A WHOLE NEW CAGE
The title of this post is fitting on a number of levels. Over the last few months, there have been tons of things going on behind the scenes at CAGE. We’ve seen a lot of success, from glowing customer testimonials and 10/10 reviews to adding thousands of new users and getting some great press. We managed to build a simple application that makes sharing and collaborating on creative work easier for designers and designers love what we built. That’s really awesome!
A WHOLE NEW PRODUCT
We’re excited to announce that we’re well underway on an entirely new version of CAGE. This means all-new code, new design, new branding…new everything and we think you’re going to love it! We’ve reached out to many of you over the past few months to learn what you have been missing, and we’ve put together a plan for how to fill that void with CAGE. Our philosophy remains intact: Make software that solves common problems and is easy to use. Everything else is new. The UI is more intuitive. We’ve added new features that make collaboration even easier. We’ve fixed the bugs, and we’ve carried out several infrastructure upgrades to make the new CAGE faster, more secure and more reliable.
Too often, companies strip out features for the sake of being simple. But that’s not simple, it’s frustrating. So we spent some time carefully finding a balance between useful new features and the simplicity that has made CAGE so easy to adopt. You could say we’ve been on a mission to make every detail perfect and to limit the number of details to perfect (thank you, Jack).
So what does this mean for you and when can you expect to see it? We plan to provide active users with early “Alpha” access to the new version for initial testing. The rest of our community will receive access to CAGE soon thereafter. We expect to initiate this rollout by the end of the year. CAGE will continue to be completely free while in beta, but we’ll also have a free version once we launch. We’ll also be offering a sneak peek at our design process and new CAGE iterations in the coming weeks.
A WHOLE NEW TEAM
Startups are hard, both mentally and emotionally, and whoever says they aren’t is lying. It’s about relentless hustle, laser focus, strong product iterations and world-class customer service. The reality is that you never really stop thinking about it, and that can be hard. To quote our good friend Micah Baldwin, “This shit ain’t easy”. However, things are easier when you have the right people onboard and many will agree that the most valuable part of any startup is the people, not the IP. It’s about team.
Our team is evolving and I’m excited to announce that everyone at CAGE is focused on and dedicated to building CAGE and supporting our users (we’ll soon be hiring, too). In addition to a stronger team, we’ve also added a few advisors and will add more in the coming months. We’re excited to have these guys onboard, their collective wisdom and creativity has already made its way into our product and our company. We’ll make proper introductions soon, so stay tuned for that. Onward and upward.
A WHOLE NEW YEAR
It’s a little early for a 2011 retrospective, but since we’re already halfway through November, I thought it was fitting to add. We’ve had a big year and we’ve had some big things happen (big for us, at least). Many of them you can read on this blog, but here are a few we haven’t mentioned:
We received invitations from two of the top accelerator programs in the country (it was a bittersweet decision, but the timing kept us from accepting). We started work on a new version of our product (OK, we’ve mentioned that one before). We watched thousands of designers adopt and use (and love) our product. We weighed acquisitions and had several discussions about taking on outside investment (for any small team, this provides a ton of reassurance for what you’re doing and the problems your solving). For a small team in a small city in a small state, it’s been a lot of fun…and we’re just getting started.
We’ll be attending and sponsoring several events in the coming year, so stop and say “Hi” if you see us at SXSW, An Event Apart, LessConf, AIGA events, Refresh events or any other conferences around design and UX.
So from our entire team, thank you for your support! It’s been an amazing 2011, and we’re looking forward to making next year even better than the last.
Sandip Patel, Co-Founder
