I’ve been an officer of several public and private companies, run a Silicon Valley startup, been involved in two IPOs, cofounded a boutique management consulting firm and worked with countless founders and VCs. It’s been one hell-of-a ride, but you know what? I’m no entrepreneur.
There are two reasons for that. I’m not into labels and I’m all about results. The thing is, I’ve never founded and scaled what I consider to be a highly successful corporation. If and when I do, we’ll see. Until then, I’m just me. WYSIWYG.
That said, I have been working on a tech startup with an old friend for the past several months, and it really is starting to come together nicely. We’re in stealth mode, so I can’t tell you much about it, but it certainly is challenging. We’ll be going out for seed funding in a month or two. Keep your fingers crossed.
One thing I can tell you, there is absolutely nothing even remotely glamorous about this sort of thing. Neither of us set out to do this. We simply met at a park in Palo Alto one day and, next thing we knew, we’d hit on a huge problem in a growing market we’re passionate about and an innovative vision for solving it. So here we are, solving it.
If and when we come out of stealth mode, you’ll be the first to know. And should the stars align and the startup gods shine down upon us, you can certainly count on reading some hair-raising stories from the road. As I always say, I will continue to blog daily until they pry this MacBook Air out of my cold dead hands.
In the meantime, here’s a thought. If you find yourself in a long-term rut, I know just the thing to get that fire going in your gut again: Find yourself a big-ass challenge. Like a rollercoaster heading into the great unknown, it’s fun and terrifying at the same time. That’s what really makes you feel alive. That’s how you do it.
Image credit Norm Lanier via Flickr