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May 31, 2006

I left one big question hanging in that last entry, though I knew the answer. I meant to leave real space between leaving Inxight and picking what to do next. Though this part was and wasn’t so on purpose, the separation of entries mirrored the thinking. Answer is … starting another company with a co-founder who found me through a friend of mine.

I met Yossi for the first time in mid-April. Just the week before, I got an incredible offer from SAP, and it was just 2 weeks before that I’d formally declared my intent, finally, to move on, though even six months earlier I’d promised myself that April was time for me to move, even said so to Inxight CEO Ian Bonner. During those six months of knowing mentally that I would move on, it was thrilling to feel free and to be ‘available’. But the process had a natural structure of opening, middle, and closing. I let some options pass, closed some explicitly, had some closed on me, and was considering or working some still.

The meeting with Yossi started a five week dash that subverted my intention to take time to figure out next after I was completely de-dutied. SAP and other BigCos could wait for moons with no impact; in the other case, I could feel the ticking, the beating. Thus the decision after the six months of the “I don’t know what’s next” state, came down to two ends of a spectrum. Either the largest enterprise-software company (note the dash) or the smallest (zero everything).

Two offers I felt I couldn’t refuse. Carlin, my wife, asked if I couldn’t accept either, that perhaps I should turn down both. Utterly sensical, or perhaps radical. Many friends listened, many I could see were silently placing their bet on what I would do, after making sure I wasn’t missing anything major. Some friends, family weighed in one way or the other. Most everybody said you have to decide, go with your gut, or follow your heart. You know.

One big concern with taking the founding route was that it came so suddenly. Magically, as if the universe was saying that I shouldn’t go the easy way or that I needed to be a founder even if I didn’t want to be. “Hell no, don’t go” or “Swing, baby, Swing.” Was it too fast? Not an affair, but perhaps a rebound? The old man in me was saying, let one go. And the young man, well, you know. One friend said, “as to options developing (too) fast, that’s the v. nature of good ones.”

We’ll see. Meanwhile, my heart is beating loud and clear.

Posted by ramana at May 31, 2006 09:20 PM | Trackbacks are retired