Roman's miles

My startup crew: Cast off! Full speed!!!

So after 5.5 years the SAP ship of the corporate software development has just put me ashore - today was my last day at the frigate. Monday I'm starting a new journey and this time on a new yacht of the startup development. I'm very excited as the voyage is going to be interesting and adventurous but, hey - I've been dreaming about it for a long time! No more complains on a wrong course, no mirages of approaching icebergs and frustrations from busy oficers, no policies and rules made by the general naval staff. This time it's up to me  as I'll be standing at the helm.  

Profisee is the new yacht. These are the guys who created Stratature which after being acquired in 2007 by Microsoft laid a foundation of the current MDM offering from Redmond. The company has today three practices - Financial Analytics, Operational Analytics and MDM, which I'll be leading. Thought the company is young it already has a few sound clients and runs its operations in North America and UK.  

I met Ian Ahern, the founder of Stratature and Profisee, about a year ago and we chatted for a couple of hours about our inspirations, vision, and plans. As a strong believer in the Data Management as a source of opportunities in general and MDM in particular I admitted that the current trend on the market around MDM resembled a gold rush where every vendor tried, all of a sudden, to paint himself as an MDM expert to gain its share of the field. I was thinking then about opening my own practice around SAP MDM but after some time Ian offered me to join his expedition and lead the MDM team in the venture. 

Monday I start! I'm very excited (already said so) and a bit concerned but at the same time very confident that our schooner will reach the land and we'll dig out few tons of gold with the crew:-) My family is slightly nervous: after 5 years of a placid navigation in a first-class cabin of the SAP liner they don't know what it means to be on a small ship and afraid of a (unavoidable and imminent) pitching. Recently Paul Graham wrote: 

 

What keeps people from starting startups is the fear of having so much responsibility. And this is not an irrational fear: it really is hard to bear. Anything that takes some of that weight off you will greatly increase your chances of surviving.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If anything about my weight it only may grow so it's my time to check the guts and take the risks. The new journey starts Monday. Wish us fair wind!

Update: The formal announcement is here

Is crossing the chasm of total freaking hoplessness binary?

Although trying not to repost others' blogs couldn't resist this time. My own transition from SAP to the new home may not seem like crossing a chasm but certainly won't be a walk in a park. I mean when my family will regain the sence of security and my team will get based on its own success confidence in the future.

 Seth Godin and Neil Davidson had echoing posts today about a transition from a not-yet to a quite-yes states. Neil claims that for each of us there is an area where we aren't borned on the right side of the chasm and Seth explains the transitional nature of the cross. Agreeing with both I wonder how to keep ourselves protected from the hurricanes of pessimism and keep riding (and necessarily falling) no matter what unless one day we can answer positively the "have I crossed it?" question. I think that barely recognizing the nature of the trajectory lays a serious foundation to the crossing plan.

I'm back!

Wow, it's been some time since I posted last time here. I've got more gasoline in my tank and I'm back to blogging. So the three most important things that happened during this gap are:

• I've graduated from my business school. Now I'm an MBA with financial concentration. I may write in more details about the experience and served expectations later. The short version is now I can read Economist bumer-to-bumer and enjoy it:-)
• After working for hafl a year with Harley-Davidon I've got my moto license and set up for a biker amateur. The very spirit of the HD team made me think I'd like riding.
• I'm leaving SAP. After 5.5 years of working for one of the greatest sofware corporation my advanturer's soul and gods of risk-takers drawn me back to the startup world. The Mossad vs. French Legion dilemma is swinging to the former again where I was building my career before joining SAP. I'm very excited about it and will reveal more details soon.

I've decided to make the blog personal now and probably will open another one solely for the professional discussions. I'm greatful for my readers (or rather keepers of the blog link) and hope you'll stay tuned in the future.