So I left IBM. You’ve probably heard by now.
First, let’s consider that two years ago I didn’t even think I’d be going to IBM, let alone that I’d leave eventually. And then the internship happened and flipped everything over, so now I’ve got a solid place to start my career for two or three years, right?
Then came this project with my two friends, and it turned into something I gave a damn about. Then we sold over 5,000 copies of this barebones proof-of-concept student project in two months with minimal promotion before I had to jet back to Austin.
And I don’t think I’ve really been happy ever since.
Don’t you want to take a leap of faith? Or become an old man, filled with regret, waiting to die alone?
We are rebranding The App Formerly Known as Feels—it’s now Boldened, please get used to it—and we’re in a position such that it needs somebody on it full time if it’s going to go anywhere. As many evenings as I’ve come home wanting to work on it, I’ve spent more than that not having the energy or the desire, drained from a hard day at work or from all the other stresses in life. I’m not good at dedicating half time to something, even when it drives me like no other project or idea in my life has.
Still, as excited as I am to get on with it—once I find an apartment here in Pittsburgh—I left with a lack of fulfillment. The internship summer was a period of small but important moments that have certainly changed my life, and I felt strongly that this opportunity was not hollow. But, in an incredible number of ways, expectations didn’t line up with reality, and I know I didn’t get to make the impact that I wanted.
Anyway, moving on.