Getting back to basics

I can barely believe RookieOven is over 13 years old now and it all started out as two simple things:

• A blog where I could write about my personal experiences working in Scottish tech
• A meetup with the intent I could meet like minded people in Glasgow with a passion for building tech products

That was way back in May 2011 while I was still at University.

A lot of change over the years

Over the years, RookieOven took on a life of its own. It went from the poorly written blog posts and pints at the pub to me running a full-blown coworking space and even an academy for young tech enthusiasts. I even found myself advising the government (still not sure how that happened) and feeling like we were really making a difference in Scotland's startup scene and helping founders succeed (if anyone is interested in the full history I've added a timeline to the about page).

Not everything worked - the coworking space was ultimately unsustainable, the academy was reliant on hard to get funding and then the meetup was on pause when a pandemic halted it.

I'll be honest – there was a point where I seriously considered throwing in the towel. Between juggling a young family (two wee ones will do that to you) and feeling a bit lost in the rapidly changing Scottish startup landscape, I wasn't sure if RookieOven still had a place or even if it was worth all the personal sacrifice and effort.

Last year, I went public with my doubts in a LinkedIn post titled 'Is this the end of RookieOven' (on LinkedIn because I couldn't face writing on this site) and spoke to a bunch of friends about my doubts and my intent to 'end' RookieOVen. I guess you could call this 'burnout'?

But you know what? The feedback I received reminded me why I started all this RookieOven 'stuff' in the first place. I came to the conclusion that RookieOven is important and still has an important role to play in supporting Scottish founders.

I resolved to continue the monthly meetup in Glasgow which is still ongoing first monday of the month, but what about the website?

Unloved and forgotten

The website hadn't been touched since 2019. Yup, not touched at all. It was slow, clunky and looked dated.

I had such apathy towards the website I was just letting it wilt. I then I stumbled on some of the earliest posts on this site and despite the shockingly poor writing of an early 20's me I could see a young guy bursting with passion for making software and sharing the experience of doing that on the internet.

RookieOven had changed and evolved over the years and I guess I was left a bit bruised by failure and my shortcomings but reading those posts was a reminded to me of why I even started a blog in the first place.

So, here we are summer of 2024 and RookieOven has a new coat of paint and is getting back to basics. By this I mean I'm going back to what motivated me to do RookieOven was back in 2011:

• Real, unfiltered stories from the Scottish startup trenches (including my own blunders and occasional wins)
• A platform for other founders to shout about their cool projects - posts by founders for other founders
• A place to connect, learn, and maybe even find your next customer, co-founder or investor

I want to be an agnostic, honest place for Scots doing great stuff in tech. I run the site, I don't pander to the whims of public sector funders or the requests of sponsors. And I want to help anyone in Scotland do better - I don't care which end of the M8 you live on or if you're on an island or the mainland.

An Open Invitation

This is where you come in. RookieOven has always been about community, and that's truer now than ever. Have you got a story to share? A startup you're proud of? A rant about the challenges of building tech in Scotland? An approach to creating software or marketing that you think others should know about? Then use this site as a platform to share it.

Drop me a line at michael@rookieoven.com or use the contact form on the site. Let's make some noise about the amazing things happening in Scottish tech.

What's Next?

The monthly meetups in Glasgow are still going strong (first Monday of the month in Glasgow – put it in your calendar!) and on the website I'm going to be much more active.

Expect regular honest updates, warts-and-all founder stories, and maybe even some guest posts from faces old and new in the Scottish tech scene. I also want to share some of the technical insights into building tech products, one of the things I think is missing from 'the ecosystem' in Scotland is any profile of the actual 'tech' in the tech ecosystem - there's an endless stream of advisors, mentors and gurus but who is actually experienced in shipping products and scaling them?

Here's to the next chapter of RookieOven. Hopefully my blog posts are bit more coherent and easier to read than the ones from 2011 but my promise is to be authentic, promote Scottish tech and make this some useful digital real estate for my peers. To follow along you can subscribe to the RSS feed or follow @rookieoven on Twitter/x.