Whew! It’s been a while since we last blogged, but don’t let that deceive you; we’ve been incredibly hard at work on new features that we’ll be rolling out soon. Today, I’m going to let you in on a small (but important) feature called faxFile. Use faxFile to retrieve either a pdf or jpg image of a fax that you’ve already sent. You can request the jpg image in either a large l or small s thumb. Here’s an example: curl <a href="https://www.phaxio.com/api/v1/faxFile">https://www.phaxio.com/api/v1/faxFile</a> \   -F 'id=fax_id' \   -F 'type=p,s,l' \   -F 'api_key=YOUR_API_KEY' \   -F 'api_secret=YOUR_API_SECRET' \...

Building Phaxio has been tough. Like any startup, we knew that starting from nothing was going to be an uphill battle and we were ready for the trek. And, after months of work, we’ve been happy with major obstacle we’ve overcome. We’re a small team and celebrating the big wins is just as important as recognizing the small ones.  This month, we’re going to roll out the biggest updates to Phaxio since the initial build a couple of months ago. We’ve already sped up the system and most faxes clear in about 45 - 67 seconds. Our infrastructure has gotten...

When you send a fax, you need to know what's happening. Is the fax being sent? Is the line busy? You may need to know and we want to give you that information. Below I'm going to give a short description of the status codes and error codes so that you can stay in the know. Status Codes Queued - When you send off your request to our servers, the status is queud by default. Don’t worry, there are thousands of concurrent lines so you aren’t queud behind other faxes - it’s just the default response. In Progress - You’ll...

Much to your dismay, perhaps, I'm not a guy that loves fax. I don't think it's the most interesting technology and it certainly doesn't get my adrenaline pumping. In fact, I despise those offices that make me send faxes -- it's annoying. Yet, as I running a fax company, people are constantly asking me about how I think we're going to revolutionize the "fax sector," and it's a question that I've gotten pretty good at answering. But people don’t really care about how I’m going to disrupt faxing, that’s just the warmup question. Inevitably, the real question comes out: “Why...

We've been working our asses day in day out to get every hacker out there the perfect fax API. After the early versions of phaxio, we went back to the drawing board to build out the system, add important features and make everything faster...much faster. We think you'll be blown away. And, good, that's what we were going for.

Building Phaxio has been an awesome experience for us.  Our goal was, and continues to be, to build an API platform that would have developers sending faxes in minutes. Phaxio isn't the first company that Josh and I worked on but it has taught us some amazing lessons that I'd like to share: 1. Value Your Work. If you’re the typical developer, you may not think that your site is as cool or sexy as the next guy’s. But, if you’re building something of value and something that people want, then people will pay. It’s not your necessary to make them pay through...

It's that wonderous time again. The birds are chirping, the sun is shining and, Phaxio is rolling out a bunch of new updates. So buckle up and let me take you on a tour of our new wonders. Better Response Time Our goal at Phaxio is not only to make faxing super-simple for you, but to make transmissions as fast as possible. We’ve been working on getting fax times down and we’ve seen some marked improvements. With the newest release, you should expect response times from the API to be about 2 minutes faster!  While that’s awesome, stay tuned because...

We're about to make a couple of changes to the Phaxio API which will go into effect TONIGHT - July 13, 2011 at 12:00 am CST. For more information and a full rundown of the changes, check your email.

I used to say that my favorite part of building Phaxio was the joy of building a product for developers. But, in these past couple of weeks, my favorite part of building Phaxio has changed. Phaxio isn’t about building a product anymore, now it’s about building a new technology - one they said couldn’t work.  I always explain fax technology as a vicious circle; old tech ==> programmers don’t like to play with the old tech ==> nothing gets updated ==> the tech stays old. And, while there are plenty of calls for the death of fax by tech elitists,...

This doesn’t have much to do with Phaxio, but I thought I’d share it anyway. Finishing a sprint is awesome. There’s excitment, adrenaline, loud music (in our office), cars being set ablaze (but not really) and an unidentified man standing on my desk yelling “Let’s Do This Thang!”; it’s a bit much to handle. But, before all hell breaks loose in our office, Josh will appear at my office door with a piece of paper in hand - the final ticket of the sprint. He has a certain swagger as he gives me a huge toothy smile while pinning the...

Everybody wants to know what the next steps are for Phaxio and, I don't see a reason to keep them secret. Dedicated Phone Numbers - Telecom is a mess, we’re dealing with it so that you don’t need to. Kanye West-ing our systems -  Make our infrastructure faster better stronger. Simplify - We’re thinking of a redesign of the site. There you have it, I hope I’ve answered your questions.  

I'm often asked what makes us (me and Josh) tick? What makes us want to build companies? The answer, I think, is what separates entreupenuers from the rest of the population. If you don’t have the entrepeneurial spirit, an entrepreneur seems irrational. If you’re smart enough to run a company then you’re surely smart enough to get a stable job, right? What kind of lunatic would trade a steady paycheck, a house in the ‘burbs and luxiorious meals for the unknowns of entrepenurial life (and ramen, lots of ramen)?  I’ve been working fulltime with Josh since I graduated college. I...