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2008–09Inactive

Notches

01

What it is

A portable platform for reviews.

Notches was a shared platform for reviews: one backend, a developer API, and interfaces that met people where they already were. I took it full-time in 2008. The product is inactive now, but the public record still shows the work — launch decisions, distribution, review integrity, and the gap between building a platform and building a product people can reach.

02

Why it exists

Reviews were trapped inside the sites that collected them. Notches tested whether the underlying experience could travel instead, with the interface following the person rather than owning the data.

03

Project timeline

  1. The platform comes first

    Early public notes show the shared backend and platform taking shape before the visible product was ready to launch.

  2. I take Notches full-time

    I left my job to work on the company and close the distance between the platform vision and a product people could use.

  3. Public launch

    Notches launched its developer API with Facebook and Twitter interfaces sharing the same review system.

  4. Reviews follow the browser

    The Firefox toolbar brought the shared review context onto sites that did not have their own review system.

04

What exists

  • Shared review backend and public API
  • Facebook, Twitter, and Firefox interfaces
  • Raised seed capital and shipped the product
05

Technical orientation

  • .NET
  • APIs
  • Browser extensions
  • Social interfaces
06

What carried forward

Notches is the first founder chapter: shared platform design, APIs, distribution, and the hard distance between a product vision and its usable surface.

07

Published writing

  1. Why Notches isn't "Anti-Stealth"Why Notches isn't "Anti-Stealth"
  2. Passion and its role in evaluating new product ideasPassion and its role in evaluating new product ideas
  3. Notches, a platform for reviewsNotches, a platform for reviews
  4. Simultaneous Discovery and its impact on stealth modeSimultaneous Discovery and its impact on stealth mode
  5. Announcing the Notches ToolbarAnnouncing the Notches Toolbar
  6. The Barnacle and The BoatThe Barnacle and The Boat
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