Ryan Lelek
Lean Startup Enthusiast & Web Developer
I build things people want, and would love to help you or your company do the same.
If you're looking for some advice about startups or web technology, we should meet up.
I'd love to learn more about what you are up to, and provide some free, no obligation advice.
Phone: 415.689.4096
Email: hello@ryanlelek.com
Work Experience
clippPR, Inc.
2012 - PRESENT
Co-Founder / CTO
Clipppr makes it simple to bookmark, clip, and tag your press. We track the engagement and conversation: tweets, likes, shares, stumbles, trackbacks, comments etc. We show you how active the conversation is over time in a TopHits/BestSeller type chart, and alert you of major changes, making it easy to re-engage in the public conversation.
Thiel Fellowship: 20 Under 20
2012
Thiel Fellow
The Thiel Fellowship encourages lifelong learning and independent thought. With $100,000 and 2 years free to pursue their dreams, Thiel Fellows are changing the world one entrepreneurial venture at a time.
Curly Cloud Corporation
2009 - PRESENT
Founder
I manage the overall operation of this high-tech startup company, including finances, investor relations, team assembly, and more. I contributed greatly to the initial product line and intellectual property base, and continue to guide creative talents, innovate software features, and continually assist with software product development and server updates, when necessary.
LaunchRock
2011 - 2012
API Rockstar
At LaunchRock, I provide other developers with an easy-to-use platform for using external APIs, like Facebook, Twitter, and a whole bunch of other awesome services.
FullyFollow.me
2011 - 2012
Co-Founder / CTO
Created the first version of the FullyFollow.me website service in three short days as the sole developer on the team aboard the Chicago StartupBus, which advanced to the semi-finals. The website has since seen a successful, mass-market launch in over fifteen countries and six continents. Thousands of people love what we made. FullyFollow.me was profiled by technology-oriented news websites ReadWriteWeb, Chris Pirillo, and TheNextWeb.
FoxDisc, Inc. (Closed)
2007 - 2010
Lead Web Designer/Developer
During my time at FoxDisc, an online video game rental service (like Netflix), I started to see the big picture of web development and how everything fits together.
Responsibilities
- User Interface Design (UI/UX)
- Front-End Design (XHTML/CSS)
- Back-End Logic (PHP/MySQL)
Technical Skills
(X)HTML & CSS
EXPERT, 7 years
I've been working with XHTML and CSS for a while now (including HTML5 and CSS3), and they were responsible for getting me into the web industry in the first place. From chopping a Photoshop file into code, designing in the browser and building a website design from scratch, or ensuring cross-browser compatibility XHTML/CSS are the bread and butter of the web.
PHP & MySQL
EXPERT, 5 years
I started (and am still very comfortable) with writing PHP code from the ground up. In these later years, I've been using the Kohana, CodeIgniter, and CakePHP frameworks to accelerate development and provide better security and maintainability for clients. For the most part, the concepts in PHP and its frameworks apply to any other web language, so if you have Ruby on Rails, Python, or some other technology running your website, I can still help out.
Javascript & jQuery
ADVANCED, 4 years
Javascript improves the interaction of websites, and jQuery makes it even easier to do so. I've worked with jQuery for a while now, to do AJAX POST requests when a user clicks a button, or simply making photo albums come to life. Javascript is a great tool, but also should not be used in excess. I make sure websites I work on don't break if Javascript is turned off or not supported (like in a mobile phone).
Events and Conferences
Lean Startup Machine - Santa Clara, California
September 2012
Mentor/Judge
Lean Startup Machine - Chicago, Illinois
January 2012
Mentor/Judge
Lean Startup Machine - Palo Alto, California
January 2012
Mentor
Startup School at Stanford University - Stanford, California
October 2011
Hosted by Y-Combinator and Stanford BASES, Startup School 2011 had some well-respected icons in startups speak about experiences, tricks of the trade, and how to create a successful startup. Speakers included Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, actor Ashton Kutcher, Max Levchin of PayPal, Matt Mullenweg of WordPress, and Mark Pincus of Zynga.Lean Startup Machine - New York, New York
July 2011
My second Lean Startup Machine event was in New York and allowed me to further refine how to figure out what users like, and even more importantly, what they will pay for.Lean Startup Machine - Chicago, Illinois
November 2010
In a “Startup Weekend” style workshop, our goal was developing a customer around a minimum viable product. Our group of three, the smallest in the competition, obtained several letters of intent and a few orders of a mockup report that consisted of renter tenant background history. Eric Ries, Brant Cooper, and Patrick Vlaskovits were speakers.An Event Apart - Chicago
October 2009
Attended the two-day conference that focused on web development topics. We learned what was up and coming in the web world from some of the most recognized experts. Speakers included: Jeffrey Zeldman, Eric Meyer, Jason Santa Maria, Whitney Hess, Luke Wroblewski, and Andy Clarke.