Week One
The first week of being in my own startup has been quite exciting. I have always imagined and thought about what it would be like, what I would do, and if it would be a whole lot of fun, or a whole lot of stress. I thought it would either be really good, or really really bad, nothing in between. Preparing for the worst by teaming up with talented people, Joe and Vishwas, along with making a lot of new connections with various companies and awesome people, has turned out to make this a stressfully exciting time.
I'm still trying to find my stride and my rhythm, or maybe there is none, and that's what makes starting your own company so intriguing. The dynamic nature of it will always keep you on your toes. The mentality of it all I'm quickly realizing, is to not get caught up and stressed about any little thing, and to constantly step back and look at the bigger picture. As long as you don't get trapped into one little area of stress, it's good. There are millions of line items to tackle, but if you just pause and breath, you'll realize it's not really that bad.
The people you surround yourself with while working is important too. Vishwas is probably as awesome of a business guy / CEO you could possibly work with. Joe goes without saying does nothing but help you stay on track, level headed, and on top of your foosball game. We've done some cafe hopping, and camped out over at Dog Patch Labs on Pier 38 as well. It's motivating being around your co-founders constantly, as well as others who are in similar positions as you.
Friday night, I started getting a little tired of just coding. Given I get outside for a run and try to hit the gym daily, it just doesn't balance out entirely the other 10 - 12 hours of development I had done already that day. I decided to take the day off (mostly) and just do some chores and take some photographs. Keep sane so I can keep going full steam. It's always better to work in solid productive blocks, then constantly but with little energy or motivation.
Today I jumped into the car and drove randomly into San Francisco. I stopped by the Painted Ladies because everyone talks about it, and you always see those houses in the Full House t.v. show's intro. These houses are about as boring as any house can be. They're not that colorful, and there really isn't anything about them that's cool. The park in front of it is awesome though.
Above you can see the Full House house, but the coolest part were just the people hanging out in the park. There is a similar "let's just chill outside in the city" vibe like Dolores Park in the Mission, but minus the weed and homeless. I found the scene absolutely peaceful and happy, so took the shot with people in front. In the background of the photo, you can also spy a few people painting. Boring! Let's move on.
I walked around the park, noticed the majority of the people were young couples with their babies (dogs actually, no human babies in sight). Some individuals as well watching their dogs play.
And then that was it, the park wasn't that big. So I got in my car and drove through the Presidio, looked at the gigantic houses, and ended up on a random road that was curving me past the coast along the Pacific Ocean! What the heck? Suddenly I ended up at Baker Beach (notorious for the nude aspect of the patrons). Avoiding the naked old fat people (there are no other naked people there, just fat and old, of course), I found a really intriguing sign. It was backlit severely so I couldn't make it out until after I got back and processed the photo, I swear ;)
Evidence above shows the sun almost setting right behind it, so there. Past the sign, I mean in front of the sign, was quite the view. Baker beach below to the south, the beautiful Pacific Ocean (and ridiculously large waves this time of year), and then the coastline topped off by the Golden Gate Bridge. I was a little overwhelmed by what to take a picture of, but I ended up finding the old fencing to be the best subjects out there.
And for those who must have color and sunlight:
The Golden Gate Bridge was definitely only about 1/10th as interesting as the fence poles =) Here's a nice view of Baker Beach at sunset:
And ok, here's a really boring black and white to the north of where i was standing. Notice the fence posts below, that's where I was for the shots above:
On yeah, and forgot to say, Halloween was a blast! Had a party at the house, played foosball, wii, and just hung out. It was great. Even my Sea Urchin dressed up. His costume was Reef Rubble:
