What was it like?

I joined HubSpot in 2007 as the second developer and the eighth overall employee. The entire company worked out of one office on the 14th floor of 1 Broadway, the Cambridge Innovation Center. My first project was what we called the “Salesforce Connector” which would allow HubSpot customers to synchronize their leads between the two systems. One of my favorite memories from the early days was of Mark Roberge — now our VP Sales — on a sales call where a customer asked about Salesforce integration. Mark put down the phone and turned around to ask me, “Dan, how’s the Salesforce Connector looking?” I replied, “I’m working on it, not done.” Mark got back on the phone and told the soon-to-be-customer “Yes, we have Salesforce integration, are you ready to buy?”

That is life in a startup, everything is moving so fast you barely have a grasp on any of it. Personally, I love that environment, but it is not for everyone. Over the years HubSpot has grown from scrappy to a well-funded. From the verge of chaos to well-managed. From eight employees to more than three-hundred. What an amazing transformation.

What comes next?

When I decided I was ready to move on, I knew it was not going to be for another “job”. If I wanted to continue as a developer I would just stay at HubSpot, it’s great. But what I really want to do right now is build a company. So I am working on founding my own startup. I am not ready to talk about it in public yet, but I have been sitting on this idea for five years and I still love it. The idea is something I am passionate about and in some ways it is what I think the future should be and I want to make it happen.

The next couple of weeks will be a “customer conversation” phase. I will be talking to lots of potential customers to see if they have the problem I want to fix, and if they’re willing to pay for a solution. If all that goes well, I’ll start building a beta version and the early team.

I can not look back at my time at HubSpot and be anything other than happy. I have learned so much, made great friends, and built something I am proud of. I am excited to get going on my next startup.

I saw La Gabinoteca on the No Reservations show, and everything looked so fresh and interesting I put it on my ‘must visit’ list for Madrid. The menu could be considered comfort food. A couple of stand-out items were the house-made chicken nuggets and a Galician beef hot dog with cheese sauce and crispy onions. Check out the photo gallery below for a visual taste.

ElBulli, the best restaurant in the world, is about an hour outside of Barcelona. The man behind the restaurant is Ferran Adria, along with his brother Albert. Although elBulli has closed, Albert Adria opened the restaurant Tickets to celebrate and serve the same modern tapas that elBulli became famous for. Attached to Tickets is a bar called 41 Degrees, referring to the longitude of the bar’s location. It is basically impossible to get a reservation at Tickets, but we managed to get into 41 Degrees with a couple of seats at the bar. We had access to nearly the same menu as Tickets, and we tried almost everything on it. Check out the gallery below for pictures and descriptions of the numerous tapas we ate.

In my head, Number 9 Park was a Beacon Hill townhouse with 19th century decor and 20th century food. I was right about the food, totally wrong about the environment. The restaurant is in the lower level of a fairly modern building next to the Fox 25 studios. The decor is clean and understated, with muted colors and soft lighting. It was intimate without feeling claustrophobic.

For first courses, I ordered the Prune Stuffed Gnocchi, and Krystal chose the Parsnip Agnolotti. The gnocchi was very tender with just a hint of sweetness from the prune. I figured it was going to be an unusual flavor pairing but the prune did not have much of a flavor, just the sweetness. On top of the pasta were slices of lightly seared foie gras, they were amazingly tender and unctuous. The foie was easily the best part of the dish, I made myself ration it so I could end the course with a final bite. The agnolotti were tender and flavorful, tasting of earthy parsnip and butter.

I selected the Giannone Farms Chicken and Krystal picked the Roasted Scottish Salmon. The chicken dish was more of an assiette: a platter with different presentations of the main ingredient. First was a portion of chicken breast, evenly cooked, juicy, and with a perfectly seared crust. I do not mean to sound simple, but the chicken breast was definitely my favorite item on the plate. The other preparation was a confit leg. I have had confit chicken elsewhere and Number 9 was a bit of a disappointment. The flavor was too concentrated and the meat too soft. With the flesh falling apart there was no chew to the meat and the mouthfeel was not pleasing. Also on the plate was a lightly cooked egg on top of a roman gnocchi, which was kind of like a potato pancake. Overall the chicken dish was good, but not amazing and a step down from the prune gnocchi. I did not try the Salmon but Krystal enjoyed it very much, and it came without the skin which always makes her happy.

I asked our server for advice on the dessert options and he suggested the Bete Noir. It is a dense chocolate cake served with pineapple and Rooibos ice cream. For texture, a bit of puffed rice is under the quenelle of ice cream. I enjoyed the cake and the Rooibos, but found the pineapple to be a little out of place. I understand the goal of the pineapple, but I did not love the combination of pineapple and dark chocolate. Sadly, I have forgotten what Krystal ordered for dessert.

With our courses, I paired glasses of wine. We started with a couple glasses of white, then moved on to reds and finished with an ice wine. The standouts were the two reds. I forgot the winemaker but I know that one was called the “Red Cat” and the other was called “Bobcat.” Cat Silirie runs the wine program at Number 9, hence the names. I believe the “Red Cat” is a special blend just for the restaurant, and I loved it, I need to see if I can buy a few bottles.

Overall, Number 9 Park was a very good experience. The service was excellent. Our server was knowledgeable about both the food and wine. He even caught an issue with Krystal’s first course when we informed him that she does not eat meat, only fish. The restaurant is also a reasonably good value, with a three course prix fixe going for $69 per person, exclusive of wine. I think Number 9 Park will remain a special occasion place for me, but I will definitely return there in the future.

Krystal was nice enough to pick up a steak from the butcher on her way home from work, a New York Strip. It was in the fridge for several hours, so I didn’t bother to freeze it first. To start, I coated the steak with vegetable oil (high smoke point) and seasoned with salt and pepper.

Next, I broke out my butane kitchen torch. The only thing I have ever used the torch for is creme brulee, so it was great to finally have another use for it. The torching was a much slower process than I expected. In hindsight, I can see that my torch was weak compared to the one Nathan used in his example. But I fully expected to get a really dark, even, sear with my torch. It turned out to be good at rendering some of the fattier bits, but didn’t really give a nice char.

After searing with the torch, I moved the steak into my oven set at 170 degrees Fahrenheit, which is the lowest setting for my oven. I was targeting an internal temperature of about 120-125 degrees, and I got there in just under an hour for my half-pound steak. One great thing about this technique is that a few minutes of inattention will not ruin the meal. Because the heat transfer is so much slower in the oven, you can “overcook” the steak for an extra five minutes and the result will still be fine. If you grill, or saute, your steak for an extra 5 minutes you can turn it into a hockey puck.

The resulting steak was very good. I wasn’t in love with the sear, mainly because the torch was weak. It also imparted a bit of a weird char flavor from the open flame. Next time I use this technique I will use a cast iron pan to sear the steak. The interior was a perfect, even red, medium-rare. There was only a tiny grey band around the outside of the steak, the rest was perfectly cooked. This was, hands-down, the most evenly cooked piece of meat I have achieved at home.  Next on my list is to cook a steak sous vide in a Styrofoam cooler and sear it afterward. I’ll write about that experience when I try it.

My attitude changed after I joined friend and investor David Skok for lunch at EVOO. It was restaurant week and we ended up having three courses, despite it being lunch. Everything was good, especially the coleslaw with cornbread croutons. After that lunch I knew I would be coming back for a dinner at some point.

For New Years Eve 2012, Krystal and I decided to stay in the neighborhood, not wanting to deal with travel around town. EVOO is within walking distance of home and is upscale food with casual dress, so it seemed like an excellent fit. They also had a three course prix fixe menu that was not jacked up just for NYE.

My first course was a Beef Empanada, filled with beef and cheddar cheese. The filling was not ordinary ground beef, more like a diced steak. On the plate was a side of salsa which had a little heat and a lot of sweetness. The empanada was not a huge portion, but it was an appropriately sized starter.

For my main course, I ordered the Lamb Croquettes. At first, I assumed that the dish was braised lamb and croquettes as a side. But I was wrong, and the braised lamb had actually been rolled into a ball, breaded, and fried into a crispy croquette. There was a flavorful lamb jus on the plate and some picked vegetables. The pickled items were amazing, full of vinegar and spice, and it cut right through the heaviness of the fried croquettes, an excellent pairing.

Dessert was Bread Pudding with Butterscotch Sauce. The plate had a deep pool of warm sauce and a square of sweet, soft, warm, bread pudding in the middle. There was not anything out of the ordinary with this dessert, just a straightforward sweet dish to end the meal.

The pacing and service was excellent. All of our dishes perfectly executed, seasoned properly and served hot. We also opted for the wine pairings with dinner and were surprised to find that it included dessert wine as well, a nice touch. Despite a somewhat random menu, EVOO managed to deliver course after course of delicious food and with good value.

]]> http://www.abdinoor.com/2012/02/02/new-england-international-auto-show/feed/ 0 http://www.abdinoor.com/2011/12/21/restaurant-review-catalyst/ http://www.abdinoor.com/2011/12/21/restaurant-review-catalyst/#comments Wed, 21 Dec 2011 22:51:48 +0000 Dan http://www.abdinoor.com/?p=637 Continue reading →]]> The Kendall Square restaurant scene is on a tear lately. In the past few months there have been a bunch of new restaurants opening. We’ve got Area IV, Kika, and Firebrand Saints but my favorite addition is Catalyst. Before the opening I read somewhere that William Kovel was behind the restaurant, which left me with some high expectations.

I have now had a few meals at Catalyst, from lunch the week it opened through dinner last weekend. Overall I have been very pleased. The food has always been fantastic, but the service on one occasion was terrible. Service still seems to be the downfall, during my last visit the table next to mine got the wrong meals and failed to receive the appetizers they ordered.

Starters at Catalyst are a fairly typical mix of soups and salads with the occasional special thrown in like salt cod fritters. The signature salad is a mix of arugula, mild blue cheese, pears and candied nuts. It is full of flavor but the concept is uninspiring. A much better salad choice is the roasted beets with goat cheese croquettes. The beets are roasted until just tender and served room temperature with a small pile of dressed greens. The croquettes are warm and delicately ooze cheese when burst. The combination is a delicious well balanced salad.

Another creative starter is the Jerusalem artichoke soup with lobster meat. The soup is a fairly thick mixture with a heavy dose of cream and butter. The lobster meat is an added bonus, the soup is delicious and complex without any garnish.

Catalyst offers a wide selection of main courses, including meat, fish, vegetarian and full portions of house made pasta as well. The chicken dish is served with an intoxicating chicken jus and “drippings” potatoes that pick up their flavor by catching roasting juices underneath the rotisserie. The pork chop comes with a pile of house-made sauerkraut and buttery spätzle that are crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. The pork is a hefty cut, served on the bone, and cooked to leave just a bit of pink inside.

The dessert menu has a handful of interesting options but none that stand out (to me, anyway) more than the butterscotch pudding. A generous portion is served in a bowl topped with chopped nut brittle and whipped cream. On the side are batons of pound cake, deep fried in olive oil. Gluttonous? Yes. But overwhelmingly delicious as well. The pudding is understandably rich, but somehow the pound cake pieces offer a counterpoint and come off like high quality french toast sticks.

Catalyst is a fantastic addition to the Kendall Square restaurant scene. The interior design is a professional mix of cold concrete and warm recycled barn boards. Service can be spotty, but if you get Juan as your server everything should be smooth. Although certainly not an inexpensive restaurant, Catalyst offers good value. I think I will be making a habit of having dinner in the area more often.

I am not even going to bother pointing out all of the issues in this cover letter, I am sure you already found enough to leave your mouth agape. It is safe to say that no matter how amazing the resume looks, this candidate is off the table.

Here are my tips if you are applying for an Engineering position:

• Have a one-page resume and get it proof-read by another person.
• Include only relevant job history.
• Provide a link to a code sample or GitHub.
• Have some sort of online presence, preferably one that you control.
• Do not include a cover letter.

Have any great tips for applying as an Engineer? Please share them in the comments.

The menu on Sunday is for brunch, so it was mostly breakfast type items with a just a few lunch dishes. Krystal ordered the Brown Sugar Pancakes. There were three good-sized pancakes topped with blueberries, syrup, and a mound of brown sugar cotton candy. The cotton candy was a really cool touch, and tasted great. Overall, though, the dish was cloying. Two kinds of syrup were poured on the pancakes rather than served on the side, and the cotton candy partly melted into the pancakes to make them even sweeter. Krystal only ate about half the dish because it was so sugary.

I ordered the Curry Chicken Salad which was great. The dish included a scoop of chicken salad and a bunch of iceberg lettuce, red onion and radish. There were also a couple of pieces of crispy cracker-bread. The chicken salad had a great flavor, with just the right amount of spice and heat. All the elements went together nicely and I cleaned my plate, enjoying it thoroughly.

Service was great, perhaps a bit too formal. The brunch crowd at Towne was very casual but the staff was dressed to the nines, but that is not a complaint. Our server was very attentive and polite, he even asked if everything was alright when he saw that Krystal did not eat all of her pancakes.

I liked Towne and will definitely return another time. I am especially interested in checking out the dinner menu and the bar scene.