Recently Ben wrote about Bootstrapping Elgg - upon seeing the title, my initial thought jumped to Twitter Bootstrap and Elgg, something I am working with for a new project. In fact, he was talking about the process we went through starting Elgg (in the context of lean start ups); a project that arose from a discussion, moved to a paper, on to a proof-of-concept and finally into an independent, community driven, project used by organisations such as:
The World Bank, NASA, Dutch Government, Canadian Government, Harvard, Stanford, UNESCO, Oxfam
It was a good read and brought back memories. Personally, I learnt a huge amount throughout the whole process, made plenty of mistakes, and gained valuable experience; as anyone who as done it knows, learning on the job is challenging.
Like Ben, I am delighted that the Elgg project continues to grow and improve: that is a strength of open source and community.
A side note:
Given the recent funds raised by services such as Edmodo, Schoology and others, it looks like the market is ready for services similar to what we offered back in 2006; timing is so important in business.
Lives in Toronto Canada, loves food (especially pizza), beer, business, technology and music. 
