You know you are in a start-up when ...

Well, the first week on the new job just flew by! Got all the admin done, like insurance and IT systems, etc. Amazing how much stuff we have in our lives change when we change employers.

But it isn't just that stuff that is different. It's the important stuff that is different, when you go from Big Blue to Little Green.

You know you are in a start-up when:

1. Every day is casual Friday.(Friday, in fact, should be Hawaiian shirt day.)
2. Your wife says "have fun!" when you leave for work in the (dark) morning.
3. You don't attend a single meeting all week via conference call with over 20 people who are all doing email during the meeting.
3. You get to decide stuff all by yourself. (kinda like an adult)
4. You meet 90% of the company employees the 1st week.
5. You never look at your watch to see how much longer you have to work today.
6. You avoid making lists of things to do. You have to do everything!
7. You wake up at 3 AM because you have a good idea, and can't go back to sleep.
8. You have this silly grin on your face all day long. (this will wear off after the honeymoon phase, I am told.)
9. You drink 5 times as much coffee as ever before.
10. You don't have time to pee. (goes real bad with #9 !!!!!)

So, you get the picture. Panic. Joy. Thrill. But most of all, constant learning! New experiences. And the excitement is just amazing! Everyone knows they are riding a tiger.

Hang on!!!

Stay tuned.


Karl

Seat belt buckled? Check. Tray Table Up? Check. Brain in Gear? Ummm

Going from BIG BLUE to Little Green.

Have I lost my mind?   If you see it running around,  please tackle it and return it to me, unharmed, for a reward!

Here I am,  tooling along at 55 in the left lane down the Big Blue Highway,  doing pretty well financially, daughter hoping to go to Vet School (Read: at least FOUR MORE YEARS) , a big honkin' mortgage,  a great job (ok, I have to commute to NY, but no job is perfect) and WHAM!  I get broadsided by an opportunity I just can't turn down!   No, I am not talking about some temptation in a bar, I am talking about leaving IBM for a new job at a newly funded company here in Austin.  No Product (yet!).  No Revenue (ditto!).  BIG dreams to change the world.

Why would I leave the comforts of Big Blue?

Well, it can't be a midlife crisis.  Been there.  Done that.  Left HP at 40.  Moved the family to the great white tundra in Minnesota.

It' isn't IBM.   Great company.  Great people.  Great job.

That leaves just ME.   I have always wanted to do something a) Exciting, b) Local, c) Monumental.  And I think I have found the ticket.    The job is the VP of Marketing at Smooth-Stone,   an Austin-based startup with $48M in venture backing that is designing a System-on-a-chip for hyperscale server needs.  Our design is built on the kind of processor that is in your iPad or iPhone, the ARM architecture.   It could be used by any business with a LOT of data,  and who wants to spend less money on IT and Energy.    Most servers burn like a 100 watt light bulb,  hot to the touch even when idling.  Servers built on Smooth-Stone technology will consume less that 10% the energy, and cost a lot less,  saving ENERGY, MONEY, and SPACE.    Cool?  You bet!

I start Monday.   If you want to laugh (or cry) along as I go from BIG BLUE to Little Green, come back and visit my blog.   If you want to learn more about Smooth-Stone,  check out our website at http://www.smooth-stone.com and see some of the press the company earned when they announced their 1st round of Venture Capital in August.

Nothing "ventured", nothing gained!  Stay Tuned!