February 25, 2007
It was almost one year ago exactly that I decided to take the plunge to pursue my startup and leave what was a great career as a “busi-nerd” (all business up front, but all nerd inside) working in the OEM business development team of Documentum within the EMC Software Group. I was there for almost 10 years through acquired companies, became very well versed in my domain, formed great relationships internally and externally, and was living very comfortably.
So why did I leave EMC only to take no salary for a year now and pay $500 a month in health insurance in addition to other basic expenses? The entrepreneurship challenge became all consuming —— to build something novel (and useful) out of nothing is certainly alluring, but I am determined to do more imporant things in life that are otherwise unlikely to happen without the financial means. I got a small taste of social entrepreneurship last time I was in India by way of the rewarding feeling associated with helping people —- and I’m hooked. I’ll be making another trip to India again at the end of March and I’ll certainly have more opportunities to help.
In any case — some of the smartest people on the planet are interested in what my startup, BigSwerve, is pursuing. It’s a great feeling to have really thoughtful people affirming the very foundation of my company. By the way, if you’re interested in being kept aware of the launch/alpha/beta/whatevs, register here: www.bigswerve.com
In terms of our application’s focus, like many startups, things have evolved from where we started out. There was an “ah ha” moment at one point early in the development cycle that drove us in a new, much more interesting direction. For now, I can say that the application is focused social networking with a Semantic web core, but it’s not just another social networking site by any means.