Information overload is nothing new, and the problem certainly applies to the buzzillion photos on the web.  The Tell It In Ten team says they have the solution.  “You can take all your scattered photos across the social network and aggregate them to tell a story”, says Eli Ruble, Founder of Tell It In Ten.  No doubt his art background is the inspiration behind the company.  The idea is to organize all those images into a succinct, bite-sized group of 10 photos to pass around to your online friends and let them add to the story any way they see fit.  Less really is more.

Heading up the development of this huge task is Matthew Rotter, aka “Skip,” aka “Old Man.”  A sage and tested coder/warrior, Skip also has a day job.  “It’s a hurdle,” he readily admits, “I can’t work 16-hour days and sleep under the desk,” but the lean team seems to be functioning very effectively.  One of the challenges of a lean team?  “Everybody wants to have input into the product”, Eli laments, “but you have to filter out the good from the bad and still make people feel they are heard and respected.”  Another age-old startup challenge for them is funding: How much time and resources do you devote to chasing seed capital without hurting development?  The pair thinks they have a plan.

A big plus has been their location, smack in the middle of Portland, Oregon’s tech community where conversations with other techies over a beer and pizza can make a huge difference in a company’s success.  The big goal ahead?  “To foster an online community,” Eli says.  Less information, more story.

by Thubten Comerford and Michael Coates

This interview is sponsored by WePost Media