Missing Link

I came to a sudden, and somewhat unexpected realization yesterday.   I’m not entirely happy where I am at with my career, and I’ve been trying to figure out WHY, given that I have a really good job.   I thought this kind of position, and job, would be exactly what I wanted – yet I’m still not happy with it.   The realization I had addressed the why.

I was reading yesterday about life inside a particular start up company out in California, and I found myself actually longing to be there – not necessarily in California (though CA would be a cool place to live) but in a startup.   It made me actually MISS the crazy days of Proxito and all of the crap we had to deal with.   I realized that I won’t likely ever really be happy working for someone else.    I probably will only be happy, self actualized, and fulfilled by starting a company and building new and exciting products.

Now, of course, this realization doesn’t mean I’m going to go out and quit my job tomorrow – that’s just not going to happen.    It does mean, however, that I am starting to consider the next big thing for me,  and am kicking around various ideas for products a company could be built around.   I’m engaging several close friends to bounce ideas off of, and see what they come up with as well,   and maybe sometime soon I can start working towards making it a reality.

There are a LOT of things that have to happen before this becomes reality:

1. I have to figure out what the product is, and how to best approach building and marketing it.
2. I have to find funding,  either in the form of VC or angel investors.
3. I have to find the right people to hire to make it happen.

Obviously, there are more steps to it than that,  but those are the big three.    I want to learn from the failures at Proxito and do this the right way.   I most certainly want to avoid Mobile,  at least SMS messaging.    That was so 3 years ago. 

If you have any thoughts,  opinions,   ideas – I’d love to hear them.  You can leave them in the comments, or email john -at- youwillgetavirus.com.

It’s important to note: I’m NOT quitting my job right now.     There’s a lot that has to be done here and I’m just starting to make some headway – I don’t want to leave them hanging and in a tight spot.  They aren’t, however, paying me nearly well enough considering the role I am in, so they won’t keep me forever.   I am simply looking to the near future and seeing what it has to offer.