About the Author

About the Author

Liam Sean Scanlan was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1960. At seventeen, he started his career as a computer programmer in a local subsidiary of the German firm Nixdorf Computer AG. This gave Scanlan the lifetime opportunity to live and breathe in a half dozen countries around the world before settling in Seattle, USA. Initially working for Microsoft, he got a taste for product creation in 1992, started three companies from scratch, including Bocada Inc, and shipped eight different software products over more than a decade.

The latest of those startups, Aqualocks Corporation, is a departure from the unbroken series of software products Scanlan had previously brought to market. It was a journey of turning a clever but theoretical idea for a unique product into the product itself. It involved learning about a whole now set of technologies, tools, people and processes.

This book is about that journey.

Scanlan lives in Seattle, Washington with his wife Geraldine and three children.

Acknowledgements

A man may be a fool and not know it, but not if he is married.

- H. L. Mencken

Writing this book was easy enough, but the journey I talk about was a three-year adventure of faith and persistence.

For that I’d like to give thanks.

To my wife and best friend Geraldine who patiently suffered through this and two other start-ups on my behalf, and whose financial management skills made Aqualocks and two other start-ups possible over the past fifteen years.

To my friends Aidan Waine, Aidan Rowsome, Randall Broad, David and Roisín O’Farrel, Jennifer Mount, Dermot and Jackie FitzGibbon, Ken Wade and Gary Selke, who all sat through countless, dreamy product evangelisms before something concrete emerged, and who listened, encouraged me and gave good advice at every stage.

To my life coach brother Seamus and to my business minded brother David who helped me with the Yin and Yang of it.

To Cecilia, Patrick, Ross, Cory and the long list of friends at home and abroad who added to the emotional support at every turn.

To Brad Raker and Dave Mesaros, who patiently worked with me for months before I became a customer, and who turned my rough plans into professional product designs, and then turned those into salable product. Without that critical help, my product would never have seen the light of day.

To David Arena, who patiently brought me up to speed on the bleeding edge of 3D printing long before I ever became his customer.