My First Speeding Ticket – Ever!

Today I got my first speeding ticket which I regard as quite an achievement. It was bound to happen sooner or later. And I guess this late morning – when returning from the golf course – the odds were against me and I got clocked at 82 mph on I-280. I actually feel relieved in a strange way. And very human. And glad that I got a very favorable reading on the radar.

So now it’s off to driving school if I don’t want to see my insurance sky rocket!

Already August?

Summer in San Francisco is like winter in London – grey, cold and muggy. One forgets that it is summer until one heads off outside of the city an experiences the true summer. Fortunately, we are heading off again for a few weekends trips to Oregon and New York. Maybe even London.

Did you feel it?

We did. At 4.42am this morning we woke up by rattling windows and doors. The earthquake just lasted for about 10 seconds and then back to normal. Great wake up call!

Web 3.0 or something completely different

As people are sucking up anything associated with *Web 2.0* one realizes there there truly is born one sucker every second. It’s like this craving to belong to something that people talk about, to be associated with the *new* and with the *future*.

When Flickr started in 2004 it was merely as a way for one of the engineers to share his photos with his friends. He solved a problem that was important to him. And if a problem is important to solve for one person the solution is often welcomed by many.  And it took off.

The difference between cool idea is: I got this problem I’d like to solve cause it matters to me and The market for women is under served online.  Hmm, I’d like to vote for number 1 – as do many.

So what comes first? The category or the innovation? We’ll I’m sure that there are many that could claim the Web 2.0 expression as a natural progression of Web 1.0 (big surprise!). But does that really matter? The key thing is to solve important problem and then what history decided to name it us, at least in the present time, very unimportant.

Bought the iPhone

Yes, I got sucked into buying the new 8GB iPhone about 10 days after it’s debut. My plan was just to try it out, claim that it was a miss and then return it sans 10% restocking fee. Gotta say that my plan went out the window as soon as I turned it on.

The iPhone is truly awesome. It’s the phone+iPod+mobile mail+browser I’ve dreamt about for 10 years. It’s pricey but worth every cent. It’s my new interface against the world – world wide. It makes the Crackberry look ancient and Neanderthal.

It’s the last piece that will make me 100% mobile and a complete road warrior. I like!

The Life-Deferred Plan

I just finished The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss and gotta say that I’m really impressed. Most of his advice are things that we have already put in place or discovered during our mini-retirement last year (actually my second mini-retirement; first was in 1999). That said, he puts everything into a nice context and reinforces our decision to challenge current career conventions and focus on living life and stop following the Joneses.

The overall message is to become the CEO of your own life and focus on what really matters to you. It’s about finding your true purpose and living a rich life. Maybe not rich in dollars but rich in happiness, personal growth and sense of meaning.

My Objects of Desire

There are three things I’d like to have before I kick the bucket:

1) A cool 70s vintage leather jacket – brown or black.

2) A leather and suede knife roll for all my chef knives (like Eric Ripert’s).

3) A few boxes of Cohiba Robusto.

Life’s Needs and Wants

I learned during our mini-retirement last year that there are few things that one really needs. The luxury of just being free to follow your passion and do deep dives into your hobbies is the highest of all. Waking up and realizing the you own your own day is a beautiful thing.

I promised myself to try to keep that attitude and perspective on life as I ventured back into the working life. The mental trick I played with my consumerist mind was to pretend that I owned my new venture and my operations needed to be boot strapped. I decided to view my new ventures from an entrepreneurial perspective; it’s not just a job but a mission with a purpose.

But the real trick is to think like a venture capitalist; not all ventures are going to generate positive cash flow or profits. You have to save during the good years to pay for the not so good. Especially in a context where you always employ yourself.

I’ve no plans to work non-stop until I’m 65 and then check out. No Siree, I want to work on meaningful projects and the don’t come around that often. I expect to be unemployed at least 25% of my so called working life, most likely voluntarily unemployed. I like the idea of mini-retirements every second or third year depending on how business goes.

That turns that whole current mortgage business model upside down. It’s based on spending most of your current salary on paying your mortgage for the next 30 years. Talk about not keeping your options open. The key is to keep your burn rate really low at all times and your savings rate high when working. That generates strong cash flow.

The real secret is to stop rewarding yourself with monetary rewards every time you feel great, crappy or unworthy. Buying confidence or satisfaction is effin’ sad.

Crazy Great Times

Nine months into my new gig things are starting to really heat up. We had a fantastic web and client release last week that so far have gotten great reviews from our users. That makes all 24/7 work worth it.

We have also announced our expansion into Europe which is my old home grounds. Europeans will love our service since publisher’s over there are even stoggier then here in the US.

And there are tons more good stuff in the pipe which will keep me busy for the next few months. But that’s life in a startup. You make a bet, break the rules and work smarter and faster then the current incumbents to win. Anyone that’s not living on the edge is just waisting space and time.

2 Months Later

I cannot believe that I haven’t written a post for almost two months. That didn’t even happen when I semi-retired last year. We’ll I’ve been busy as hell, working on getting our client and web releases out as well as charging ahead on what’s next in the product pipeline.

It’s been a very productive and creative period. I’ve rediscovered the earlier Genesis (1969-1975), Rush and Judas Priest thanks to my buddy Sam. I’ve had friends and family swing by almost every weekend and I’ve been reading up on things (scrum, French politics, 70s progressive rock, the Inklings et cetera) as well as getting my Netflix on. I even think we went down to LA for a crazy weekend in May. Hard to remember.