I finally have my blog up…..

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After a full day of registering a set of new domains, selecting and subscribing to my new web host company, installing various web server applications, configuring and testing both Serendipity and Word Press web blog platforms ( I decided to go with Word Press given the community support) to my specifications and dealing with the family transition of health insurance providers after having quit my full time job over 1 month ago, I am finally able to post the very first blog of what will no doubt amount to the first of very many blog postings regarding my transition from a corporate America junky into a serial entrepreneur.

Sure, I had been working for a successful internet “start-up” for the past three years , Shopzilla, (of course I joined 7 years after they were founded) and started my own IT staffing firm straight out of business school, GTI Solutions LLC (what other choice did I really have when Enron, on the advice of Arthur Andersen, my previous employer, decided to create a bunch of money losing shell companies?), however, I have yet to be a part of something much earlier on in the process, something that I could truly be passionate about from the start, knowing that I would be part of movement positioned to change the world.

I played around with various concepts while attending the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley back in 2000-2002, like the GPS dog collar names Argus, clearly ahead of its time, and not exactly life changing. And there was always the late night banter with roommate Stephen Stokols about creating a new model for venture capital, launching the next Baja Fresh food chain or even investing in multi unit properties in San Diego county (yes, I am seriously kicking myself about that one). Unfortunately, after turning 33 only 3 days ago, a grandchild of a real entrepreneur who started an accounting software hosting business over 40 years ago and 20 years before the concept of the paperless audit Zenith Information Systems, formally trained in business at such prestigious programs as Business Economics program at UCLA where I earned my BA during my undergraduate studies and Entrepreneurship from the world class Haas School of Business for an MBA, I have still not yet founded or participated at an early stage in the worlds next great company.

Most recently, I served as the Director of Business Development for Shopzilla, the internet’s leading comparison shopping engine, for nearly 3 years, watching the internet evolve from a search driven world into a far more collaborative 2.0 ecosystem, that has since spawned hundreds, if not thousands of highly successful new technological paradigms and companies. My position within the company was somewhat of a catch 22; on one hand I was the single person tasked with evaluating the business prospects of each new technology, however, I was limited in my ability to generate traction to move these concepts forward, given the companies focus on its core operations. After the company’s glow waned following it’s acquisition by the E.W. Scripps, I felt that it was finally my time to seek out my own entrepreneurial niche of this new Internet landscape. I officially parted ways with Shopzilla, with my last day April 20th of this year, shortly after co-founders Henri Asseily, Farhad Mohit and previous president John Phelps made the decision to part ways with the company as well, after they created and rode through the ups, downs and ups again of the industry and company. I walked away from Shopzilla a much better person for having learned from these three entrepreneurs what passion, risk and reward are truly all about. You see, it’s one thing to raise millions of $$$ and create a company in the mold of what every VC firm is looking for. However, it is far more significant and inspiring to create a company over a 10 year period, in your own mold in the face of ongoing detractors and eventually sell said company for $525MM. For this, you have to admire the Wharton Business School triumvirate!!

Subsequent to my departure from Shopzilla, I decided to take my wife on a journey to China, a trip that I had long yearned for since my last excursion through South East Asia almost 5 years ago. You see, traveling is my own method of escape from the daily rigors of life. Some people choose drugs, alcohol, or religion among others methods to escape. My life’s vice is traveling. I see it as a way to expand my views and thoughts of the world around me. Seeing as how I have spent the majority of my life here in Southern California, often viewed as a “bubble” of thought and social norms, traveling has allowed me to overcome this narrow viewpoint and appreciate far more that the world has to offer, whether it be other political systems, cutural norms, foods, people, languages, environmental beauty, business, etc. And as expected, our trip to China was even more than I could have ever asked for. Not only were Erica and I able to spend significant quality time together for nearly 3 weeks, without cell phones and ongoing stress from work that always seems to strain even the best of relationships. More significantly, I was able to watch as my wife began to appreciate the world around her a little more every day over the course of our journey. These are memories that we have made together and memories that we will continue to share together for the rest of our lives.

Now, I am back at home in Los Angeles, head down and ready to find my next new professional adventure. No, I wont be going back to corporate America, where the Proctor and Gambles of the world continue to churn out general managers, all former MBA’s of similar professional credentials as my own. Rather, this time around, start-up is the path I choose. And so begins my journey, of joining a team of brilliant minds, bonded together by the opportunity of improving the world around us and driven by the passion to succeed.

Just a sample of our Chinese experience…

June 1st, 2007