Chris Fischer

Wolf of Williamsburg / The endeavors

Beatport

Director of Technology, Denver / 2007–2010

I joined Beatport in Denver as Director of Technology and designed and ran the networks, data centers, and server infrastructure behind growth from $250k to over $20M in annual revenue. We also pulled engineering and product into one agile process.

Beatport was acquired by SFX.

From the archive

  1. The Long Way HereI build technology companies, work with startups, run and ride bikes, fix old houses, and start more side projects than I need.
  2. Burying the Lead a BitI applied to Chicago Booth without an undergraduate degree while a Wahoo offer, a house purchase, and Apply all kept moving.
  3. Skip That Bachelor'sCornell encouraged me to apply for its Executive MBA Metro NY program even though I never finished college. I got excited before I got careful.
  4. Nine Out of TenA recruiter suggested I talk to a venture firm. I explained the unfinished degree, years inside startups, and why most firms might still say no.
  5. Seven Months of StartupsI left Peek, spent seven months running a hosting company, and landed at Shutterstock before the year was over.
  6. Done and DoneTwo hours after an advisor asked for a one-page business summary, the first Monk Networks pitch was moving.
  7. New BeginningsReality Check did not fill the whole bucket, so I asked an old Beatport executive to help build something new.
  8. One of You Needs to Take ItI made the same Reality Check offer to two former Beatport teammates and tried to get one to bring the other.
  9. Please Take This JobReality Check needed an infrastructure engineer. I wanted somebody I trusted and was already tired of interviewing.
  10. References ClearedAdaptiveBlue offered me a consulting systems job, my old Beatport references checked out, and I had no scanner.
  11. Let's Make It HappenThe music-store side project had a team, a rough market, and enough of my schedule cleared to begin after New Year's.
  12. How Many Tracks?After Beatport I helped think through storage, catalog size, interfaces, and customers for a new high-quality music store idea.

50 more in the archive.