Golden Age Info Arch

i’m working my day job almost everyday now.

i know i can do a better job of it. and so i am.

for the first time in my professional career i feel very appreciated, trusted, and supported by the company i work for. which is great.

i have a hard time explaining to people what i do, because they don’t use these products … ever.

enterprise level ticketing, service catalog, change management, and process automation software, just isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. i understand it. i can figure it out. this makes me valuable. it feels good.

so i work away the days. i take this break to write this post. i’m still learning everything startup. working my online pitch. getting no feedback. my next spare time company task is v2 of prototype screens for what i’ve finally boiled my MVP down to. still wondering when my co-founder or two will show up. i need to make more friends.

speaking of friends … i keep making friends with women starting businesses. nothing like mine, but entrepreneurs all the same. hula-hoops, feather earrings, fashion, accessories, their ingenuity, creativity, and persistence is inspiring and i’m glad i can help them figure out stuff. analyzing their market, customer relations, recording metrics, and the pricing of top quality products (which is especially difficult for artists).

it reminds me of my first time investing in a company. as i’ve been dreaming up my own idea, i’ve also been participating in the business community. i’ve already been an angel investor, of a very small variety. 5 years ago i helped two friends fund their business making, and selling screen-printed leather belts. i’m wearing a prototype to this day and it’s still a great piece of art. i let them use my credit, i borrowed it on my low-interest credit card, and then charged them a slightly higher interest rate. the first loan went great, they made money and great products, and paid me back within a year and a half. we decided to go again, smaller loan, just to secure some hides for the next batches. which is mostly still outstanding, but it was worth it for me to take a risk and support my friends.

in the very beginning someone learned leather working, and then screen printing in the basement suite next door. then a factory lived downstairs from me for a while. then we all moved. then they got a workshop going. eventually they expanded to a much bigger and efficient space. along the way they got some employees. factory workers. assistant sales people. artists. it was going gangbusters. products in stores all over western Canada and available at select universities and many music festivals.

my biggest advice was always to raise prices. they wanted to sell to people who loved their work and it was working, but they were run ragged keeping up with demand at the price point they set. i shared ideas about creating training material, franchising their business, so it could spread organically, but i was thinking way out-to-lunch compared to their day-to-day hustle. i encouraged them to ignore my advice freely, and payments were mutually agreed to, and occurred when the money was there. i’d like to think i was a really hands-off investor, mostly i just cheered every time things went well for them.  i like cheering for people.

eventually, one co-founder split suddenly. i don’t know why, but i hope she’s doing well. we never really talked about it. the remaining founder kept going valiantly for a while and then a health issue sidelined the whole thing. we still chat now and then, she’s back full-time into teaching sky-diving or working a wind tunnel somewhere.

i enjoyed being part of their success. i understand how much work it was, i helped a little here and there. it was a little disappointing when it all blew up, but i am totally proud of their products. and i bet their customers still love them.  i know i do.

Thanks for reading!

prototype

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Tags: angel investor, CEO, community, high performance teams, product, storytelling, value

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 24th, 2011 at 11:15 am and is filed under journal. 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.