I’m Joining a New Venture in 2013!
As the year draws to an end, so too does the JESS3 chapter of my life.
But before I look forward, I want to pause and reflect briefly on a few of the many amazing things that this chapter has contained.
Together with some of the industry’s most talented doers, I helped build and lead a company that has generated over $13M in revenue, received a nod from the Inc 500 at No. 430, earned AdAge gold, pioneered the field of social media data visualization, facilitated the first check-in from space, visualized the 2012 Elections with Google, helped C-SPAN win a Peabody for the redesign of its Video Library, partnered with The Economist to tell an important story about the global economic opportunity for women and used puppets to better explain the Nielsen TV ratings system, to name just a few highlights. I am incredibly proud and grateful for all that this chapter has produced and taught me. To all the team members, clients and believers I have served alongside: I will forever cherish our battlefield experiences together and I salute and thank you from the bottom of my heart.
I also want to add: While handing in my resignation this week was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, the positivity that has poured out from Jesse, my team, my clients, my friends and my family has been amazing. The team is in great hands with Jesse, Carol and recent executive team promotions for Flo, Brad and Jenny at the helm. The beat shall go on!
And as the new year begins, so too does my new professional chapter. Strike that. Rewind. And as the new year begins, so too does my new professional book. I say that I am writing a new “book” and not just “another chapter” in my current “book” because where I am going and what I am doing requires a whole new vocabulary, page layout and binding. And no, I am not going into the publishing business. And no, I am not writing an actual book (yet). And yes, this analogy might have gone on too far.
At any rate, I am leaving the service industry — where I cut my professional teeth working in the legal, communications, television, business intelligence and creative services fields — and diving head first into the wonderful world of software as the Chief Operating Officer at a venture-backed startup.
While I can’t yet share the details of where I am heading until early January, I can share that my role will be doing what I love: helping build another company from the ground up with a group of wildly talented people.
I look forward to sharing more in just over a month’s time. Until then, you can count on me to be stationed on my family’s farm in Oregon, with my head down on what’s next, pausing as needed to help my folks move irrigation pipe, livestock, fences, hay, grape plants or whatever comes our way.
Author’s notes:
I really like how I phrased this: “I say that I am writing a new “book” and not just “another chapter” in my current “book” because where I am going and what I am doing requires a whole new vocabulary, page layout and binding. And no, I am not going into the publishing business”
I also have come in and out and back through the service industry, which I plan to do for the rest of my career. I think I was just trying to underscore how non-competitive this was going to be at the time ;)
Originally posted on my Tumblr, I’m joining a new venture in 2013 [November 30, 2012]
