Startup
22 posts on Startup.
I have been near startups from both sides, building them and standing in the audience. I co-founded a how-to site that was acquired, built favURL in public, won the first Startup Weekend Prishtina with an Albanian audiobook platform in 54 hours, joined a pandemic hackathon and Y Combinator's Startup School, mentored at Startup Grind Prishtina when a co-founder of The Pirate Bay presented, and met Jason Fried in Redwood City. Here are the articles from that.
- Six Onboarding Tasks That Changed favURL June 15, 2026
Six simple onboarding tasks that teach the whole of favURL, improve every profile, and quietly rebuilt the dashboard around momentum.
- Know a Social Media Manager? June 4, 2026
The last post in the favURL series, and the one with an ask. The freemium features are free for real: no card, no timer.
- Real Pages. Real Businesses. June 3, 2026
People asked what a favURL page looks like, so I built a gallery at favurl.com/world: hundreds of real businesses, from real Google reviews.
- 200+ Reviews. One Idea. June 2, 2026
My friend Valter's restaurant had 200+ Google reviews doing all the marketing work, sitting unused. That became favURL, and he became an accidental co-founder.
- One Project a Month. Zero Shipped. June 1, 2026
Five months of building one project a month with AI in the loop. Everything shipped, everything quietly let go, and what 'fail fast' finally taught me.
- Meeting Jason Fried at Startup Grind October 3, 2023
Meeting Jason Fried in Redwood City. Why Basecamp's approach to strategy and scale is the one I keep coming back to.
- What I Learned Building Qysh Me September 1, 2021
Lessons from launching an Albanian-language educational platform in 2011, before edtech was even a word people used in Kosovo.
- The Graduation Ceremony of JuniorGeeks 2 June 20, 2021
Watching young Kosovars graduate from a STEAM program gave me genuine hope about where the country is heading.
- 35 Startups That Successfully Rebranded Their Names January 12, 2021
Brand names and identities are changing all the time. Here are 35 companies that evolved their identity and became something bigger.
- These Brands Made 180-Degree Pivots from the Initial Idea October 28, 2020
Started reading about company pivots and found myself blown away: Nintendo and other brands that made complete 180-degree turns from their first idea.
- Hackathon in Times of Corona March 26, 2020
Hack the Crisis Kosova brought together researchers, startups, and tech enthusiasts to build solutions during the pandemic.
- Qysh Me Has Been Acquired by DUA November 30, 2019
Qysh Me has been acquired by Dua, a network that aims to connect Albanians around the globe. We believe in Dua's mission and its leadership.
- Google Acquires Moz for $550 million April 1, 2019
We're better together. With our keyword and link research tools combined with MOZ's daily rankings and SERP analytics now have most robust organic search
- Back to School, It's the Startup School by Y-Combinator September 5, 2018
After a mix-up, Y Combinator accepted all 15,000 Startup School applicants, my team included. What it was actually like.
- 100,000 Facebook Likes: Qysh Me's First Big Milestone March 5, 2015
Four years after launching Qysh Me, our Facebook page crossed 100,000 likes. What that number really meant, and the slow, unglamorous work that got us there.
- Shipping Ripost in Beta and Leaving It There December 15, 2014
Ripost carried a BETA label next to the logo on purpose. Notes on running formats as experiments, and what the label bought us.
- Ripost Is Not a Portal November 18, 2014
We founded Ripost as an internet platform, not a news portal. What that distinction meant in practice for a newsroom of misfits.
- Doscus About the Gray Area with Peter Sunde October 3, 2013
Mentoring at Startup Grind Prishtina, where a co-founder of The Pirate Bay presented and we spent the evening arguing about sharing, distribution, and everything in between.
- Building a Writer Community Around Qysh Me June 11, 2013
Qysh Me could not scale on two people alone. How we brought in contributors, kept quality high, and turned readers into writers.
- Our Content Engine: How We Planned Qysh Me's Articles May 16, 2012
The editorial system behind Qysh Me. How real questions people were already asking became a repeatable how-to content engine.
- 54 Hours to Elexoj: Winning the First Startup Weekend Prishtina April 23, 2012
We built an Albanian audiobook platform over a weekend and won. What actually decided it was not the product, it was the letters we got signed.
- Why We Built Qysh Me on WordPress April 12, 2011
Why a two-person team building Albania's first how-to portal chose WordPress over a custom build, and what that choice let us do.