  We introduce the Making Galaxies in a Cosmological Context (MaGICC) program
of smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) simulations. We describe a parameter
study of galaxy formation simulations of an L* galaxy that uses early stellar
feedback combined with supernova feedback to match the stellar mass--halo mass
relationship. While supernova feedback alone can reduce star formation enough
to match the stellar mass--halo mass relationship, the galaxy forms too many
stars before z=2 to match the evolution seen using abundance matching. Our
early stellar feedback is purely thermal and thus operates like a UV ionization
source as well as providing some additional pressure from the radiation of
massive, young stars. The early feedback heats gas to >10^6 K before cooling to
10^4 K. The pressure from this hot gas creates a more extended disk and
prevents more star formation prior to z=1 than supernovae feedback alone. The
resulting disk galaxy has a flat rotation curve, an exponential surface
brightness profile, and matches a wide range of disk scaling relationships. The
disk forms from the inside-out with an increasing exponential scale length as
the galaxy evolves. Overall, early stellar feedback helps to simulate galaxies
that match observational results at low and high redshifts.
