Fani Kiran Vulapalli

Running a startup is pretty much synonymous with "sending lots of emails," but you don't want to be spammy and annoying when you're emailing people for favors or introductions. Here are some of the best email practices for entrepreneurs. The more emails I write, the more "rules" I come across for how to write them, too. Everyone seems to have their own specific ideas for best practices, but I've collected some of the more general trends in advice for various types of emails. Of course, you don't have to be an entrepreneur to put these tips to use. Asking for Intros or Favors One thing email is commonly used for is to ask each other favors like introductions to potential employees, investors, or customers. Here are some tips I've picked up for doing this: 1. Make the Ask Clear Don't be afraid to ask for what you want. Hiding your request in unrelated chatter won't make the recipient less likely to say no, it'll just make it harder...

For a concept that we all understand, ‘simple’ is deceivingly difficult to pin down. We may ‘know it when we see it’, but there’s more to what makes a product or website feel simple than just gut reaction. In the words of Steve Jobs: “Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.” If there’s so much power in creating things that are simple why do so many of us miss the mark? Why is simple so, well, complex? Like most things in life there’s more than just the surface appeal of simplicity. Here’s a look at how our brain comprehends new information, why some things feel more simple than others, and how you can use these ideas on your next project. Cognitive fluency and the preference for prototypes In his TED Talk Towards a science of simplicity , Harvard professor George Whitesides breaks ‘simple’ down into three characteristics: ...

Graphic designers aren't programmers and sometimes don't know how to properly prepare graphic assets for developers. This simple cheatsheet should help them to do their job better, and to simplify developers' lives. Dimensions Screen densities and icon dimensions Qualifier DPI Scaling factor Launcher icon Action bar, tab icon Notification icon (API 11) Notification icon (API 9) Notification icon (older) ldpi 120 0.75 36 x 36 32 x 32 24 x 24 18 x 18 18 x 18 16 x 16 12 x 19 12 x 12 19 x 19 16 x 16 mdpi 160 1.0 48 x 48 42 x 42 32 x 32 24 x 24 24 x 24 22 x 22 16 x 25 16 x 16 25 x 25 21 x 21 hdpi 240 1.5 72 x 72 64 x 64 48 x 48 36 x 36 36 x 36 33 x 33 24 x 38 24 x 24 38 x 38 32 x 32 xhdpi 320 2.0 96 x 96 84 x 84 64 x 64 48 x 48 48 x 48 44 x 44 32 x 50 32 x 32 50 x 50 42 x 42 xxhdpi 480 3.0 144 x 144 126 x 126 96 x 96 72 x 72 72 x 72 66 x 66 48 x 75 48 x 48 75 x 75 63 x 63 Notice: the first icon dimension in table cell is full asset size, the second icon dim...

6 ways to help your remote workers feel at home Work is no longer a place. Thanks to innovations in technology, and the help of forward thinking companies, geography no longer limits your job opportunities. But with the increasing popularity of remote workers comes a shifting definition of the workplace and its relationship to the worker. We are now in the era of the cult of overwork—a result of how easy it is to reach workers at all hours of the day on their smartphones or tablets. And without the boundaries of office hours or the comfort of knowing your boss sees you physically at work, it’s hard to tell when the workday ends and your personal life begins. In the cult of overwork it’s easy to feel like you’re always on—like you should be ready to jump into a task at a moment’s notice—something that quickly becomes stressful and can easily ruin the morale of your team. When you work face-to-face, it’s easy to create a sense of belonging among workers: you share in jokes, h...

As a writer, I get to share a lot of my work. It’s pretty rare for me to have a piece that doesn’t end up getting published anywhere. But as a new iOS developer, I’m in a very different situation. Suddenly I’m sharing a lot less of what I’m working on. My apps look like rubbish most of the time. They don’t do much, and my code is mostly a mess. I know my work has a long way to go before it’s good, but in the meantime I don’t have much to share. Does it matter? I think it does. Sharing your work can make a huge difference to how people perceive you, how well you connect with people, and even how much money you make when you capitalize on the audience you’ve built up. “Become a documentarian of what you do.” Austin Kleon There are a few distinct reasons I’m having trouble sharing my work these days, despite knowing it’s a worthwhile exercise. The first is that I’m new to development entirely, so I’m struggling to find anything useful to share. The second is what I mentioned ea...