An end, and a beginning

“Bands are like marriages. Or maybe only good ones are. Who knows why a good one works, let alone why it stops working.”

William Gibson, “Spook Country”

A couple weeks ago I resigned from the internet startup that I founded and moved to Atlanta to work on, OpenHatch. (It may give you a sense of how complex and awkward this was when I tell you that Karen was hired as an intern and is still working at the company.) All that the interwebs need to know about this is that “I left to pursue other opportunities.” If you want to know more about why I resigned, I can tell you the story over a drink sometime, but it’s hard to pinpoint exactly why it reached the point where I had to resign. I’m reminded of a scene from Spook Country by William Gibson, when Garreth asks Hollis Henry why her band The Curfew broke up. Hollis says “Bands are like marriages. Or maybe only good ones are. Who knows why a good one works, let alone why it stops working.” I suppose you could say the same thing about startups.

Today is demo day, the day when the product OpenHatch has been building all summer is revealed to the press and potential investors. I have been invited by OpenHatch to attend, and I will be doing so, even though this is something of a bittersweet experience. If a startup is like a marriage, then this is like attending my ex’s wedding. I’m still on good terms with everyone involved, and I’m happy for them and I want them to be successful, but I can’t help but wish that I were the one getting married. Nevertheless, the launch of OpenHatch is something I put a lot of time and energy into, and I want to see how it turns out.

I will be liveblogging/tweeting/denting about the event as it happens, you can follow my updates here and on Identica.

So sorry it’s over
So sorry it’s over
There’s so much more that I wanted and
There’s so much more that I needed and
Time keeps moving on and on and on
Soon we’ll all be gone

Blink-182, “Man Overboard”

UPDATE: I lied, I’m just going to live update my microblog, blogging is so 20th century.

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