It’s been 552 days since I had the arguably dumb idea of trying my hand at a startup. Little did I know the sheer volume of learning I’d be doing in the future, from basics like cashflow and forecasts to life lessons like always be talking to new people. In this talk I tell the story of how I went from a full time .NET Developer, to a struggling and then mildly successful startup owner. We’ll explore how I made the transition from full time employment to self-employment; we’ll look at many of the mistakes I’ve made and how to avoid them; and we’ll go through some practical tips to get you started on your own startup journey. My first tip? Learn from other people’s experiences!

You might be thinking “Duh, all APIs are for developers”, but the reality is when it comes time to expose our API to third party developers, there are a few important security and logistical problems to conquer that you might not think about before hand. In this talk we take a look at the best way to protect your API using Identity Server 4 and walk through all the configuration you’ll need to get third party devs up and running in no time.

Specifically we’ll cover:
– API first development and designing your API with third party developers in mind
– Setting up Identity Server 4 with a basic real-world configuration
– Protecting our API using JWTs and;
– Bearer Authentication Controlling access to API endpoints based on authentication policies

API first websites are very popular now thanks to client heavy frameworks like Angular. Securing them properly has always been a challenge, especially if you want to expose your API to third party developers as well.

Join me as I show you how to secure your API, connect an Angular SPA, and even expose your API to third parties using OAuth. This is a demo heavy talk with practical implementations of Identity Server 4 in an ASP.NET Core app as a token server, Entity Framework and ASP.NET Identity for security, ASP.NET Core MVC for an API and an Angular SPA application.

API first websites are very popular now thanks to client heavy frameworks like Angular.

Securing them properly has always been a challenge, especially if you want to expose your API to third party developers as well. Join me as I show you how to secure your API, connect an Angular 2 SPA, and even expose your API to third parties using OAuth.

This is a demo heavy talk with practical implementations of Identity Server 4 in an ASP.NET Core app as a token server, Entity Framework and ASP.NET Identity for security, ASP.NET Core MVC for an API and an Angular 2 SPA application.

I promise by the end of this session you’ll be able to build your own Ebay, taking payments from customers and settling them to your clients all while taking a slice off the top of that sweet cherry pie for yourself. In this talk I demonstrate how to use Stripe Checkout and Stripe Connect, two products that drastically simplify taking payments from customers and settling directly to your clients.
You’ll learn about: – The big players in online payments worldwide- Some key concepts about taking money online- Why marketplaces are a great opportunity for developers- How to easily add a credit card form to your website – Step by step how to use Stripe Connect with your ASP.NET MVC application to take payments on behalf of your clients.

Ever wanted to know how your favourite bubbly beverage is created? Take a break from the intense amount of great information flying around NDC and kick back with a beer as Ben Cull shows you what it takes to go from grain to glass.

I promise by the end of this session you’ll be able to build your own Ebay, taking payments from customers and settling them to your clients all while taking a slice off the top of that sweet cherry pie for yourself.

In this talk I demonstrate how to use Stripe Connect, a product that drastically simplifies taking payments from customers and settling directly to your clients.

You’ll learn about:
– The big players in online payments in Australia
– Some key concepts about taking money online
– Step by step how to use Stripe Connect with your ASP.NET MVC application

I was lucky enough to be invited to talk at NDC Oslo about the state of online payments. In this talk I introduce you to the world of online payments, from the first transaction to the latest trends and technologies.

I wrap up with a coding demo showing just how easy it is to process a payment using Stripe.

I’m always keen for feedback, so be sure to tweet me your thoughts.

In the presentation, Ben Cull shows developers the best ways to take other people’s money, whether it be for a large client or your own side project. He talks about the history of online payment processing, the regulations for developers, the pros and cons of Stripe, Paypal, Pin Payments and Alipay including an assessment of their APIs. He even throw in some code demos to show you how to get up and running fast.

Bootstrap is a sleek, intuitive, and powerful mobile first front-end framework for faster and easier web development.

In this video presentation Ben Cull demonstrates how easy it is to make use of the framework, and shows you how to step beyond the “just another bootstrap site” look and feel when building your app.

He walks through:

– The benefits of using Bootstrap
– How to get up and running using the latest scaffolding available in Visual Studio 2013
– Implementing some key layout designs
– Hooking up icons the font-awesome way
– Implementing designer themes from wrapbootstrap.com

This was filmed at the Sydney .NET Usergroup.