Colin Plamondon

Originally from the suburban wastelands of Seattle (Redmond), went to college briefly before journeying off to San Francisco to try my hand at trading. Didn't work. Got a job at a psychic and phone sex operator web company, Ingenio, saved up, learned web development on my own, quit, and packed up and went to Argentina.

Met another developer and decided to join forces- went back to SF to interview with Y Combinator, made a bone-headed move by not going through with it, moved to Koh Tao, Thailand, had that company implode, and started another with a friend from Hungary- Zsolt Maslanyi.

We worked on a music site, Spreadsong, but eventually decided to abandon that in favor of iPhone development. It seemed like it might be more promising.

It was.

Launched a book app, Free Books, which rocketed to being the #1 Paid Book app for iPhone. Launched a followup, Free Audiobooks, which became #2. Launched a third, Free Books for iPad, which has been Top 100 since release. We now have over 1.5 million downloads, and, all the while, I've continued to travel the world, hitting up Buenos Aires for another 9 months, lviing on a Panamanian island for a bit, hiking the Inca Trail, hanging out in Medellin, regularly visiting Budapest, and generally just loving the freedom of that whole having your own business thing.