Though we’ve talked a bit about what we do, how we run our business, and a few of the projects we’ve launched, little has been said about the people behind the curtain here. You know, the dudes actually running the business, writing code, drinking Diet Mt. Dew, and burning the midnight oil.

At the time of this article’s creation, we are two dudes: Dusty Davidson and myself, Kevin Zink. Together, we run/manage the business side of BrightMix and develop software.

Some Shared History

At our cores, we’re both developers. In fact, we first met and worked together as coworkers at Genesis Systems, another small software company here in Omaha, where we were both programmers. At Genesis, we discovered we had a lot of similarities in our views and beliefs on business and software development.

We only worked together for about a year, as I left the company to join a large corporation (read more about my job history on my blog’s about me page). But, this is where the seeds for BrightMix were first planted. Soon after my departure, Dusty also left Genesis for a corporate job.

Over the course of a few years, we talked a lot about how crappy our corporate jobs were; they were straight out of a Dilbert cartoon. We also talked a lot about how we could do so much better if we were to run a company. Well, last summer, we had both had enough and decided it was time to make a go of it.

So, that’s a brief history of how we came about. Lets take a closer look at us as people.

Dusty Davidson

Since Dusty claims he doesn’t like writing about himself, I’ll be doing the honors!

Dusty is sharp, opinionated, outspoken, humorous, and pretty hip.

Back when we worked as employees, Dusty claimed that he “just wanted to be a programmer”; however, he’s an incredibly gifted technical innovator and impromptu thinker. For Dusty, the term technical evangelist really fits the bill.

If you want to get Dusty excited, start talking about big picture ideas and Web 2.0 technologies.

Interesting Tidbits about Dusty:

• Backpacked around Europe for 6 months after college
• Built a cool Mame Arcade Machine
• Created a semi-popular photo annotation project called Photonotes
• Ran in the Omaha and Minneapolis marathons

Dusty is Awesome because he:

• Wears sandals a lot, even when it’s really cold out!
• Drinks a lot of Diet Mountain Dew, like 6 cans per day sometimes
• Uses only bowflex adjustable dumbbells

to train

• Drives a faded 1996 1994 Toyota Corolla
• Has “I’m getting married badge” on his blog… 6 months after getting married
• Is self-admittedly addicted to Google Reader

Kevin Zink

What can I say about myself? Well, I used to be really shy, but not nearly so much these days. I’m fairly smart, outgoing, and at times funny. I’ve been told numerous times that I’m really good at listening and understanding people.

On the technical side of things, I’m pretty far up there on the software development curve, probably not too far behind Dusty.

I’m very level-headed in my approach to solving problems; I’m good at “keeping things real,” so to speak.

Interesting Tidbits about Kevin:

• Big into Home Improvement projects
• Motorcycle Enthusiast
• Has more clothes than his girlfriend
• Fascinated by popping dance styles

Kevin is Awesome because he:

• Is unnaturally good at PC / Console games (Rock Band or Guitar Hero Anyone?)
• Fell through the ceiling in his house
• Is fascinated by “bling” and animated effects in business software
• Once wrangled an opposum
• Has his computer set up in the middle of his living room

You can read more about us on our personal blogs at Zinknation.net and Dustyd.net.