My name is Ryan Carson.

Jason kindly invited me to be a guest author here on SvN, so I’m looking forward to getting to know you all.

The 37signals crew said I should introduce myself, so here we go: I grew up in Colorado but now live in England. I spent a large chunk of my career as a web developer working on everything from ActionScript to PHP. At the same time, a buddy (another Ryan) and I started a non-profit community of web professionals called BD4D (By Designers for Designers). To our surprise it became pretty well-known and there have been over 40 events in 19 different cities world-wide.

About two years ago, I decided I was tired of being an employee (and no doubt my boss was tired of me being a pain in the ass), so I decided to start my own company (which was pretty difficult, me being a foreigner in a foreign land). Somehow, I persuaded my wife to quit her job as editor of Computer Arts Magazine, and now we run Carson Systems together. Here’s what we’ve been working on over the past year:

1. DropSend - A new tool that enables you to send large files that you can’t email
2. Carson Workshops - Training workshops around the world for web professionals
3. "The Future of Web Apps" Summit - Topics and speakers include del.icio.us, 37 Signals, Ruby on Rails, FeedBurner, Yahoo!, Flickr and Mint

I’ve put a lot of thought into what I might be able to share that would be of value, and I’ve decided to write a mini-series called "Small Biz 101". The posts will talk about all the things I’ve learned since starting my own small company in the web industry. I’m not saying that I know everything - to be honest I’m learning new stuff every day - but I’ve got a few nuggets of information to pass on that should make your (business) life easier.

I’m aiming for a practical, in-the-trenches style, guide. So if you’re thinking about starting your own web company, or building your own web app then stay tuned …