What does "At Least Seven" mean?

At Least Seven is a very strange name for a company (at least I think so). I feel like I need to explain it every time I say it. That being said, I think it encompasses so much of how Dan and I want to approach building this company.

Origin of the Name

I like to make a lot of jokes. Well, that is half-true. I like to say the same small set of jokes all of the time. And some of those things are not actually jokes, but more joking responses to questions.

I love math. I studied Actuarial Science in college which required me to take a lot of Statistics courses. This led to me constantly calculating the odds/averages of die rolls in various games, which in turn led to people asking me about odds & averages all the time. I started answering 7 as my joking initial answer to these questions.

At some point, Dan started making a response to my "seven." When I would say "seven" he would reply, "At least seven." My friends and I still do this during conversation. Someone asks, "How long do you think it will take us to finish this game?" "Seven," I reply. "At least seven," someone else says. We all nod and laugh.

What Does It Mean?

So is At Least Seven an inside joke as a company name? Yes, but as we've thought about the name, we have found other ways to think about our name. We find that the name applies to our approach for development, building a company, feature planning, and so much more.

A 1-10 Scale

One way is to think of your typical 1-10 scale. We will be at least 7 on that scale. Some people like to turn it up to 11. Dan and I think that turning it up to 11 causes things to break. Maybe you have too many features so your typical user has difficulty using your product. Or perhaps you spend weeks building an amazing feature that really turns your app up to the next level, but then find no one uses the feature.

Of course, you don't want to be a 4/10 either. The quality of our work should meet at least a 7/10 standard, especially with new products. Dan and I both believe in doing things the right way, but we recognize that taking the time to do things perfectly is folly. Just like art is never done, development is never done. There is always something else that can be done to improve things. So we'll start by aiming for at least a 7/10 and then improve things in the future if needed.

Just a Number

The other way to think about this is as a number. While Dan and I have our dream app that we want to build, we both realize that putting our eggs all in one basket is a poor decision. So, to that end, we plan on making a variety (at least seven!) of products and seeing which ones stick. We will then pour more development time into those products.

Of course, we won't actually hold ourselves strictly to 7 as the number we are aiming for. We don't need 7 well defined features or 7 types of users for each product. We will follow the principle of diversifying our investments. In this case, our investments are our products and the features of those products.

In Summary

At Least Seven encapsulates a commitment to excellence tempered by pragmatism, emphasizing the pursuit of quality without chasing perfection. It signifies aiming for high standards while acknowledging the inherent limitations of striving for absolute perfection. This mindset guides our actions, pushing us to deliver products and experiences that exceed expectations while remaining pragmatic and grounded in reality.

We think our name fits us very well. Just how well? At least seven!