Nightmares of an internet start-up

During my start-up in the bubble-era i had some incredible nightmares... people dressed in gorilla suits pushing me off cliffs... ya know, just freaky.

I was getting so many nightmares back then that i kept a tape recorder next to my bed. i'd wake up. record the nightmare. go back to sleep. have another one. wake up. record it. repeat.

I thought about writing a book "nightmares of an internet start-up" - the nightmares would be in comic book style, and then i'd have a few pages next to each comic explaining what's going on in my business at the time.

Well... i had my first Billing Revolution nightmare last night. And I'm starting to wonder, is it just me, or do all entrepreneurs have nightmares?

It's not that things are going poorly at my new start-up - in fact it's the opposite, thing are great! We have money, we're signing big customers - so why the nightmare? Will i get more? Gwod, i hope not.

The nightmare recap:
I was in the valley. running from VC to VC scheduling meetings.
At the third VC office i realized I scheduled all three meetings at 10am the following day.
It was at the third VC office (in the parking lot, where the receptionist would greet all entrepreneurs) where i 'lost it'.
She told me "i'm sorry, the only time Deepak is available is 10am tomorrow"
I threw my hands in the air and let out a big chewbacca yell "uuuuggggggggg!"
I didn't yell at the receptionist. She just understood. she needed to fix the situation.
Without saying anything I went back to my rental car. reclined the drivers seat. put up my hoodie sweatshirt and pulled the stings.
A few minutes later there was a knock on my car window.
"Deepak can see you now"
One of my eyes had swollen shut.
A few receptionists half-carried me to a briefing area.
We talked to a parakeet in a gold cage. The parakeet gave the ground rules "how to pitch to VC's"
The receptionists were rubbing my arms. The swelling in my eye went down. They led me down a corridor.
i felt confident. i felt great. i was a presidential candidate stepping up to the podium. or an actor entering the stage for my first line. or a boxer, about to hear the crowd roar.
When i passed through the curtain i was on the tennis courts.
4 courts in the blazing sun. the courts were dark crimson.
Deepak dressed in all white, was practicing his ground strokes. Deepak looked healthy. We shook hands and we took a seat on the lawn-furniture sectional behind the baseline.
I immediately started telling Deepak about my college tennis days. How we played on the Boston Commons.
Then i noticed the tennis court was liquid. a ripple on the far side of the court headed our way, the swell increased, and knee-sized waves gently broke on our side of the court.
The court was solid again.
Things seemed to be going well with Deepak...
and then i woke up.

The latest from AK

a bunch of one-liners to describe my week:

I've been sick. sleepy. grumpy.
Took a two hour nap on the office couch yesterday.
Bought some Cold-Eeze chewing gum with zinc. yuck.
Lupe pooped on the floor this morning. yuck.
Is was sooo windy, and i was too sick to go. whaaa.
Got more funding for my start-up. yay!
Had a relaxing time in Hood Canal with the fam. zzzz.
Had the best masa-ball soup in the market. Jewish penicillin.
Carpooled with Jana to work.
Karsten got in trouble at school for 'making farting sounds in his armpit'. thank you uncle erik for teaching him that one. ;-)

Great - now my vote won't count

The presidential election came up today during a call with my old neighbor Wendy Wozniak... i told her i was going to vote for Obama. She said "we'll i'm going to vote for McCain, so our votes will cancel each other out!" sigh.

Beer in the brown bag

Jana was deep into her new favorite show Gossip Girl - so i hit the beach with my 40oz Corona wrapped in a brown paper bag. My bag caused quite a stir with the wine drinking beach crowd. "yes, we're technically in Burien, but do you have to use a brown paper bag?" "what's the bag for anyway?" the questions went on... i made my case... the bag keeps my hand warm and the beer cold. pure genius. The wine drinkers were not convinced. Then Pam brainstormed a new twist on the old bag... "you could make coozies that look like brown bags, put them in your freezer, and then you could carry around a frozen-brown-bag-coozie!" .... hummmm... i don't think that's gonna fly in the hood.

my virtual self - was all but dead

Drew woke me from my slow-blog-o-death... my virtual self was almost dead. severely neglected. But, his public ribbing was just enough to kick-start my engine.

OK, SO I'M BACK.... and now for a quick story about puke.

Wow. Sunday night. 4am. blowing chunks. I had clams with garlic, olives stuffed with garlic, ginger soda (super strong), rum, olive and garlic dip, some eggs, a beer... and POW. i blew up.

Revolutionary Meeting Room

We decided to take an alternative approach to the stuffy CTIA conference room... CTIA is a mobile event, so why not have a mobile conference room? :-) Our 2 days at CTIA are packed with meetings - this RV should make our meetings fun, productive and memorable!

And yes, if you need a ride between parties, give us a call. :-)

Cooking age: 21

While cooking dinner last night i realized i have the cooking skillz of a 21 year old. Remember the culinary gut-bombs you made back then? That's my level. My standard meal when i was 21 was a package of instant Lipton noodles (4 great flavors) and a fried plain white chicken breast. BAM! that's dinner. If i felt fancy, i'd toast a slice of white bread and add a dash of garlic salt. gourmet.

Fast forward 15 years... Jana's been cooking the entire time... but my cooking ability has stayed the same age...