Ever onward

What does one do after failing to build a successful business? I’d been trying to figure that out. After several weeks and almost 40 meetings, it was Decision Day. On the morning of November 4, I cast my vote in the U.S. election and made a career choice.

I wanted to make the right decision quickly. Once ClayValet was done, my mind was a mess of conflicting impulses. It took some thought, but I sorted it out: I really want to start another company, develop a great product, and turn it into a profitable business.

Start up again?

Startup #2 seemed like the natural next step. My experience and momentum were on my side: I wouldn’t make the same mistakes next time. The timing could be right: I found three potential cofounders, ready for something new. It had a good ring to it: “undaunted by defeat and hardened by experience, the heroic entrepreneur gets up to fight again”. Meanwhile, blogs told me that “the downturn is the best time to start a business” and lauded the virtues of serial entrepreneurs.

I didn’t do it. One of my potential cofounders is in the Bay Area, and I’m tied to Seattle for a year. Two others are local, but they’re not really ready to start. Frankly, neither am I. I don’t yet have a killer plan, I am tired and out of shape and the market’s had its way with my savings. And, most of all, I feel humbled by the ClayValet experience. I’m more aware of what I don’t know, and I should fill some of those gaps before trying again.

So, I decided to wait and build up my strength. I will get to spend time with my lovely girlfriend, who supported me for more than a year through long hours and swinging moods. I’ll go home to Malaysia with her in December, and we’ve been talking about more trips in the near future: maybe Japan, maybe Spain. I owe some stories to my writing group. I want to get organized (more on that later). I want to sleep.

This is not retirement. I need to be objectively productive: creating value and getting paid for it. One way or another, I need to stay in business. One way is software consulting; another is a job at a small startup.

Consulting?

Consulting would keep me self-employed, teach me some valuable sales/business skills, and pave the way for bootstrapping a product business, like 37 Signals and many others. I spoke with several local consultants: my most marketable skills, Ruby/Rails/AWS development, seemed in demand, and the rates sound fine.

I ruled out consulting for three reasons. First, I want longer-term ownership of my work, the ability to do it right. Second, the short-term timing didn’t fit: I wanted to make money and travel before the end of the year. Third, I decided that in my next project, I will be a technical cofounder. Gaining business experience by consulting is a lower priority than hands-on product development experience.

Joining forces

A startup job would give me a chance to focus on product development, to work with a growing team, and to experience the stages of a business that I haven’t seen firsthand. I spoke with several startups: all under 5 people, recently funded, and working on interesting projects with impressive business potential. It’s reassuring to know that even in these conditions, Seattle is home to several promising new projects.

In the end, I couldn’t resist the chance to work with a good chunk of my “dream colleagues” wishlist. I’m joining Jambool, a team of four ex-Amazon friends working on a “virtual economy platform”. Our office is next door to the Metropolitan Grill in downtown Seattle, and this Monday was my first day. I’m very happy with my choice, and I look forward to telling you more about it someday.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 13th, 2008 at 12:20 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.