Phronos (Gk. φρονος) - practical wisdom. [more]
Web software done right.
Phronos builds great software using the best teams, effective tools, and the right process.
We especially love new ventures, whether small startups or corporate ventures. We even have a few of our own.
Some projects
Ouray Technology Partners - IT Service Management software for the enterprise. Currently in use by a major international bank.
Our role: Project management and lead development.
RedPhone Security - A cross-domain router built for the US Navy. We worked with RedPhone to build the web-based administrative interface to the router.
Our role: Project management and lead development.
ZenVDN - An online video platform that handles video upload, transcoding, hosting, and embedding. Upload your video files, and get back high quality versions for web or mobile, including Flash player, hosted at a quality CDN. We built the original version with Sevenwire in 48 hours, and won the "Most Useful" prize in the 2009 Rails Rumble competition.
Our role: Co-founder, strategy, development.
Tumblon - Web 2.0 parenting. Customized, interactive developmental milestones for kids 0-5.
Our role: Co-founder, project management, and lead development.
Zencoder - Video transcoding software. Scalable, powerful, reliable one-stop system for websites that need to process user-submitted video.
Our role: Co-founder, project management, and lead development.
Others - We've led about 25 projects over the last six years, including four years working exclusively with Ruby on Rails. Get in touch if you'd like to see more.
How we work
Lowercase-A agile. Capital-L Lean. Small teams of 4-6 experts. Frequent releases. Shortest path to the first release. Just the right amount of planning. Never compromising on quality. Continuous improvement. Screening for the right projects. Time and materials billing. Expensive by the hour, a bargain over the life of a project.
Our team
Jonathan Dahl, Managing Partner
Jonathan has seven years of experience leading web and software projects. From 2003-2008, he was a founding partner at Slantwise Design. Along the way, he helped found a few startups, including Tumblon, Zencoder, and FanChatter.
He has spoken at conferences like RailsConf, RubyConf, MySQL Conf, FutureRuby, and Agile 2009. Topics have ranged from video transcoding to Aristotle to music.
He blogs at Rail Spikes.
Chris Warren, Application Developer
Chris is an accomplished developer who has worked with Ruby on Rails since 2006, and other web application technologies since 2003. On the side, he is a part of the Rails Mentors project, and has participated in several Rails Rumbles. He bikes to work in the Minnesota winters.
Rebecca Axvig, Business Manager
Becca manages the business side of Phronos and its partner startups. She also acts as office manager for CodeSpace, a coworking space in Uptown Minneapolis. Before coming to Phronos, Becca was Controller at a financial services company.
Everybody Else
Every Phronos project is staffed by some of the best designers and developers in the world. Each project needs a different team, and our goal is to bring in the right people for each project.
A typical Phronos team would include a project lead, one or two other senior developers, a visual designer, and a tester.
About the name
Phronos or phronesis is an important concept in Aristotle's ethical thought, and is quite relevant to software development. See this RubyConf 2008 talk for more.
Learn more
jon - at - phronos - dot - com
o: (612) 217-2220
f: (612) 824-1127
Phronos
2913 Harriet Ave, Suite 101
Minneapolis, MN 55408
We run CodeSpace, a coworking space for smart developers and designers in Uptown Minneapolis. If you're interested in a part-time or full-time desk, get in touch.