Sorry for the poor photo. I was trying out my new phone's camera (more on that in a later post).

Several days ago I ordered Aardvark'd - 12 Weeks With Geeks from Fog Creek Software. It's a software company run by Joel Spolsky of Joel On Software fame, but each year it brings in some interns and sets them to develop a project over the summer. Last year they filmed it and produced a documentary about the experience, and Aardvark'd is the result.

All in all, it's a pretty cute film. It literally takes a look at the life of four geeky interns and some of the people of Fog Creek over the 12 weeks of their internship during which they created CoPilot. It's low on technical knowledge but high on geek lifestyle, how things get put together, and the relationships between the team members. One of my favorite parts was when the interns were discussing the viability of leaping from their office window to the roof of the only slightly lower tower block next door. These are the sort of things geeks discuss and ponder about during a quiet spell in the office.

I also found it quite inspirational. I've been reading a lot of Paul Graham and Joel Spolsky stuff lately and been working out how I can use it all to my own advantage. I've decided I need to ramp up Feed Digest pretty significantly, and the main step of that is in turning it into a 'proper' company. Sure, it's a proper company legally, but I'm talking about actually having other employees, a place to work, and much higher revenues. Luckily I've been inspired enough to come up with some basic strategies for this and I've saved up enough to give it a better crack than I could have, say, a year ago.

I'm still throwing around some ideas and doing some development though, but it's time for some excitement, some fast-paced building, and a real focus on establishing the business fundamentals. Should be fun! The real challenge, of course, is when it comes to attracting hot talent to Lincolnshire. I think it can be done.