exTAmerica / Textamerica / Discuss

shawnblog    says:

Chris insisted that I move out to San Diego to help run TA. I already had a good job with a medium sized company where they had asked me to manage a small, growing division and I really wanted to work from the east coast where I have friends and family and enjoy living. But his rationale was that I "had to be right there with him" (for this to happen). I would like to think this is because I was very effective working with Chris but I have been wrong about that for a long time.

The original idea was a text messaging platform. Nothing special at all, really. The idea was to get people to link to us for free credits on the system which could be cashed in for sending text messages. A few ideas like text flirting/dating, horoscopes, etc. were launched and I laugh now when I recall cursing Chris for suddenly killing the original TA without consulting anyone overnight.

Of course, it was a great idea. Chris has those.

At their request, I had been living with Chris and Janet, launching TA. I was wrong to assume that our half a million text messaging members (mainly located in Lebanon) would have evolved into a successful web site. Some might also say we were all wrong about the "camera phone community" being the magic that would eventually become a top web destination.

I think it was a case of my not insisting more effectively that we do (and not do) certain things. Sure, I could blame egos and lack of management and leadership ability or a few other very real factors, but from my side of the street, I can really only learn from looking at what I might have done differently.

I never had a contract.

On a recent job interview, I confided in the owner of my prospective employer many of the details (unwise of course) of my "deal" with Chris and Janet on this "business" we all launched together. This gentleman's first response was to say it sounded as though I had been taken advantage of... and hearing that from someone else (I had been wondering if it could actually be true for some time) was the sound of reality setting in.

Detailed, logical ideas were totally ignored.

If you are part of a team and you are being ignored, you are on the wrong team! If your own ideas are ignored and later presented to you to execute as a new idea from someone else, don't walk... RUN to find another place to spend your precious time and energy! If an agreement is made to do something and it isn't done, insist on an explanation and if one isn't given, it's time to leave. I could write a book on this.

They asked me to leave.

I knew it was the proverbial "beginning of the end" for me at TA when, after about a year and with no discussion, reason or any warning, Janet told me I needed to find another place to live. Financially, it made the most sense for me to find a situation back on the east coast where I have family and friends and this is where I have been since that time. Quite literally, every month after that until the end, I was in doubt if there would be a paycheck the following month.

So, working from the east coast (you know, my original idea), the first few months I really pressed the issue of staying onboard, etc. and eventually negotiated an increase in my compensation that left me more sure that their constant reassurance that my role with TA was solid and vital to the success of the site was more than just words and that they really meant what the said. Strangely, twice after this, there was talk of letting me go because I was bothering everyone too much with things they considered unimportant (customer service issues, bugs, etc.) and both of these talks were had without involving me in the discussion... the first led to my pay increase and the second, most recently, to my recent TA demise (nearly 30 months later). Again, I had no contract.

Anyone ever see the movie Startup.com? It was basically a prophecy for me. We actually watched that movie when I arrived in San Diego and then commenced to act out our own version over the next few years. I could go into a lot more detail but really don't want to stir it up anymore than I have here (it's all still fresh and still a bit painful). I know that ultimately I have only myself to blame for the "sudden" ending of my role with TA and it is truly a blessing in disguise for me.

I learned a lot about business and people. My life has changed in many ways and my outlook is very different. I'm not so sure I want to be on the managing or ownership end of a web startup success story anymore--in fact, I am pretty sure I "just" want to be a user for a while. I may develop something down the road but for now, I want to focus on really living the fullest, richest, most rewarding life possible without wantonly or knowingly hurting others.

The whole post images and make/read comments idea is definitely under my skin. Without a computer for 72 hours this weekend, I found myself wondering how I could use the RSS for new comments here on my flickr to create a page I could read on my phone!

Will I go back to TA? Well, given the way things have gone, TA would have to come to me first and I don't see it happening.
Originally posted at 10:33AM, 19 June 2006 PDT (permalink)
shawnblog edited this topic 72 months ago.