What FASO is about

We provide technology for artists to enrich lives by sharing their art.

Beliefs:

Sharing Art Enriches Life.
Artists are blessed by the Creator with a unique gift to share beauty with a world that desperately needs it. This is our number 1 belief and permeats everything we do.

Live at the intersection of Art and Technology.
Steve Jobs used to say that Apple lived at the intersection of technology and liberal arts. In a similar vein, FASO lives at the intersection of technology and fine art.

Simplicity is Valuable.
Simplicity is being able to take complex things, and integrate them into one simple package - that creates value in the lives of our customers and faciliates them sharing art. [1] Our customers' lives need less complexity, not more. In practice that means we don't engage in feature wars with our competitors just for the sake of matching. The features we do add need to be dead-simple and serve our customers' needs. For example: The ipod wasn't the most feature-rich mp3 player - it was the easiest to use with the right features.

Useful Now is Better Than Perfect Later.
This is where we part company with Apple's vision. We want to deliver perfect simplicity to you and provide the "It just works" experience. However, when we're on to an idea that can help share art with the world, we want it out there as soon as it can be useful. Our software is never really "done", but once it's useful, even if not perfect, we'll share it. [3]

Fullfilling True Needs is Better Than Satisfying Wants.
We strive to give people what they need, not what they think they want - "My customers would have asked for a faster horse" - Henry Ford. Customers cannot always tell us what they need, because we haven't yet shown them what is possible.

Jump to the Next Curve.
Eric S. Raymond said, "The future belongs to those who show up and build it." [4] We want to be those people. Big wins happen when we go beyond better sameness. The best daisy-wheel printer companies were introducing new fonts in more sizes. Then Apple introduced the next curve: laser printing. Think of ice harvesters, ice factories, and refrigerator companies. Ice 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0. We don't want to still be harvesting ice during the winter from a frozen pond. [6]

Value is more important than price.
Competing on price is a race to the bottom. We are trying to win the race to the top, not the bottom. "The problem with a race to the bottom is that you might win." Seth Godin

Change Presents Opportunities
We look at change as an opportunity for growth, not as a pain point.

Depressions don't Matter.
There's $15 trillion in the economy. We, and our customers, are allowed a piece of it. [7]

Work Should be Fun.
We believe that work should be fun, not toil. Our job is to pursue projects that are fun for us to work on and fun for our customers to use.

Provide Remarkable Artist Support
No matter how hard we try, technology can be confusing. We believe in going the extra mile when you need help. Our customers can call us 7 days a week for support....on the phone and talk to a real, live human being. Can you believe that?

Details Matter
"Getting the details right is the difference between something that delights, and something customers tolerate." Jeff Atwood [8]

Footnotes:

[1] http://generationypoet.tumblr.com/post/22529206017/this-is-not-the-20th-century-stop-thinking-it-still-is

[2] Well done is better than well said. - Benjamin Franklin

[3] This idea was inspired by Mark Zuckerberg who said "Done is better than perfect." We changed "Done" to "Useful" because code really is never done.

[4] Said perfectly by Eric S. Raymond

[5] Do the dumbest possible thing that will work. We changed to simplest. http://laughingmeme.org/2009/09/29/try-coding-dear-boy/

[6] I think guy kawasaki said the "Jump to the next curve" part Read more: http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2011/10/what-i-learned-from-steve-jobs.html#ixzz1aO3s0sL1

[7] Depressions, recessions, don't matter. There's $15 trillion in the economy. We're allowed a piece of it. [http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2011/04/the-100-rules-for-being-an-entrepreneur/]

[8] http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2012/05/this-is-all-your-app-is-a-collection-of-tiny-details.html