I enjoy talking to young companies (or proto-companies) about their projects. I do that with a few incubators and the like, and I consistently find it rewarding. I find myself always trying to tweak people’s product vision a bit, looking for a way to turn a “business idea” into something that will have deeper, human value — not just because I think it’s the moral thing to do, but because if you’re “just working for the man” (even if you are the man), then when things get tough, it’s going to be hard to get up in the morning. When you’re doing something that deeply resonates with people, and which either relies on positive human qualities or strengthens them, then I’m confident that your odds as an entrepreneur are better. Also because there are plenty of mentors who will do a better job of getting your social viral marketing plan in shape.

Sometimes I wonder whether I’m the only one getting value out of our conversations, but this blog post reassured me that at least sometimes I have an interesting impact: Do you really need a server? Build your minimum viable product entirely client-side.

I’m particularly interested by the fact that I wasn’t really trying to force them to think about the privacy advantages of client-centric development (I realize it’s hard for budding entrepreneurs to make that a priority), simply going for the pragmatics of it all. I’m so glad it’s working out for them.