Impressed with Impress.js

Impress.js is a small open source javascript library that we had used to create our "Why Kinship" presentation available on our site. Impress.js uses the power HTML and CSS3 to create stunning presentations that would the give the likes Prezi a run for its money.

We have always been fascinated by the power of Prezi presentations. It was a great relief from the world of boring powerpoint slides (read death by powerpoint). Prezi enabled your slides to come into life with zoom-in or zoom-out transitions that can augment the core idea that your slides are conveying. Using the Prezi designer tool one can layout the slides on an infinite canvas and it allowed all the transitions to be visually designed too.  In short, Prezi was damn cool but that was until Impress.js happened.

To listen or not to listen that is the question

When it comes to building a product, designing a user interface or adding a new functionality there are two schools of thought at work in the start-up world. One, pioneered by the likes of Apple and 37Signals,  says not listen to your customers because they don't know what they actually need. What they say they need is a what they "think" they want and which may not be true. The other school of thought pioneered by Steve Blank who is a serial entrepreneur, academician, author of the much-acclaimed book "The Four Steps to Epiphany" and proponent of the "Customer development model" say one should solicit opinion and feedback from the customers and build your product accordingly.

It is obvious that both these approaches are right and can work as evident from the success of Apple and 37Signal and the numerous startups that have used the customer development model effectively. So the question is not whether one approach is better than the other but rather the question is which approach is right for us as a start-up company. To listen or not to listen to that is the question.