Old fashioned? I'll say! Startups these days don't often have offices, and at this rate they won't even have humans for much longer! Get your head into the clouds.</teasing>

In reply to the main topic: promoting myself (as a person distinct from but representing my startup) is an opportunity I'm weighing carefully. Given that we're a rather small shop, we have the luxury of exposing the personality of every member of the team, given they've got something charming to expose. I see this as a great way to differentiate ourselves from the larger corps in our industry. As I see it, ever member of our team has the occasion to be a hero, someone our fans could be interested in as an individual. Especially so, if a connection can be made between their personality and their contributions to our product. In a larger company, most employees won't ever get the opportunity to say, publicly, "That! I made that!" and have customers respond, "Yeah! That makes sense, because you really love ______ and it's always reflected in your work."

For example, every hardcore Apple fan knows Jony Ive's aesthetic, and Jobs' sense of perfectionism. They're the heros of Apple, and Apple has a bit of a "hero" culture, but they're too big to make everyone a hero. In a startup, you have the unique opportunity to make everyone a hero, if your products are good enough to win hearts.

I see well-considered self-promotion online and offline as a great way to expose the heroic qualities of each team member. It's a risk, of course, but taking on such challenges is why we're starting a company in such a competitive industry.