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About the CoffeeCup Team
So you want to know who is behind all the great software CoffeeCup has created? Well the first part of the team is us. The other part is our users. Since 1996 CoffeeCup has been creating hot brew and cool tools and making them available on the Web to download. Millions of people around the world have suggested software ideas and spotted things that could be better too. As far as the CoffeeCup team goes we are the coolest, hippest, funniest people on the planet and we love to make software you can actually use. If we can make the world better or your life easier by creating software, we are happy. That's what we are about.
About the Company
| Inception: | June 1996 (11 years goes fast on the Internet) |
| How we got our Name: | The name 'CoffeeCup' came from the Domain name of the Coffeehouse where we started (yes we owned a real Coffeehouse first) The domain was already paid for so why invent a new name? |
| Programs: | 32 All together, some have come and gone to the big recycle bin in the sky. |
| Employees: | 21 - The core have always been here and others have left for greener pastures when they learned enough to leave the nest... bye bye little grasshoppers. |
| What keeps us going: | Our team runs off of an unlimited supply of Red Bull, Mexican food, Jelly Bellies and passion for our users. |
| What we have done for society: | Our goal at CoffeeCup Software is to make your life easier and more successful. Providing our users with great, affordable software is just one part of our culture. CoffeeCup Software has made a continuing effort to provide help to many causes. CoffeeCup provides discounted software to schools, the disabled and those in need. In the past we have collected 7 tons of goods for Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, raised over 1 million dollars for September 11th support agencies and collected over $50,000 for Tsunami victims. CoffeeCup Software has enriched the lives of millions of people worldwide. We are very proud. |
About the People (in random order)
Over the years we've found some great people to join the team. Most of them actually decided to stick around. Here is a little peek into the minds and personalities of the crew that keep this place running.
- Team Member for:
1 year, 139 days
David listens to Brittney Spears, Diana Ross and Barbara Streisand while working. He says it keeps him calm and focused. He does do great work, but he needs better headphones so we don’t have to listen to it too.
The irony is he plays Guitar Hero like, well, a hero. He can shred the plastic 5 button axe like a true rock and roll legend. We just wonder how he would handle a Diana Ross song.
- Team Member for:
2 years, 108 days
Cees (pronounced "Case") is part of the Dutch contingent at CoffeeCup. He's a programmer with a long history of being up to his ears in banking and mainframe software. We think all that will help him deal with our quirky way of doing things.
Cees lives somewhere in Spain, although he's from Holland, and spends a fair amount of time at our offices in the US. We're not sure where to send his mail so we just give it to some European gypsies and hope for the best. Next time you are in southern Spain... stop by his house and ask him if he got that box of paper clips from us. Thanks!
- Team Member for:
2 years, 66 days
Did you know that Pablo likes to be called ‘Pico’? Well, his girlfriend (a.k.a. his computer) does and likes him anyway. Pico likes thinking of innovative software projects and fresh new ways to enjoy orange juice (he thinks pulp is great).
The funniest thing about Pablo is he likes to talk on two phones at the same time. It looks odd when we see him walking around with phones on both ears, but he says it helps him stay balanced. We just wonder who is on the other end of the 2nd phone all the time.
- Team Member for:
11 years, 97 days
John is the supreme wizard of 100% Pure Web Design Applications. From his comfortable home on the icecaps of extreme North America he spends hours a day coding on Software like Form Builder and Website Search. He seems to work better from home, plus he can take a nap whenever he wants without us bugging him.
He also spends lots of time gallivanting around the world as the International Man of Mystery. He has made appearances in Canada, Mexico, Belieze, Guatamala, England, France, Spain, Belgium, The Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Austria, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, China, India, and Japan. If you ask nice maybe he'll come to your town and sleep on your couch.
- Team Member for:
1 year, 212 days
Luis has more computers running in his house than there are people in his neighborhood. He’s a true Linux geek with a passion for bits and bytes. He also plays a mean game of basketball and can dunk from the free throw line (can you say "Air Fernandez"?).
We think it’s funny that his name has Fernandez twice, but he says it helps people remember him. Since he is 6 1/2 feet tall and 4 feet across we say he’s hard to forget no matter what his name is.
- Team Member for:
2 years, 346 days
Budgets, numbers, financials, accrual accounting, AARGH! We like to make software not do accounting. Luckily for us Bob loves accounting. Seems like a match made in heaven. Bob used to crunch numbers for people like Heineken, Loreal, and some giant German bank. Nobody says EBITDA with more enthusiasm.
When Bob isn't up to his ears in Excel spreadsheets he likes Sam Adams, live music and wacky American Sit-coms. Since he lives in the Netherlands, American TV shows are hard to come by. Maybe that's why he likes accounting.
- Team Member for:
2 years, 290 days
The local branch of Texas A&M sent Cesar to our offices to interview J. for a school project. He started talking about how he had used our software for years and we liked him so much we gave him a job.
Funny thing about Cesar is that when we sat down for lunch to play some Texas Hold'Em, he showed up with his poker tournament trophies. We're not sure how he got those because he folds every hand.
- Team Member for:
11 years, 293 days
Mike is our Designated Hitter when things get rough (which is a lot by the way). He is a programmer that fishes from an oversized rowboat on the weekends, appreciates quiet walks on the beach, and a warm glass of milk before bed.
We think the work he has done on the HTML Editor is fantastic and can't wait for him to make more software like Google Site Mapper. Mike enjoys a certain amount of seniority so if he didn't work from home he could use it to get some nice office supplies from the secret stash.
Suzanne likes BBQ, guys named Ferris, buys a lot of fancy shoes, and says things like "Stay outta' my grill". She reminds us of 'Hammy' from Over the Hedge since she is always running around at 200mph answering phones and doing office stuff. We try to get her to slow down, but it's no use.
She's actually a really nice girl from someplace where they grow lots of corn. If you ever visit our office she is probably the first person you will see so please be nice to her.
Scott is the original founder of Tucows, the pioneer of software download sites. He likes to 'boldly go' where no man has gone before... in fact his passport has more stamps than Bugs Bunny's suitcase. If anybody knows how to promote and distribute software online, it's Scott. He's a snappy dresser too.
Scott was also honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award from the SIAF (Shareware Industry Awards Foundation), although not for his sense of style. Congrats Scooter!
- Team Member for:
2 years, 83 days
Alberto is a first class C++ guy and a total fan of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pearl Jam, Metallica, and a lot of other rock and roll bands... and he plays the bass in two bands of his own. His bands like to take classic rock songs, change the lyrics, and then play them really loud so people can’t tell the difference.
He also likes the landscapes of his native Asturias, Spain ... and its food and drinks. He says the cider there is fantastic, and as long as you don’t have too much you can still work the next day!
- Team Member for:
330 days
Even though they don't look alike, Patricia and Suzanne sure sound alike on the phone. Our customers love it! She somehow manages to keep things running in our European office in spite of the fact she spent more than one, but less than 33 years somewhere in the middle of the US. She learned to speak English fluently while she was here and didn't pick up any funny Texas or Boston accents along the way.
She has tried to convince us she is older and insists that we call her ‘Pat’, but judging by her looks we think she's 24. No matter how old she is or what her name is we think she does a great job, and if one day we find out she really is older than she looks we'll just get some more candles for the cake.
- Team Member for:
1 year, 121 days
We call Orlando “The Concierge” because he can get us anything we need. He’s the guy that knows a guy who knows a guy.... Cool thing is that he knows how to figure out strange software issues, or knows a guy that can.
He also happens to be really good with movie trivia and Mexican food recipes so we like to keep him around to settle debates over who was in what movie or how to properly make a tortilla.
J has done a great job coordinating all the trouble makers that work here. He also has the inside voice of reason at CoffeeCup so if you have an idea or want to cut a deal, e-mail him with the specifics and he will make it happen.
He likes to eat Thai food and ride his bike whenever possible. The 5 Star (wow that's hot) curries help him think straight and keep him calm which is important when he's working on the servers or his myriad of other projects. He also likes to read broad thinking, business, and technical books. We figure all that reading might make him better behind the keyboard. He's been known to work on other stuff just for fun. You can follow his adventures on Twitter.
Now here's a guy that we can all call a geek and not feel bad about it. Jeff is currently learning several new programming languages in addition to the 14 he knows now. Everyday he comes in talking about some 'cool function' or 'the way you compare literals' (yea he really talks like that). We just smile and pat him on the head.
In addition to working here Jeff is finishing up his study on stacking random objects. When he quits coming by our desks and trying to stack everything he can get his hands on we might take him seriously and let him drive without a chaparone (well, once he learns to drive a stick). Oh, by the way — he also cheats at Foosball.
- Team Member for:
185 days
She has read War and Peace, Moby Dick, and Atlas Shrugged; and that was just on the way to work this morning. Seriously though, Brooke is a literature buff and helps us a lot when it comes to using proper grammar and punctuation. She's pretty snazzy when it comes to helping our users with stuff too.
She holds a degree from a little school in Atlanta, and is hopelessly infatuated with their mascot "Dooley". She's also a vegetarian, avid recycler, and Beatles fan (who can blame her for that?!).
- Team Member for:
258 days
She’s a musician, photographer, likes to lift weights but she’s tiny (5ft, 97 lbs), her nickname at the gym is “Brute Force”, and she’s into Capoeira (Brazillian martial arts/dancing) and Parkour (French urban free running), which means she can kick your butt. Whew! We get worn out just thinking about all that stuff.
On top of that she has tattoos (and hopes that’s not a problem), hasn’t owned a car in years, is Vegan and has very cheesy sense of humor. As far as we are concerned with all those quirks — she fits in here perfectly.
- Team Member for:
2 years, 346 days
Hans is the former CEO of a company that made a little program called WinZip. He joined the team to help us grow and get even better at making software. Hans is Dutch and lives in the Netherlands so he will be spending a lot of time expanding CoffeeCup in Europe. Yippie!
Being a world traveller, Hans has seen and done a lot of things. He was still a little surprised by the heat in our South Texas Jalapenos. It's okay though, Hans will probably find something to surprise us with when we visit Holland.
- Team Member for:
1 year, 309 days
Suzanne and Hope are like two peas in a pod. It's really cute when they huddle around a computer and giggle about stuff they find on MySpace. We would give you a link to Hope's MySpace page, but she wont tell us where it is.
She also has a spiffy car like the ones in Fast and the Furious that she likes to pull backwards in her parking spot. We think she does that so she can make a quick getaway when she leaves to run errands. It must be true because she sure gets them done in a hurry.
- Team Member for:
1 year, 212 days
Javier likes to play Tekken and role playing games so much it is hard for him to separate the real world from the fantasy one. When you meet him he rolls the dice before he decides whether to shake your hand. It’s a disorder he is working on.
We hear he takes 2 hours to get ready in the morning since he loves his hair. He wants to look like James Hetfield some day, we hope he never gets there because then we would lose a fantastic programmer to the throngs of ladies begging for him outside the office.
- Team Member for:
2 years, 77 days
Francisco a.k.a. ‘Xicu’ (we’re not sure how to pronounce that) is an expert at code optimization. His code tends to be very clear and fast and he usually thinks about solving problems while playing X-Box. His photo looks like that because he loves grainy old B-Grade movies and tries to look like Bela Lugosi on Tuesdays for fun.
His university professors spoke very highly of him so we decided to give him a job. He’s done a great job of blending in with the rest of the crew even though he still thinks pizza grows on trees.
Are you looking for a band of misfits to join and help crusade to keep the Web cool and free of ugly Websites? Hey, you're in luck! We are looking for top-notch Graphic Designers and Programmers to join the team. Photoshop Gurus, C++ Wizards, and PHP Masters are encouraged to join the team.
If you think you have what it takes, a good sense of humor, and are willing to live by the beach in Sunny South Texas then send in your resume, portfolio, and anything else you think will land you a job. We're looking forward to meeting you.
About the Website
We've received quite a few emails asking us what we use to make and power our Website. There are lot of things happening 'behind the scenes' on our site. Here is a little overview of what it takes to brew the Website and keep it fresh.
About the Code
The entire system is built on LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, & PHP). We are currently running Apache 1.3, PHP 4.3.1, and MySQL 4.1.7. Since we have a LOT of pages we decided a long time ago to use the Smarty Template Engine to make things easier to maintain.
As you may have noticed we have some nifty tricks on the site too. We are using some creative XHTML, CSS, Flash, JavaScript, and other great technologies to make it all happen. If you look at the source code of our site you will see text links instead of images for our main navigation. We use a modified version of Fahrner Image Replacement to replace the text links with nice images. A little DOM Scripting and AJAX makes the 'What do you think' and 'Tell a Friend' forms work. We've chosen sIFR (Scalable Inman Flash Replacement) to create the nice dynamic text headers for the entire site.
The entire Website should validate as XHTML 1.0 Transitional and CSS 1.0. We try to make everything as compliant as possible, but sometimes you just have to sacrifice standards for usability and browser compatability.
About the Hardware
We use the RedHat Enterprise Server operating system on all our servers. The Website lives behind a nice Cisco Firewall on a set of load balanced Dell servers with dual 2.4 Ghz processors and 2GB of Ram each. We also have a development server, a staging server, a dedicated database server for MySQL with 4GB of RAM, and a backup server running a MySQL replicant. Everything gets backed up to a local cached copy 6 times a day on our backup server and there is also a SAN backup that takes nightly snapshots of the entire system. Everything is connected together with dual Gigibit Ethernet on a private network. It's all quite nice to work on we must say :)
So do we use our own software?
Yes! Each of us has our favorite program. The HTML Editor and DirectFTP probably get the most use and abuse by our team. Of course we use other software too: Adobe Photoshop, SecureCRT, and VIM are all part of our toolkit. We also use BaseCamp and TRAC for project management and bug tracking, with SVN for version control.
CoffeeCup Software started in a real Coffee House 1996. Our first program was the HTML Editor. Over the last 10 years we have created a lot more Web Design & Flash Software. Our philosophy has always been to create software and services so you can make better Websites. We are dedicated to helping you by offering extraordinary support so we can succeed together. Consider us a partner and a friend, because we really are about Fresh Software and Warm People.
