Buzz Pressure

It’s been a while, apologies but trust me we’ve been busy.

ParkVu is now being used by a small group of users, none of whom are going to blog about it so I’ll save Google the search cycles and tell you that upfront. In the meantime, we’re busy cranking on the next wave of features and we’re still aiming for a fall launch.

Ok with the update out of the way, going back to my “Start-up Regrets, I’ve had a few…” post, I wanted to give you a heads up on a chance to get involved with the local(ish) startup community. DemoCampToronto 18 will happen Tuesday July 15th @ Supermarket. Tickets go fast for this one so sign up ASAP and keep an eye on ticket releases at http://democamp.eventbrite.com Hope to see you there.

…but not too few to mention. Over the past 7 years I’ve been directly involved with 5 startups. My track record is thanks to a combination of what some refer to as a general “lack of patience” and what I refer to as “mistakes”.

Clearly I can’t help people with patience or whatever euphemism you prefer but I’m more then happy to share what I’ve learned and what I won’t do again.

Founders and/or Early Team

I believe the founding team is the most controllable factor of success for a startup. I’m not alone - VCs talk about investing in the team. Your initial team will set the tone and vision for things to come so you better get the people right.

With ParkVu we’re poking conventional wisdom in the eye and building a company where the founders were friends before the startup. Isn’t that a risk? Of course it is, I said we were poking wisdom in the eye didn’t I? However, I think it’s actually less risk then building a team from scratch.

Starting a company is pretty much a marriage in the corporate world - and you probably wouldn’t marry someone you didn’t like. My theory is that by working with someone you already trust and respect you stand much better odds then ‘finding’ a founding team and hoping that the chemistry comes together or can somehow be facilitated. Trust me, it is extremely rare when that happens, if at all.

When you’re building a high performing team you need a level of candor that isn’t easy nor comfortable if you’re starting from scratch on day zero. Plus, you’ll spend as much, if not more time with your founding team then you will with your family so it doesn’t hurt if you don’t dread spending time together.

To be clear, don’t just fire up a company with your friends because they’re your friends. I’ve done that and won’t repeat that one either. What you need are people that both challenge you and keep you balanced which is an equally rare and elusive as good chemistry. It’s even rarer to get challenge, balance, and chemistry all together but that’s exactly what you need.

Effectively, you’re looking for a founding team that is exponentially better together then separate. Aristotle got it right when he said “the whole is more then the sum of its parts”. OK, he got other stuff right too but if his Holism theory doesn’t apply to your founding team, fix it and fix it fast.

++Beer

A few times I’ve seen teams that just don’t click. People are polite and superficially get along but there’s no spark. There are a few, fractured social outings, mostly by a rogue group who sneak away and meet clandestinely. Typically management wakes up to this being an issue and tries to engineer “fun” but everyone still dreads the holiday/Christmas party. Surely this just can’t be due to just a lack of beer? I agree, there were corporate culture issues but let me just say, there will always be beer at ParkVu.

A founding team needs some regular down time together because everyone likes each other and occasionally you’ll need to remind yourselves of that. It’s not just about pondering your collective navels but also some social non-startup time. There’s a reason Friday afternoon keg parties became rituals in the valley. And it doesn’t just have to be beer; it should be but doesn’t have to be. Your team can bond in other ways too but beer helps. A lot. At Covarity, playing Call of Duty + beer is/was the norm. Nothing breaks down barriers like trench gunning your colleagues into oblivion.

Startup teams don’t seem to ‘gel’ without this ritual, regardless if it is a formal or informal ritual. No gelling, no high performance team - and working in that kind of environment just sucks.

- - Jackasses

We’ve all worked with them but we shouldn’t have. The Jackass is the person on the team that everyone dreads will open his mouth during meetings. They sow dissent, play politics and like to think of themselves as being provocative/big picture. They’re not. They simply suck ass.

Jackasses either have some serious character flaws, were toilet trained early or for whatever reason are not finding their stride in your startup. Either way they shouldn’t be working with you. That’s not to say that you turf anyone who challenges or argues. Absolutely not - I love a good whiteboard fight. What you don’t want are people who are high maintenance “just because” and serve as a value vortex for the team.

My ‘favorite’ jackass move is when the jackass positions themselves so not only are they completely blameless, they, of course, knew that the decision in question will end in failure and they’re not about to go down for it.

Most startups experience sinusoidal waves of kicking ass and having their collective ass kicked. You don’t need more crap. Kick your jackass(es) to the curb like yesterday’s trash and find someone who makes Aristotle (sum of the parts) and the team happy.

VCs — Sure Just Not Right Now

I’ve been through a number of investment rounds both angel and VC. I’ll leave angels alone for now because frankly I haven’t seen how they behave through both good and bad. However I have seen VCs brought in too early which results in the company ramping up too early prior to markets and product being solidified. The company runs itself in circles and hires the wrong talent while it focuses on placating investors instead of building product(s) for their market.

But VCs aren’t the bad guys. Sure there are some bad ones but there are just as many, if not more, bad founders out there. Things go bad with VCs when the deals become uneconomic. Shareholder and Subscription Agreements are VC protectionary measures i.e. they’re typically anti-founder. This is because of collective past misdeeds i.e. we only have ourselves to blame. And let’s not forget that your VC has investors too. They’ve sold they’re abilities and investment potential too and they’re now looking at you as the goose to lay that golden 10x egg.

So know the rules of the game, understand the power and more importantly, understand the motivations behind the rules and the power. Interestingly, the degree you de-risk your startup is (should be) directly proportionate to the investment risk and thus power and protectionary measures. The longer you can put off taking investment while hitting your milestones, the better off you should be from the perspective of equity and ability to affect the outcome of your startup. Naturally you have to balance - if you don’t take investment will your opportunity still exists and to what magnitude will it exist?

Terry and I are building ParkVu with the idea of bootstrapping until we prove out the market and the technology. If we don’t take investment, the business should still stand on its own. We’re in full control to set strategic direction, markets, business models and make overall decisions while the business is still squishy. Early investors are a patient lot but they’re not immersed in the business to the same degree you are, it’s difficult if not impossible to have the same strategic fluidity with external parties at the squishy table.

I’d highly recommend you seriously explore ways to get as much built and tested/validated before involving professional investors. That might mean selling a kidney, working on your startup outside of your day job, etc… And if you do take investment make sure the amount you’re raising realistically fits with a 10x exit opportunity. Otherwise you’re in for a miserable, bumpy ride.

Community

You may think you’re alone in this battle but you’re not. Too often founders and founding teams schlog it out on their own when there are a lot of people out there with startup bumps and bruises. You also need to connect with your marketplace. Reach out to your community and yes even <gasp> your competitors.

Find out where people hang out, attend bar/startupcamps, check out a local tech association and connect with external people in which you can confide. These are not long term board of directors/advisers relationships, just people who you don’t have to explain what you’re going through after every sentence or why you don’t get a “real job”. Look for people who have done what you’re trying to do, who will support you when you need it but also are equally willing to deliver a reality bitch slap when it’s needed.

Sale People

I have more horror stories in this category then probably any other. I’ve seen bad and really, really bad salespeople. Sadly I’m not alone. I had a sales team allegedly selling their own competitive product to our prospects, seen some pretty dubious if not illegal expense claims and once while using a salesperson’s laptop for a demo to about 200 people managed to stumble upon the salesperson’s porn stash and blasted it across two giant screens. Yeah try to recover that demo.

The worst I think was the “parking meter” who while very expensive sat at his desk and waited for people to come feed him money. Developers spent less time at their desks then this supposed “big game hunter”. Fortunately I’ve also had the pleasure of working with some very decent (yet demanding) salespeople too.

The overall value of your product is going to be a source of friction between development and sales. Development, especially founders naturally think the product is richer and more mature then the salesperson who has to put their ego, self-esteem and social capital on the line to sell it. Typically salespeople aren’t excited about selling the product for the top dollar founders think they should. They’re much more interested in giving the product away in a quest for reference customers. No these aren’t the good sales people I’m talking about but rather the norm.

Of course, if you get out there and do the first few sales yourself (if applicable) you’ll have both the credibility to call BS on the salesperson who wants to give your product away but also an appreciation for what it takes to get a deal done. Yeah realistic sales compensation plans help too but they’re not the be-all, end-all. Again most of theses problems can go away with trust, candor and respect.

You need to have honest discussions with your salespeople. Go on calls with them, listen to their advice, make sure they have a hand in prioritizing features and work with them from initial contact through to implementation and ultimately customer retention to understand the issues. You’re in this together but often both parties forget this and salespeople end up only concerned with their next kill while the rest of the company curses them for selling something that really doesn’t exist.

Phew

There you have it, 5 startups distilled into one list of things I’ve learned. So take a hard look at your founding team, crack open a beer, fire your jackass(es), remember it ain’t 1999, talk amongst your community, hire a salesperson you trust and respect and get out there and kick ass before someone kicks yours.

Is it 1998 all over again? Some moron(s) recently tried to snow Rick Segal with their biz plan (Biz plan? really you sent a biz plan!?!?) but were st00pid enough to leave in their changes and edits much to Rick’s delight. It reads like a car crash in the making and should kick your weekend off in style!

Don’t try this at home kids…

Today was the start of our second week at ParkVu and I, for one, am having a blast. Once again Terry and I find ourselves working in the remote wilderness that exists outside of Waterloo. Today during a hardware run, we were greeted by a Mennonite buggy and horse at the foot of the driveway — note the sign.

The buggy driver was performing some masonry surgery on a near by house. This was mildly surreal, given it was 30 feet away from our little startup world of cloud computing and network performance.

Our “office” is pretty sweet. This blast of spring has coaxed us out of the basement and onto the deck. Have I mentioned I hate winter!?!?! I’m pretty sure we’ll spend most of the summer out here and I’m certain we’re not regretting our decision to launch ParkVu.

Thanks to all who commented on my CTO Handbook. Well except for the one from that that Jason guy :-p this post’s title is for you bud.

First to answer the obvious question I’ve been getting “what type are you?” Well, I started out as #1 (technical founder) in two separate startups and transitioned to #2 “Visionary” as I backfilled my team in my last personal startup. Note I define “personal startup” as one where you personally made payroll! I’ve never been chuted-in but I have CTO friends who have had the “pleasure”. My style is probably 70% Visionary and 30% Technical. That doesn’t make me any less of an ass at times but more likely an ass at different times.

Now, there must be something “CTO” in the water; Fred Wilson posted “What to say to a room full of CTOs“. I like a lot of it and I agree that in a small company (< 30 people), the most effective CTOs are ones that can manage dev and drive the technical vision. Several paragraphs jumped out at me because they resonated with me and because they brought back some painful lessons learned.

First this gem:

First and foremost, I see the CTO as a manager. Great managers are hard to find in any line of work. But managing developers is even harder. The better the developer the harder they are to manage. I assume its a bit like managing high maintenance entertainers. The best developers are artists who are often moody, are anarchists who have bursts of creativity and equally long periods of uselessness. They are strong willed people who will fight with their colleagues over anything and everything. The people who have mastered the art of managing these kinds of people are a rare breed and every great technology-based business needs one of them.

Amen brother! But you have to admit, managing developers is never a dull moment. Recently the guys I’m helping out with driving some education on Agile methods here in Waterloo managed to land Scott Ambler. Scott was an awesome presenter and I was in tears from laughter due to his presentation more then once. Note to data management people: if you’ve been booked into a meeting with Scott, I’d find a reason to bail. I’m telling you this as a friend. Non-data management people, you might want to bring some popcorn and a comfy chair to the meeting. Ok I digress again, the reason I bring up Scott is that he had a great point about managing and incenting devs. To illustrate, he used the old herding cats analogy.

Herding cats is tough, if not impossible - if you don’t understand cats. You can send terse memos to your disobedient and non-complying felines but it won’t help a bit. But toss even the tiniest piece of fish in the direction you want your herd of cats to go and you’ll be pleasantly surprised. I think that’s the main reason why the Technical Founder CTO is most effective in early stage companies. They’re pretty much still a cat and they instinctively toss fish around to get the job done. Plus they’ve got the technical chops to be the alpha cat.

Hiring a Player/Manager:

I have found that for young companies a “player/manager” often works best. If you can find someone who is or has been a world class developer who also has the ability and more importantly desire to manage a team of at least ten developers, do it. That person, by virtue of their engineering talent and prowess, will be able to manage a small group effectively. And they can contribute to the development too which at crunch time is incredibly valuable.

Another total truth. I will never, ever, ever hire a development manager who cannot or will not code. Period. At least not at an early stage for precisely the reasons Fred cites above. My best VP Dev experience ever was a guy just like this, though he had prior experience with his own team — Tom Gross kicks ass.
And now the pain…

As companies get bigger, you really need a full time manager. The best ones, like all things in startups, have done it several times before in high growth startups. As Albert said in his post, it’s not usually a great idea to hire a CTO from a super big company for a young growth company. Companies growing from 10 engineers to 50 engineers to 100 engineers over a 2-3 year period are a unique situation and you really need someone who has lived that situation a few times. Again, it’s incredibly hard to find a person like that.

Hells yes. I lived through rapid growth and totally screwed it up. My “cats” were fighting. Code was not happening and we were completely consumed by it. Eventually you figure out what works and what doesn’t . You start to see patterns in your developer types and you figure out what “fish” works and what “fish” stinks.

Hmmmn note to self: “Developer Handbook” is the new black and the next blog post.

I changed the title of this article about 50 times. Some losing candidates:

• CTOs driving your VPs crazy for fun and profit - true but fenced me in too much
• CTO:”You got vision in my technology”- with apologies to the good folks at Reese’s. A bit esoteric and again not enough latitude.
• CTO: “What would you say you do around here?” — with apologies to Mike Judge (please don’t sue me!). This was a tough call but I’ll learn to love again…

In both my personal and professional life I get a lot of questions around what a CTO is exactly. Everyone knows what a CEO does (mostly). COOs execute on vision through operations. CMOs do, ah something, yeah I’m sure they do something… with uh (capital ‘M’) Marketing. That means not the t-shirts or ball caps. [Easy Biff, I’m only joking] CFOs have it easy with the lack of ambiguity in that whole finance thing. Sadly it isn’t so cut and dry for CTOs. Probably because we’ve been our worst enemies. We like having fingers in *every* pie and are slow to give up those pies. Mmmm pie.

I threw this post together to try to explain what it is CTOs do, why we do it and how you need to manage a CTO up and down. Obviously this is only my personal views from being a CTO and from commiserating and hanging out with other ones, your mileage will definitely vary.

“Typing” Your CTO

You need to know what breed of CTO you’re caring for. Each of the following has different characteristics, preferences and personality traits. Although there are other “species” out in the wild, in North American software you’ll likely have one of the following beasts:

* The Technical Founder - the person that wrote the code that got the company off the ground. Has sweated to give the alpha/beta/product life and as a result any criticisms are effectively received/interpreted as “Your baby is ugly! Now where’s your Corn Flakes so I can piss in them too!” Is never far from code.
* The Visionary - sometimes seen as the flake without any “real” deliverables. Is never far from a whiteboard. Can write code but shouldn’t.
* The Figure Head - parachuted in, probably did or was associated with something impressive in a semi-related industry. Doesn’t know most of the company but is on a first name basis with most flight crew. Is never far from PowerPoint.

All of the above are neither nocturnal nor diurnal but more typically work almost all the time. A CTO tends to segment their day into multiple sessions — this is because they’re overly concerned about “flow”. This peculiar trait is challenging for the CTO both in terms of their expectations of other’s availability and similarly their responsiveness. Also unlike developers, CTOs are typically very social animals but their odd self-imposed schedules prevent ‘normal’ socialization outside of technical circles. Ironically this social trait does not translate to excellent management skills which most CTOs lack.

Related Species

VP Dev/R&D/Engineering - often confused with CTOs, VP Devs are a different breed entirely. You can typically distinguish a VP Dev from CTO from the CTOs ability to match markets with problems with game changing technology coupled with their capacity to speak coherently about deeply technical things at a level that business people can understand all the while retaining credibility with the technical folk in the room.

VP Devs on the other hand can be determined by their freakish level of attention to detail and love of process (again freakish). They worry, a lot, about executing on the nutty crap their CTO (particularly “The Visionary”) just cooked up and possibly presented to a large audience and you’ve got to love them for it. As a result the VP Dev is crankier then even the crankiest of CTOs. That’s because Veeps keep it real, they shelter developers from the CTO and other C-types and in really productive cases they’re a great reality check for the CTO. Sometimes CTOs unnaturally camouflage themselves as a VP Dev until they are unconvincing in either role.

CEO - strangely the CTO and CEO are allies though cross-breeding is rare. Often they travel together on migratory patterns to key customers and events and plot “vision-y” things on cocktail napkins. This drives the organization crazy but is a really, really good thing.

Daily Habits

The Technical Founder CTO largely lives their day the same way as they did when they bootstrapped the company. Although both the coffee and the food has gotten better, the Technical Founder spends less time in code which can lead to a general crankiness. Prolonged exposure to a 3 monitor setup and some uninterrupted flow makes everything good for everyone.

The Visionary has 2-4 good whiteboard sessions per day all focussed on market dominance and shaking up the status quo. They then proceed to confuse everyone in the company with ad hoc discussion of their germinating ideas. They stare off to space during other conversations as they process even more tangential ideas. Visionaries get cranky where their days get stale or repetitive and need frequent trips to customers, standards body sessions or opportunities to speak at large venue conferences.

The Figurehead is constantly on the “circuit”. They attend 2-4 conferences and events per month. They’re excellent golfers and they spend *a lot* of time with customers and analysts. As a result have little time for anything else. They direct the development of ghost written whitepapers and blog postings and they appear in multiple, preferably pre-recorded webcasts. The Figurehead can get a meeting with anyone — no seriously they can. The Figurehead is happiest when left to run in the wild and then and only then will the company will reap the rewards.

CTO Language

With possibly the rare exception of the CTO Technical Founder, CTOs in general think, act and speak in the big picture. Although typically they’ve plotted things out at a fairly fine grained level, they consciously generalize details. They have to do this to serve the various audiences that CTOs interact with on a daily basis. Although it may appear that they’re glossing over details, they really aren’t they just haven’t needed or more likely had the opportunity to disaggregate at a finely grained level yet. Still I haven’t met a CTO yet who hasn’t felt their latest brainchild wasn’t entirely possible but not without risk. You should know that CTOs do worry about risk but they also find risk thrilling and will naturally be drawn towards alpha and beta software (nightly builds preferred) like a moths to flame.

CTO Time

Because of the CTO’s “big picture” context, their notion of time isn’t the same as most of the organization that puts up with them. When a CTO says “Take a look at technology/concept X” it’s honestly not an immediate thing. Rather it is a topic they’re currently noodling and they want your thoughts on the subject and are testing the validity of the ideas. Remain calm and know that this is why you have a VP Dev and Product Management to shield you from the tear in the CTOs time-space continuum that makes them temporally ambiguous.

Final Guidance

In summary, a CTO is the source of big picture technical and product strategy in an organization. This is often expressed during whiteboard deathmatches or through prototypes that they quietly whip up and surprise the company with. In short, they drive innovation often while frustrating the rest of the organization. CTOs are typically the external technical voice of the company and crave inspirational contact with the external world. They thrive on variety and find solace in chaos.

CTOs should not be mistaken for CIOs — a self-respecting CTO would never worry about rolling Exchange out. [Ok again, I kid.] Similarly they’re not VP Devs who actually do something tangible in an organization. Lastly CTOs are not product management though they typically do drive product strategy.

Twittering about how ridiculous the reaction to the first snow is  - $0.05 for SMS costs

Missing a lunch because you’re stuck in a ditch  - $20.oo saved

Public humiliation on the AideRSS site - priceless

Darling you gotta let me know
Should I stay or should I go?
If you say that you are mine
I’ll be here ’til the end of time
So you got to let me know
Should I stay or should I go?

I’m writing this on a plane en route to Defrag. Less then 48 hours ago I worked for an entirely different company. In fact in the past 14 months I’ve worked for 3 different startups and quit two of them. Yeah I’m a catch.

Always tease tease tease
Siempre - coqetiando y enganyando
You’re happy when I’m on my knees
Me arrodilla y esta feliz
One day is fine, next day is black
Un dias bien el otro negro
So if you want me off your back
Al rededar en tu espalda
Well come on and let me know

I’m a self confessed startup junkie, I love the chaos, the insanity of building and bringing products to market and the personalities that startups gather like moths to a flame but sometimes you need to pull the chute, jump ship, and ride a new pony (I don’t think I’m missing any metaphors).

Should I stay or should I go now?
Should I stay or should I go now?
If I go there will be trouble
An’ if I stay it will be double
So come on and let me know
This indecision’s bugging me
Esta undecision me molesta
If you don’t want me, set me free

48 hours ago I was a member of the management team of a plucky stealth startup. I obviously can’t say much about the company but suffice to say it is the proverbial “big play”. If they’re successful, and I sincerely hope they are, they’ll change the experience and utility of the web. My role there was significant in the area of architecture and I had a great team that for the most part I personally hired. Hmmn sounds pretty sweet, “So exactly how long have you been an idiot Jeff?” Funny, I think they asked the same thing.

I wish it were that simple.

The startup experience could best be described as wacky. Sometimes things click and it’s magic. For me I get that endorphin rush at the whiteboard (no really). I can feel thicker bushier dendrites forming, ok maybe not but I’ve seriously felt waves ecstasy at various moments along my ‘career’. No wonder I’m addicted or possibly chemically imbalanced.

Other times the clicking is, uh, not so much. For a while you can successfully ignore the gnaw of dissatisfaction. You need to exercise patience, probe and have conversations about what you’re feeling. Everything doesn’t necessarily have to be fireworks. Every startup is a tough schlog and if it were cut and dry it wouldn’t have been a tough decision. And that’s the motivation of posting this article — if you find yourself in the same position should you stay or go? I’ve done both and will try to shed some light on my experience. First a word of warning, I have been called a “high effort subordinate” on more then one occasion. The first time was after running up a record number of union infractions at the university I worked at, so take the following with a grain of salt.

As a certain technology association president is fond of saying, the only think more dysfunctional then a band (like say I dunno The Clash) is a technology company. I believe that to be the case regardless of size. There’s a lot that can contribute to that dysfunction, be it market pressures, the working environment but probably more then anything it is the personalities sitting around the table.

My take/experience is that once the magic dies between the people it’s tough, tough, tough to get it back. It’s not unlike friendship, dating or marriage. Sure some relationships can weather the storms; some are even made stronger by them. Those are the rare ones. If you’ve got that right now protect it for all it’s worth, you should definitely stay and not go. They don’t come along that often, trust me.

However if the magic dies and you’re certain it’s not coming back, you should go. It’s not fair to your team, the company or yourself. I also believe (apparently) that not only there isn’t shame in doing so but rather it is the honorable thing to do. I also want to say it can be done with mutual respect and dignity and I owe a big thanks to the CEO and Founder/CTO of a certain stealth company. I also owe much love and gratitude to my family for putting up with my sucking and blowing (mostly sucking) during the past couple of months. I know it hasn’t been easy.

Exactly who’m I’m supposed to be
Diga me que tengo ser
Don’t you know which clothes even fit me?
Saves que robas me queurda?
Come on and let me know
Me tienes que desir
Should I cool it or should I blow?

So that was my last week.

Prior to that company I founded a financial services SaaS company. Like any company, we had our challenges along the way but also our successes. I’m very proud of what the team has done and am still involved at the board level. However if you’ve been involved with a startup, you know that growth isn’t linear. Companies tend to grow until they reach a breaking point, under extreme duress (incriminating photos help) the CFO finally caves and green-lights the hires you needed 2 quarters ago, Rinse, Repeat.

Along the way casualties are almost universally unavoidable. The early, early folks are typically long gone either unable to deal with the “oppressive bureaucracy” a 15 person organization brings or they simply aren’t willing to submit to the rigor of “buttoned-down” process and adult supervision. As we grew I was fortunate enough to back fill my team with some A-talent. After 4 years, my role as CTO seemed superfluous, at least to me, and the company’s greatest need wasn’t vision but rather execution. Through a combination of attrition and growth we had 3 or 4 open positions that I ended up filling and like any self-respecting CTO, not particularly well.

I’m a reasonably competent strategic product manager but I’d rather wash my cornea with a rusty cheese grater then be a long term (1.5 year +) technical product manager. I’ll die and likely kill others in the process. Same goes for project management. I’m what you might call a conscientious MS Project objector. I find the presence of Gantt charts to be a sure sign that a project is doomed. It’s silly I know but you have to understand I’ve worked on projects in the aerospace industry that had project managers who managed the “real” project managers and don’t even get me started about the Program Managers.

To me software is still an art, it can be guided but you can’t manage it in the same way you can manage the building of an office tower. At least not by me and not with the kind of people I like to work with. That isn’t to suggest you can deliver software predictably. Under the guidance of a great VP Dev we never (ever) missed a release while I was there and I believe the same is true to date. But I digress.

So with that context in mind, it wasn’t entirely surprising when the gnaw began and 9 tough months later with no end in sight I finally exited for everyone’s sake. Again I’d say the same caveats apply, if your work isn’t positively affecting yourself and your team, you should go. For me, role definitely contributes to personal satisfaction and I was running on empty.

Should I stay or should I go now? Yo me frio o lo sophlo?
If I go there will be trouble - si me voy - va ver peligro
And if I stay it will be double - si me quedo es doble
So you gotta let me know - me tienes que decir
Should I stay or should I go? Yo me frio o lo sophlo

Lest you think I run off the second I’m unhappy, I want you to know it certainly isn’t the case. I exited that particular company after it had lived its’ darkest days and was in the best position it had been in more then 24 months. Similarly I literally shut the lights off at my first venture backed startup, Ardesic, after the .com fallout. I’m not a duty dodger and I’m certainly not suggesting you should be either. But if you find yourself in the wrong role with no way out or in a working relationship where the magic spark doesn’t exist and you truly, deeply believe the company will be better for your departure then you should go. If on the other hand there is light at the end of the tunnel or you can weather the storm(s) then I encourage you to stick it out even if it is “character building”.

Lastly that chemical imbalance theory might be factoring pretty high in your mind right now as you realize that I’m writing this without even officially starting day 1 of my new job. Even better at this exact second, I’m sitting across the aisle from one of the founders. He’s madly reading research papers while I talk about when to quit your job. I know it’s shocking I don’t have a career in marketing. Rest assured I did *a lot* of thinking, due dili and getting to know people before making any decisions. I was extremely fortunate to have a couple of opportunities present themselves and for whatever reason I was even more fortunate to find some guys I really like in a space I really like. We’ve only done a little bit of whiteboarding but there was definitely some of that magic I was missing. My wife can attest I haven’t been this happy in a while.