Turning Your Code Into a Company: The Parts They Don't Tell You

encouraging. I've owned my own business and it is great to hear someone be honest about the difficulty while not being a discouragement

This was an amazing last-session to the conference. I loved it. There was a lot of great information shared and it was motivational. Luke did a great job with the presentation.

Great keynote, but the flow seemed off towards the end.

This topic was relevant and I came away encouraged to be on this path. Luke delivered the message well and included just the right amount humor and war stories.

I always enjoy hearing these kinds of talks, especially Luke's story. The ups and downs of starting a successful company are a good grounding strategy in the days of startups that are only worried about cashing out quickly.

I've heard Luke give variations of this talk several times. Every time I learn something new. Luke is a good friend, a great mentor, and an awesome member of the PHP Community. If you get a chance to see this talk, DO IT!

I have seen this talk a couple of times now and it never fails to inspire me. Luke does such a great job of speaking with sincerity and passion that one can't help but be drawn in and thus inspired. The presentation has a wonderful balance of light hearted humor and serious notes of caution and reality.

This was a perfect encouraging speech to end the conference with.

After two days of *what* and *how*, it was nice to sit back and listed to the *why*. Luke was very relate-able as he discussed the balance between business, code, and life. If delivering this talk again show the tools slide but don't describe them all--it really affected the pace at the end.

May have just been my angle, but the tools slide was a bit blurry. Perhaps using larger versions of the logo files. I agree that the pacing seemed different at the end of the talk. I think this was because the beginning was very passionate story-telling whereas the end seemed more like a tools tutorial. In a keynote setting, I think the latter could be skipped as it's not necessary for the inspirational message of the former. All in all, though, I loved hearing this talk and getting a glimpse into the lifeblood of a solidly successful product. I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks building a business takes years of hard work, not just a magical idea.

I think the tools bit should have been split off to another talk. Personally, I'd call that something like "how to build a your company's infrastructure in 147 easy steps!" :)

Other than that, I thought the talk was thoughtful, applicable, and very deliberate. I like the (totally legitimate) criticism of the "overnight success" mindset.

I've ran a few businesses and hobbies, it was very inspirational to hear the successes and even some failures of someone's journey. Great way to end the conference.

This was a wonderful closing keynote and an incredible reality check for just how hard it is to build a successful business. I appreciated Luke's straight talk, as well as his insight into the history of FoxyCart and the challenges and subsequent rewards that have come from his and his co-founder's hard work and dedication. Lots of great quotes, too:

"Don't ever underestimate the power of serving people in a tangible way."

"There's no glamour at two in the morning."

"Getting 'funded' is not a destination. Build a business, not a startup."

Great talks leave me with food for thought, and ideas for how I can best plan out my path as a developer. This talk did those things, and for that, I am grateful.

So much wisdom condensed into 50 minutes! Luke's talk provided a few funny moments (ex. if profit is negative in the equation 'profit = income - expense' then you have a hobby) as well as much food for though. This was a great end to the 2 or 3 days we have invested at Lone Star.