Last Updated on August 9, 2024
Today in the 5-minute interviews series we will have a discussion with Peter Krumins: CEO of Browserling Inc and a prolific blogger. His company offers cross-browser testing services to web developers and it may soon become one of the most used websites as it already has become the top 20k resource in the world.
He also runs a popular programming blog catonmat.net that is read by hundreds of thousands of people every month. He has been working with computers since he was just six years old and he has learned everything on his own. His achievements are based on his hard work and determination. Let’s ask him about his career and achievements.
Welcome!
Hi there and thanks for doing this interview with me! I’m happy this is a quick 5-minute interview as I love quick and concise interviews.
How did your interests develop in the world of computers?
The first time I used a computer, I was instantly hooked. I can’t explain it but it was love with computers at first sight. They could do so much and everything was so exciting!
How did you start initially?
My mom had computers at her work and I could sometimes use them. At first, I was playing games, but then I learned about the C:\> prompt and the FAR file manager.
Which field did you dive in at the first step when you started?
At first, it was DOS games, then the Internet, then IRC, then HTML and CSS, then PHP.
What was the basic problem or hurdle when you started?
Everyone was talking about programming but I couldn’t understand how to do the actual programming. Like how do you tell a computer to do things? Later I learned about programming languages.
How did you cope with the hurdles you initially faced?
I discovered IRC and made friends who knew how to program. They told me how to do it.
How did you come to know about blogging, and what do you remember in your first blog?
Everyone was talking about blogs so I made my first blog in PHP in early 2000. I wrote my own PHP framework called PHP2000 that I still use today.
We know that you are the CEO of Browserling. Will you like to share your experience with us (how you started, etc)?
I read Paul Graham’s essays and I instantly knew that I wanted to do startups. I started Browserling with a friend from IRC and it was a success!
What does Browserling do?
Browserling is a cross-browser testing service. It allows web developers to quickly test their websites in all browsers.
What are the hurdles you faced when you started?
Everything was a hurdle when I started. Finding investors and raising a financing round, setting up servers, creating a scalable architecture. There are still hurdles every day and every day brings something new.
And how many persons work with you right now?
Right now my team is 5 people. A DevOps engineer, a front-end engineer, a full-stack engineer, a social media manager, and a customer support manager.
What are your plans for adding more persons to your team?
My plan is to build a great company with hundreds of employees. As soon as I have more revenue, I’ll be hiring more people!
Which type of work do you like the most?
I like spending weeks and months exploring a single problem and finding the best and greatest solution for it.
Do u have any motivation or any leader in life who has inspired you in your carrier?
I don’t think so. I like doing everything on my own.
Many people want to start their own companies, can you tell us what is the best way to do it?
The best way is to just do it. Start now. Make a website and tell all your friends about it. Then tweet about it and share on Facebook.
What are the future projects you are working on?
At Browserling we’re working on only 3 projects – it’s Browserling itself that offers cross-browser testing services, our Online Tools project that offers data conversion utilities, and TechURLs project that offers fast access to the latest news from the top tech websites. We keep improving these projects and I don’t plan to launch anything new.
Is there anything in your projects that will help students?
Online Tools will help students, especially math tools and text tools that let you do quick math and text operations in your browser.
Anything you want to share with the followers who love you and your work?
Be good and keep kicking butt everyone!
Thanks Peter!
