On May 29, 1953 a humble beekeeper from New Zealand and a smiling Nepalese Sherpa became the first people to stand on the top of the world.
While people tend to focus on Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay’s remarkable achievements that day, they do not often stop to wonder how they did it. It wasn’t by chance that these two men made it, while many others failed. Sure, there was an element of luck in that there were favorable weather conditions that day, but the main reason for their success was that they prepared like crazy.
The expedition was meticulously planned having learned from many other failed endeavors.
Before having been selected for the expedition, Hillary had already climbed 11 different peaks over 20 000 feet, and Tenzing had been making Everest expeditions for 18 years.
For us, the preparation was 4 years of developing complex native apps for leading startups, covered by TechCrunch, USA Today, Inc. Magazine, Mashable…
But it is not all down to the heroics of just two men. The whole expedition was meticulously planned, having learned from many other failed endeavors. The team of 15 mountaineers worked closely together all the way up the mountain, before selecting Hillary and Tenzing to make the last perilous charge for the summit.
This decision was validated when, after a sleepless night in freezing conditions, Hillary and Tenzing triumphantly reached the top etching their names into the history books.
The reason we’re telling you all of this is to highlight the importance of laying the groundwork for any venture. People don’t get to the top by luck alone — it takes hard work and preparation to get there. This is where DECODE comes in.
Inside the world’s greatest startups
For us, the preparation was 4 years of developing complex native apps for leading startups, covered by TechCrunch, USA Today, Inc. Magazine, Mashable…
We are launching a new series of essays called #StartupsDECODED, that will break down exactly what you need to build a great product. Over the course of this series we will fly you over the snowy peaks of the most successful products and show you exactly what they did to prepare for their journey.
Every Monday we will estimate how much technical resources it takes to build a well-known platform like Twitter, Vine, Instagram and other services that have become integral parts of our lives. We’re all about startups and transparency and we want you to be fully prepared to disrupt your industry. So get your hiking boots on!
Becoming a millionaire overnight?
You want to know things like whether $100 000 can get you a perfect product.
Sure it can, but we all know it won’t make you a millionaire overnight. In between you and those million dollars are also customer acquisition, product optimizations, creating content, legal and hosting costs, to name but a few…
You’re never finished designing or building a technology product or a piece of software. It’s like fashion — it’s never done, it’s just always changing, always evolving to adapt to people’s needs. — Casey Neistat
The #StartupsDECODED series will be all about developing the product — the rest is up to you and how high you’re willing to climb.
Preparation is key
With #StartupsDECODED we will show you exactly what it takes to build a winning product. With this knowledge we will prepare you to take on your own mountain… and we will be happy to accompany you every step of the way.
“Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting, so… get on your way!” — Dr. Seuss
Mario makes every project run smoothly. A firm believer that people are DECODE’s most vital resource, he naturally grew into his former role as People Operations Manager. Now, his encyclopaedic knowledge of every DECODEr’s role, and his expertise in all things tech, enables him to guide DECODE's technical vision as CTO to make sure we're always ahead of the curve.
Part engineer, and seemingly part therapist, Mario is always calm under pressure, which helps to maintain the office’s stress-free vibe. In fact, sitting and thinking is his main hobby. What’s more Zen than that?
