Kevin Leneway - A Startup A Day

Send me a few notes on your background: name, age, where you`re from, etc....

My name is Kevin Leneway, I work on the Developer and Platform Evangelism team at Microsoft creating internal systems and tools for our worldwide evangelism team. I'm 28 years old, live in Seattle currently but grew up in Michigan. I attended the University of Michigan and got my Computer Engineering degree in 2001, and have since worked in a variety of jobs including consulting and teaching computer classes to middle school students. Let`s Start !

How old is your blog and why did you start it?

I started the blog on my birthday this year (March 13), the primary reason for starting the blog was the Techquilia Shots blog that Steve Poland runs. I basically just liked what he was doing and thought it was a good idea, so I blatantly ripped him off.

Would you like to share your first post with us ? URL please.

http://astartupaday.wordpress.com/2007/03/14/hello-welcome-happy-birthday/ What is your motivation to continue blogging ? It's fun! And wildly addicting. It's also a really good way to get my creative juices going.

What do you wanna achieve with you blog?

Ideally I'd like to create a community of people who are passionate about ideas and are willing to come together to share their own ideas, provide feedback, support, etc.. I'm also trying to pick up women (just kidding, honey!)


Are there a special kind of reader who are reading your blog?

You know, it's hard to tell because I haven't gotten a ton of comments yet. I think the majority of the readers I have are idea junkies themselves. I'd ideally like to get Dev's reading, Dev's with time on their hands who will steal my ideas and code them up and make millions. Then I could be one of those bitter old dudes who are all like "I invented velcro and then that guy came along and stole my idea and I should be in a mansion surrounded by beautiful women but instead I'm stuck hanging out with you." What was the question again?


What was the longest time without a new post on your blog?

Less than 24 hours! I'll probably miss some days at some point, but I try to keep a good stash of posts saved up in case I don't have the time to write out a new idea.

How much time do you spend on blogging?

Hmmm, good question. The ideas themselves usually come in spurts, I'll go for a long walk and come up with 2-3 ideas in an hour. The posts themselves take about 30-60 min's to put together, and then I spend some time publicizing my blog, posting on other blogs, submitting stories to digg or reddit, etc..

What is the reason for visitors to return to your blog and become readers?

I think the big reason is that you may find that there are 2-3 (or 17) ideas that really suck, but then there might be one that comes along that you dig. Whether you go ahead and code it up or it just inspires another idea or something, hopefully the blog gives something back to you. And even if you don't like the ideas, I try to throw in some fun stuff to keep people entertained. Also, fresh content. Part of the fun of the blog is the challenge of keeping up with the "one startup a day" promise that is built into the blog's title.

Do you use any widgets? which ones?

The MyBlogLog widget rocks! It's so nice to be able to physically see the individuals who are visiting my site, and also make my presence known on other's sites without having to leave a ton of comments that I continually have to check up on.

Which communities do you like? Why?

Cambrian House is an amazing site, the design is really inspiring to me, and I find I have a lot in common with a lot of the regulars over there. I also dig Steve Poland's site, and have been a huge fan of Robert Scoble since back in the day when he worked a few doors down from me.