Antonio linked to this story by the inventor of the memristor. Â Antonio raved, but I was dubious – how interesting could a multi-year lab research project into circuits be? Â Antonio was right – very interesting article.
It also does prove that in some corners of HP, there is interesting stuff going on, my personal experience notwithstanding.
Last month I gave notice at Hewlett-Packard, and yesterday was my last day.
I left on good terms. I continued to enjoy working with the Tabblo team through the last day. I’ve never been a part of a group that can just make things, and make them with something close to ease. Websites, products, and experiences: We’d start with nothing, and a few weeks later we’d have it all done. It felt powerful. It was fun. The timelines we worked on, the things we created – I’m proud of it. I’m sure I’ll work with some of them again in the future.
So if the team was so great, then why leave? Oh, let me count the whys. The commute was a problem, both in duration and destination. There were, of course, the big-company frustrations, too. Why is the IT group so uninterested in helping us meet our goals? Do I really need a building-wide memo to remind me not to park my car in the motorcycle spaces? Why couldn’t Finance figure out a way for us to ship our books out of the United States? Are Razor scooters really that much of a health hazard that you’ll threaten to fire me for zipping down to the production room?
The biggest problem, though, has its roots back in acquisition itself. Shortly after we were acquired the Senior VP who sponsored the acquisition left HP. He was immediately followed by his VP. That left us without the backing to execute on HP’s business plan. That plan could be mildly described as ambitious, and without a strong backer it was totally doomed. In the 13 months since then we had 6 new executive leaders with more than two strategy shifts each. The lack of stability is demoralizing. At some point you decide that it’s time to find something new.
So, what’s next? I think a leisurely June sounds very good. Today, for instance, I biked 17 miles, read a book, did some cleaning, and wrote this blog post. Dinner tonight is with friends at Scutra, celebrating my unemployment and their honeymoon. Sounds nice, doesn’t it?
I’m also starting a job search. If you’re founding a startup, or are in a startup, and are looking for someone with a great track record and fantastic recommendations, please drop me a line. I’m looking for product management or business intelligence. I wouldn’t rule out a return to more customer-facing areas, or maybe a return to QA. The only requirement is that I’m staying in the Boston area.
A post-script: Dave St. Germain posted some pictures he’s taken of me over the last couple years. He’s such a good photographer.
The show was pretty good. It’s clear why Sting went on to fame and fortune and the other two. . . not so much.
I’ve seen bands that just play their albums faithfully, and seen it be a good show. I’ve seen “jam bands” that just start with a record and go from there, and seen it be good. The Police wanted to be somewhere in between. Most of the time it work. For some songs (“Don’t Stand So Close To Me”) it was electric. The live performance was so powerful, so challenging, so engrossing that you were left wanting more. A couple songs (“Roxanne”) suffered. The subtle crispness of the original was washed out by a boring, blathering tangent.
I’m not a big fan of “arena rock.” But this is a show that I couldn’t miss. I liked it; I’m glad I went (and yes, it was worth the $100 for the ticket).
The New York Times ran an article today about how HP’s printing group is working on making it easier to print from the web.
I’ve had many friends ask me about the details of HP buying Tabblo. I’ve given a number of different cagey, redacted responses because I didn’t know how much was public and how much was confidential. I’ll say it now: most of what I know is in that NYT article. If you want to know why Tabblo got bought, just read it online.
It’s been interesting to see the reaction to the article. We’ve had several emails come into the customer service queue that say “I saw in the Times that you make it easy to print pages on the web. Can you help me do that?” The answer we give is “Not today. But just wait.”
This morning Hewlett Packard announced that it was buying Tabblo.
It’s a pretty interesting acquisition. Tabblo has been been building a business by converting an online experience into a real-world experience; we take your pictures and your words and we put them on paper. HP makes a lot of money in that real world, putting those pictures and words on paper. HP stands to make even more money by doing that more, on more websites, with more partners, in more formats. Tabblo is going to help HP do that. GigaOM covers it well.
If you want to see our very first run at the problem, check out our PhotoCubes. All you need is a printer and scissors. It may be the slickest Tabblo experience yet. Very simple, very easy to get started, and a satisfying, physical result.
At Abuzz, a previous company I worked at, I’d often get a pop-up warning that the printer was out of paper or ink. When I went to the printer I’d find that it had hundreds of pages spilling out of it, all web pages, and had hundreds more in the print queue. When I talked to coworkers about it, they reported similar experiences. We blamed the interns. It became a running joke: “They’re printing out the internet, just in case it crashes.” Here we are, 8 years later, and it’s my corporate mission to be “the print engine for the web.” I am amused.
What does this mean for me personally? A longer commute, for sure. But having met our new bosses today, it looks like it will be an interesting trip as we learn the “HP Way.” This may turn out to be the company that I stick with. Only time will tell.
For those of you who are keeping score at home, this is my 6th time being acquired in less than 10 years. I might as well have titled this post “HP Puts Itself On the Auction Block.” They are a mortal lock to be bought by someone else now that I work for them. Let’s review my email addresses. None of these are corporate name changes; they are all acquisitions or job changes: @planetall.com, @amazon.com, @abuzz.com, @nytimes.com, @eroom.com, @documentum.com, @emc.com, @imlogic.com, @symantec.com, @tabblo.com, and now, @hp.com.
As Kent Brockman might say: “I for one welcome our new corporate overlords.”
I’ve been a bit light on the posting lately. The town budget cycle keeps me busy with a few meetings every week, plus work of course. Last week was particularly busy in all respects. At least I remembered to take pictures. Here’s your chance to catch up: two tabblos and a post on the Tabblo corporate blog.
John and Carey got to Denver on Wednesday morning. They had an empty both, a black rug, and a few large boxes waiting for them.
Just before I went to bed last night, I got a call. Sarah was having contractions, could I come spend the night with Max?
The good news is that he pretty much slept through the night.
Just as Max woke up, Dan (Max’s dad) called. Max has a baby brother, Theodore Bridges Sheldon! At 4lbs 15oz, Theo and mom are doing OK. I told Max, and he seemed pretty cool about it. Perhaps even “indifferent.”
… See more with Max
A story about how a few flakes of snow late on Tuesday ended up with my car in the street on Friday.
Story 1: Tabblo got mentions in USA Today and the Boston Globe in the same week. (Niiiiiice!)
Story 2: A few days ago a friend of mine sent links to a few funny images in an instant message. I smiled at them, didn’t think anything of it. Then I saw a link in a blog. Then I saw a link in another blog. And the links are all pointing to Indexed.
The analysis: With (I assume) zero dollars spent, she’s gotten Indexed on my browser three times in a week. Tabblo gets two print links, and I assure you that our PR agency isn’t free, not to mention the development cost of the website. (Of course the audience of our press hits were bigger, but don’t distract me with facts. I’m on a roll.)
It’s amazing and inspiring and frustrating at the same time. I’m continually doing what every Web 2.0 startup employee does, thinking about new ways to get my website noticed. And this blog pops up and just keeps popping up, all over. What is she doing right? What can I learn from her? What can I do to make her website spread like mine?
We made a neat new release today at Tabblo. You remember that we launched our book product a couple weeks ago. Now, you can make your book public and have it viewed on line!
For instance, all of you Lambda Phi’s out there wondering what to get your big brother for Christmas. . . . Why not get them a 4×4″ book in celebration of Decade 3? I already did the work for you, and it’s only $9.95! Click the tabblo to get a preview of the book.
Today is your last day to buy the big books (8 by 9.5″). But, you can buy the 4×4″ into next week. If you want to know what the actual physical product looks like, one of our customers took pictures and wrote a review.
Thirty Years of Lambda Phi … See my book
Last week Tabblo launched a new product: books. We have 4×4″ books and 8×9.5″ books. The smaller ones are a linen cover, a nifty, small form factor. The bigger ones have your photos as the binding and cover.
What happened in your friends and family last year? Travel? Wedding? New baby? Sports team? Anniversary? Did you take photos of anything? Wouldn’t those photos make a great book?
