blur of pitches, meetings, networking events, and, of course, working. Add that to the fact that we commuted to Kitchener every day and there was little time for sleep. We were even working hard on Sunday night but luckily we brought a big TV so we could also watch the Superbowl.

Inspired by the Mozilla offices in San Francisco and Mountain View, we decided we needed a snack bar of our own. Complete with a Keurig and a large selection of coffees, Hot Rods and nuts, we should be able to keep an optimal caffeine level and satisfy any of our snacking desires for the next little while. If you’re in the building, feel free to stop by for a coffee, a chat, or even a game of Chel.

Thursday night was the Cohort 2 Launch Event. It was a great opportunity to chat with a lot of people who are supporters of HYPERDRIVE and Communitech and we really enjoyed getting to know the other companies a little better.

If week one was any indication, we’re in for a busy but very exciting three months. We’re thrilled to be in HYPERDRIVE and are looking forward to working with the head coaches, EIRs and everyone else to make Groupnotes the best it can be! We’re currently accepting signups for our beta on our website and are hoping to have it out VERY SOON.

Stick it to the web,

Greg

The Groupnotes Beta is Upon Us

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Have you been reading this blog for a while and thought, “So they keep writing about all this stuff, but when can I actually try it out?” The answer,

Very soon!

How? Simple. Go to our sign up page and use invite code “BLOG” (hint: if you click the link, the invite code will be entered automatically so you don’t even have to type those four extra letters). This exclusive code will make sure that you are notified as soon as our beta goes live! So go sign up so that you can join us and

Stick it to the web!

Greg