[{"content":"Our last blog update was over two years ago. In the meantime, the tech industry contracted while rapidly expanding in generative AI. The novel use cases GenAI introduced caught the tech industry and the world\u0026rsquo;s imagination.\nIn our view, small businesses remain wildly underserved. They\u0026rsquo;re forced to purchase several expensive, disconnected software solutions to keep up with large corporations. Companies charging lower prices upsell GenAI features, adding more cost to tight budgets.\nCanzan\u0026rsquo;s primary objective: provide your business with low-cost, open-source solutions.\nWhat\u0026rsquo;s New? We\u0026rsquo;re developing Canzan Lift, a marketing platform for managing social media, email, and text marketing. An alpha release is expected in the coming months. Canzan Lift gives you the lowest-cost marketing automation, maximum flexibility, and complete data ownership.\nWhat\u0026rsquo;s Next? After establishing sustainable revenue, we\u0026rsquo;ll pivot toward the distributed business coalition sector. We\u0026rsquo;ll explore ways to facilitate collaboration and growth among businesses. We also expect advances in machine learning to empower businesses with more robust tools and processes.\nConclusion Running a business is challenging. Canzan intends to change the game.\nBeyond business coalitions, we\u0026rsquo;re planning three products:\nCanzan Target Set your company\u0026rsquo;s charter, monitor progress toward business objectives, and simplify leadership.\nCanzan Jumpstart Start your business with a few clicks. We\u0026rsquo;ll guide you from initiating your trademark to registering your LLC.\nCanzan Riot Equip your customers with pitchforks. Let them express opinions, then collect and process feedback with GenAI to simplify customer service.\nCheck back in the coming months by subscribing to your feed of choice.\nWritten by Canzan\nCanzan builds Canzan Lift, campaign software you host yourself — priced per install, and honest about what's ready and what isn't.\nCanzan Lift Get in touch ","permalink":"https://canzan.net/blog/2024/09/06/canzans-november-2024-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eOur last blog update was over two years ago. In the meantime, the tech industry contracted while rapidly expanding in generative AI. The novel use cases GenAI introduced caught the tech industry and the world\u0026rsquo;s imagination.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn our view, small businesses remain wildly underserved. They\u0026rsquo;re forced to purchase several expensive, disconnected software solutions to keep up with large corporations. Companies charging lower prices upsell GenAI features, adding more cost to tight budgets.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Canzan's November 2024 Update"},{"content":"Canzan\u0026rsquo;s August update covers community. Community is everything. Our long game connects your business to complementary businesses. Through business communities with common interests, your business becomes their business.\nWhy? Imagine you\u0026rsquo;re a flower shop owner with a keen eye for beauty. Everyone raves about your ability to turn flowers into a masterpiece.\nNow imagine driving to local markets for inventory, balancing your finances, building a website, and securing your product inventory.\nThrough Canzan\u0026rsquo;s community of businesses, you\u0026rsquo;ll connect with logistics, marketing, and security companies so you can focus on what you do best. Instead of slogging through frustrating efforts, you\u0026rsquo;ll do what you love.\nHow? Canzan will provide turnkey business-to-business contract management. Your small business will rise to the top as your skills focus on your passion.\nA distributed blockchain network will keep everyone honest while securing lifelong business partnerships.\nWe\u0026rsquo;ll do the heavy lifting while your business becomes a beacon of value.\nWhen? We\u0026rsquo;re building Canzan Lift and the systems to support it. Like all great achievements, it takes time. We\u0026rsquo;re currently shooting for this time next year. We\u0026rsquo;ll keep you updated.\nConclusion We hope you\u0026rsquo;re excited about our future. It\u0026rsquo;s time to focus our business on people; it\u0026rsquo;s time to win; it\u0026rsquo;s time to live.\nWe\u0026rsquo;ll see you on the flip side.\n","permalink":"https://canzan.net/blog/2022/08/06/canzan-august-2022-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eCanzan\u0026rsquo;s August update covers community. Community is everything. Our long game connects your business to complementary businesses. Through business communities with common interests, your business becomes their business.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"why\"\u003eWhy?\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eImagine you\u0026rsquo;re a flower shop owner with a keen eye for beauty. Everyone raves about your ability to turn flowers into a masterpiece.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNow imagine driving to local markets for inventory, balancing your finances, building a website, and securing your product inventory.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Canzan's August 2022 Update"},{"content":"Canzan\u0026rsquo;s July update covers teamwork. No organization makes the big time without healthy collaboration. Our organization puts teamwork first, giving you the best experiences at the lowest cost.\nTrust Trusting your teammates to do the right thing leads to solid relationships. Canzan curates the top open-source tools your team can trust. When your workflows go sideways, we clear the path to resolution and support you along the way.\nWe embrace the paradox of zero-trust solutions that earn your trust by keeping your working environments safe.\nCommunication We humans have never had so many communication choices. The challenge now is to simplify them. Canzan helps you pick the right tools and limit choices to reduce cognitive overload.\nWe believe communication should energize us and build excitement around our products and services. We\u0026rsquo;re excited to help your company communicate with everyone you touch.\nRoles \u0026amp; Responsibilities A unique aspect of Canzan is our total ownership principle. We believe you deserve maximum control over your data. As a result, we offer staff and relationship management tools.\nYour role is essential, and complex. Bringing it to the forefront, with opportunities to improve, unlocks everyone\u0026rsquo;s potential!\nEngagement The Canzan platform helps you maintain a healthy level of engagement with your partners. Our always-on culture builds connection, but it needs to be balanced with alone time. Teams perform better if they have time to collaborate and concentrate. We put people in control of engagement levels, so your business can focus on making great products!\nMilestones Canzan gives you the right tools for tracking your trip to collective success. You\u0026rsquo;ll benefit from milestones whether you drive across a country or grow a business. We\u0026rsquo;re confident you\u0026rsquo;ll get where you\u0026rsquo;re going with Canzan in your driver\u0026rsquo;s seat.\nConclusion As Canzan nears its initial product offering, our excitement builds. Our first product is Canzan Lift. It replaces marketing tools like Hootsuite, Socialpilot, and Buffer that won\u0026rsquo;t break your small business bank. You can expect an API-first solution with significantly reduced cost.\nIf you\u0026rsquo;re interested, follow us today!\n","permalink":"https://canzan.net/blog/2022/07/09/canzan-july-2022-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eCanzan\u0026rsquo;s July update covers teamwork. No organization makes the big time without healthy collaboration. Our organization puts teamwork first, giving you the best experiences at the lowest cost.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"trust\"\u003eTrust\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTrusting your teammates to do the right thing leads to solid relationships. Canzan curates the top open-source tools your team can trust. When your workflows go sideways, we clear the path to resolution and support you along the way.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe embrace the paradox of zero-trust solutions that earn your trust by keeping your working environments safe.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Canzan's July 2022 Update"},{"content":"Canzan\u0026rsquo;s June update covers organizations. I\u0026rsquo;ve read several books on organizational structures in business. A standard character is Bureaucracy as the villain. I find this narrative suspect, the same way I find extreme political positions suspect.\nBalance is vital in life, so rejecting everything good about an approach lacks prudence. Follow along as I play the devil\u0026rsquo;s advocate, then contrast with the alternative.\nBureaucracy It\u0026rsquo;s an excessively complicated administrative procedure. Bureaucracies include complex employee reporting structures, mandates, and misunderstandings; this top-down approach shackles leaders closest to human problems by prioritizing compliance over pragmatism.\nHowever, top-down management has upsides. It makes sense to impose quality standards around your company\u0026rsquo;s core competencies. Apple\u0026rsquo;s strict quality standards set it apart from the competition. Without this top-down approach to quality, Apple\u0026rsquo;s products wouldn\u0026rsquo;t have this market differentiator.\nLike most actions worth taking, balancing centralization with decentralization requires a strategy.\nDecentralization A trend has set in at companies like Haier. The Rendanheyi model has unlocked tremendous value for Haier. A key aspect of Rendanheyi is a decentralized collection of microenterprises. Each microenterprise owns its profit \u0026amp; loss objectives and is directly accountable for business outcomes. As a result, these microenterprises become competitive and react to markets within and outside Haier. Microenterprises bid against each other even within Haier, and they must be attractive to survive. It\u0026rsquo;s a relatively new way of thinking for Americans, and one your company ignores at its peril.\nCanzan will be largely decentralized. Competing with a corporation requires agility, and decentralized systems deliver it. We\u0026rsquo;ll give you stability, control, security, and peace of mind so you can sleep at night.\nWe know your family comes first, and your business is a close second. Unshackling your business from centralized systems returns your focus to your customers, not your tools. You\u0026rsquo;ll no longer feel pressure to have big brother tell you what\u0026rsquo;s good for your business.\nFinal Thoughts As Canzan builds momentum, we\u0026rsquo;re excited to serve you. Helping you compete with corporations is exciting.\nI\u0026rsquo;ve shared Canzan\u0026rsquo;s plan with small business owners, and they\u0026rsquo;re ready and waiting. The work is well underway, and the title fight of the small business century is coming.\n","permalink":"https://canzan.net/blog/2022/06/10/canzan-june-2022-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eCanzan\u0026rsquo;s June update covers organizations. I\u0026rsquo;ve read several books on organizational structures in business. A standard character is Bureaucracy as the villain. I find this narrative suspect, the same way I find extreme political positions suspect.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBalance is vital in life, so rejecting everything good about an approach lacks prudence. Follow along as I play the devil\u0026rsquo;s advocate, then contrast with the alternative.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"bureaucracy\"\u003eBureaucracy\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt\u0026rsquo;s an excessively complicated administrative procedure. Bureaucracies include complex employee reporting structures, mandates, and misunderstandings; this top-down approach shackles leaders closest to human problems by prioritizing compliance over pragmatism.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Canzan's June 2022 Update"},{"content":"Do you know containers? I don\u0026rsquo;t mean Amazon shipping containers or those happy things in your kitchen. I mean software containers.\nIn the software world, we use containers to isolate a software solution. Most of our products offer a containerized solution. Canzan\u0026rsquo;s core rests on OpenShift, an open-source container orchestration platform.\nWhy Containers? Serverless architectures are all the rage. Amazon keeps lowering prices, along with Azure, Google, and friends. You can create a dirt-cheap solution using serverless, and we recommend it for many problems.\nThe biggest downside of serverless is vendor lock-in. Moving to another vendor isn\u0026rsquo;t easy unless you\u0026rsquo;ve hired disciplined developers who know their stuff. Using containers as your foundation unlocks the freedom to move between cloud providers and even your own computer in the basement. Picking the cheapest solution while keeping your eggs in different baskets gives you the long-term security your office needs.\nTell Me More Using the combined powers of open source and OpenShift, your business reaps the benefits of the lowest-cost business software solutions on the planet.\nCanzan curates free-as-in-beer software solutions you can pull off the shelf at your convenience. Instead of paying hundreds of dollars for random solutions, you\u0026rsquo;ll have access to everything you need in one place, for cheap!\n","permalink":"https://canzan.net/blog/2022/05/14/canzan-may-2022-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDo you know containers? I don\u0026rsquo;t mean Amazon shipping containers or those happy things in your kitchen. I mean software containers.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn the software world, we use containers to isolate a software solution. Most of our products offer a containerized solution. Canzan\u0026rsquo;s core rests on \u003ca href=\"https://www.okd.io/\"\u003eOpenShift\u003c/a\u003e, an open-source container orchestration platform.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"why-containers\"\u003eWhy Containers?\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eServerless architectures are all the rage. Amazon keeps lowering prices, along with Azure, Google, and friends. You can create a dirt-cheap solution using serverless, and we recommend it for many problems.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Canzan's May 2022 Update"},{"content":"A lot has happened since Canzan\u0026rsquo;s November Update. We\u0026rsquo;ve been researching open-source infrastructure options, setting up servers, and deciding on architecture. Starting a business takes a lot of work, and we\u0026rsquo;re baking our learning into our products as we go.\nOpen Source Open source isn\u0026rsquo;t just an economical choice; it represents freedom. Canzan will always commit to making our code available to the public where appropriate and ready for a pull request. We\u0026rsquo;re deciding on a great open source business model that puts you first and Canzan\u0026rsquo;s sustainability second.\nPrinciples Outstanding achievements come with great principles. Canzan has settled on four product principles:\nAffordability Portability Quality Security Affordability We believe small businesses deserve a leg up. We keep prices as low as possible by leveraging open source, optimizing our architecture, and giving you cheap hosting options.\nPortability We don\u0026rsquo;t believe in vendor lock-in. We\u0026rsquo;ll make it easy to integrate your products if you\u0026rsquo;re new or coming back. Your data is yours, and we\u0026rsquo;ll keep our hands off it. If you tire of Canzan, we\u0026rsquo;ll make leaving easy.\nQuality We believe you don\u0026rsquo;t have time for bugs, and neither do we. We run our software through rigorous testing and throw it in the water to see what happens. We chaos test our software until we have complete confidence it will perform like a champ.\nSecurity We believe in a zero-trust model for software. Bad actors try to steal your data in today\u0026rsquo;s digital jungle. Canzan puts the security of your data at the forefront of product development.\nBeyond product principles, we\u0026rsquo;ve defined leadership principles. Our leaders have high integrity, persistence, and curiosity; we put your needs first.\nWhat\u0026rsquo;s Next? We\u0026rsquo;re working on core infrastructure like user management and deployment strategies. Once nailed down, we\u0026rsquo;ll pivot to building the Canzan Lift marketing platform. We plan to offer a private beta, so follow our social feeds if you want in.\nWe hope you have a wonderful spring, and we look forward to serving you soon!\n","permalink":"https://canzan.net/blog/2022/04/07/canzan-april-2022-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eA lot has happened since \u003ca href=\"https://canzan.net/blog/2021/11/24/canzans-november-update/\"\u003eCanzan\u0026rsquo;s November Update\u003c/a\u003e. We\u0026rsquo;ve been researching open-source infrastructure options, setting up servers, and deciding on architecture. Starting a business takes a lot of work, and we\u0026rsquo;re baking our learning into our products as we go.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"open-source\"\u003eOpen Source\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOpen source isn\u0026rsquo;t just an economical choice; it represents freedom. Canzan will always commit to making our code available to the public where appropriate and ready for a pull request. We\u0026rsquo;re deciding on a great \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_models_for_open-source_software\"\u003eopen source business model\u003c/a\u003e that puts you first and Canzan\u0026rsquo;s sustainability second.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Canzan's April 2022 Update"},{"content":"Canzan (参禅) is the Zen term for going to a teacher and working a problem through in person. It is the practice, not the answer, and it is the closest description of what this company does. The mark is a seated figure inside an open ring.\nWhy we exist Small businesses are sold enterprise software at enterprise prices, with enterprise complexity attached. They end up paying for several expensive, disconnected tools to keep up with companies a hundred times their size, and then paying again when those tools upsell the features that were supposed to be included.\nCanzan works the other side of that. We size the answer to the business.\nWhat we do Canzan Lift. A suite of single-purpose tools for social, email, and text campaigns that you host yourself. It is priced per install rather than per social account, and it is designed around the fact that social media is far more regional than most software admits. Read what we\u0026rsquo;re building\nWhat we believe Your data should stay inside a boundary you control. Software should be understandable by the people who depend on it. A vendor should be willing to tell you when not to buy something. And the measure of good software is that it keeps working long after it is installed.\nIf any of that sounds like the conversation you need to have, get in touch.\n","permalink":"https://canzan.net/about/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCanzan\u003c/strong\u003e (参禅) is the Zen term for going to a teacher and working a problem through in person. It is the practice, not the answer, and it is the closest description of what this company does. The mark is a seated figure inside an open ring.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"why-we-exist\"\u003eWhy we exist\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSmall businesses are sold enterprise software at enterprise prices, with enterprise complexity attached. They end up paying for several expensive, disconnected tools to keep up with companies a hundred times their size, and then paying again when those tools upsell the features that were supposed to be included.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"About Canzan"},{"content":"Canzan\u0026rsquo;s November update covers bootstrapping. Over the years, it took me a while to determine what I wanted to do. In the following paragraphs, I recount where I went and how Canzan came to be.\nBy Other Names Picking a business name isn\u0026rsquo;t easy. It\u0026rsquo;s like writing a song or performing in a scene. An artist never truly feels they hit their mark, and neither does a business owner. It\u0026rsquo;s easy to second-guess a business name. Recent evidence: Facebook\u0026rsquo;s name change to Meta.\nLike other entrepreneurs, I deliberated over names until I found one that fit. All while working in the constrained world of trademarks.\nBlack \u0026amp; White Media I\u0026rsquo;m not ruling this name out for a future business. When I was in my early 20s, I thought Black \u0026amp; White Media was a great name; it\u0026rsquo;s vague enough for a broad business segment, and it suits my personality. However, it doesn\u0026rsquo;t fit my current focus, so I\u0026rsquo;ll save it for a rainy day.\nOneTap I almost took this name and ran with it. I like it, and I have grand ideas to create a bar with a single holy tap that contains the best beer on the market. I may still make that bar, but OneTap wasn\u0026rsquo;t available as a trademark, so I moved on.\nAnd many more\u0026hellip; I cycled through many other names: Hosting Hand, DRoutine, and other horrid options. I finally stumbled upon Canzan, and the rest is history.\nWhy Canzan? Canzan is the Chinese word for a counselor. I pronounce it as it sounds in English; in Chinese, it\u0026rsquo;s roughly pronounced Tzanzan.\nHere\u0026rsquo;s why Canzan exists:\nWe believe in your business. We know it can succeed, and we can help. Your success is our business.\nCanzan\u0026rsquo;s goal is to be your pocket business counselor. Whether you already own a business or aspire to own one, we\u0026rsquo;re here for you.\nWhere Are You Going? I know where Canzan is going. The first step is a suite of marketing tools called Canzan Lift.\nAfter using Hootsuite and Social Pilot, I\u0026rsquo;ve been left wanting. I know Canzan will create the cleanest marketing platform on the planet, and we\u0026rsquo;ll keep it simple while offering maximum flexibility under the hood. I know you\u0026rsquo;ll be as pleased with the final product as we are.\nDogfooding Eating your dogfood, or dogfooding, is the practice of using your own products. Canzan will use every product we create. We should start with marketing software that earns its keep. If it doesn\u0026rsquo;t taste good, we\u0026rsquo;ll toss it out.\nTop Quality We create every Canzan product with care and thoughtfulness. They aim to surprise and delight while we take direct feedback seriously. Expect the best, and call us out when we misbehave. We will never have bugs sitting in our backlog for years, and we\u0026rsquo;re not interested in adding to the garbage heap of low-quality software \u0026amp; services.\nHumans We believe humans deserve a chance to live by their own rules. What better way to live by your own rules than to start a business? We all win as you bring humanity back to business while taking Canzan\u0026rsquo;s helping hand.\nWe\u0026rsquo;re taking humanity back to the basics one small business at a time. It\u0026rsquo;s far past time that small businesses reigned supreme in worldwide enterprise.\nThank You I want to thank everyone in advance. I know Canzan will go nowhere without you. When you try Canzan products, please know that your opinion matters. Contact us with your hopes and dreams. We\u0026rsquo;ll do our best to make them come true.\n","permalink":"https://canzan.net/blog/2021/11/24/canzans-november-2021-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eCanzan\u0026rsquo;s November update covers bootstrapping. Over the years, it took me a while to determine what I wanted to do. In the following paragraphs, I recount where I went and how Canzan came to be.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"by-other-names\"\u003eBy Other Names\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePicking a business name isn\u0026rsquo;t easy. It\u0026rsquo;s like writing a song or performing in a scene. An artist never truly feels they hit their mark, and neither does a business owner. It\u0026rsquo;s easy to second-guess a business name. Recent evidence: Facebook\u0026rsquo;s name change to Meta.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Canzan's November Update"},{"content":"","permalink":"https://canzan.net/lift/","summary":"","title":"Canzan Lift"},{"content":"Useful things to include: the platforms and regions you post to, how you schedule and review campaigns today, and what you\u0026rsquo;d want to try first. The platforms and regions you mention are what decide which integrations get built first.\nYour email Your name What you're working on Send note Prefer another channel? Canzan is on LinkedIn and GitHub.\n","permalink":"https://canzan.net/contact/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eUseful things to include: the platforms and regions you post to, how you schedule and review campaigns today, and what you\u0026rsquo;d want to try first. The platforms and regions you mention are what decide which integrations get built first.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\u003cform class=\"cz-form\" accept-charset=\"UTF-8\" action=\"https://forminit.com/f/88d3be2e-ad13-421f-8748-fe8885787e51\" method=\"POST\"\u003e\n    \u003cinput type=\"hidden\" name=\"url\" value=\"https://canzan.net/\"/\u003e\n    \u003clabel class=\"cz-sr\" for=\"cz-email\"\u003eYour email\u003c/label\u003e\n    \u003cinput id=\"cz-email\" type=\"email\" name=\"email\" placeholder=\"Your email\" autocomplete=\"email\" required\u003e\n    \u003clabel class=\"cz-sr\" for=\"cz-name\"\u003eYour name\u003c/label\u003e\n    \u003cinput id=\"cz-name\" type=\"text\" name=\"name\" placeholder=\"Your name\" autocomplete=\"name\" required\u003e\n    \u003clabel class=\"cz-sr\" for=\"cz-message\"\u003eWhat you're working on\u003c/label\u003e\n    \u003ctextarea id=\"cz-message\" name=\"message\" rows=\"6\" placeholder=\"What you're working on\" required\u003e\u003c/textarea\u003e\n    \u003cbutton type=\"submit\"\u003eSend note\u003c/button\u003e\n\u003c/form\u003e\n\n\n\u003cp\u003ePrefer another channel? Canzan is on \u003ca href=\"https://www.linkedin.com/company/canzan\"\u003eLinkedIn\u003c/a\u003e and \u003ca href=\"https://github.com/jeffabailey\"\u003eGitHub\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Contact"}]