I just realized I hadn’t updated my blog since June  I’ve been too busy posting my updates on Facebook :)I have a couple of projects releasing this month, so stay tuned and I’ll let you know all about em, and hopefully some technical details on how they were made.

Alright alright!  Enough already!  I am full up with a roster of great clients that I’m doing great work for.  Thank you all to my friends for helping me network some great new clients.

First up on the list is my girlfriend’s website which I just did which you can find at http://www.fairmontolympicweddings.com/.  She did a lot of the work, but my role was overall project manager with a team of designers and internal Fairmont Hotel resources to get the job done.  The website is high profile and already is generating more consulting business for me.

Second up, I am helping out some old friends build what I consider to be a very valuable service that is launching July 15th.  I can’t wait to show you!  It will be impressive to say the least, and is nearly done.

Third, I am helping Rob over at EliteRenting.com and Ubadoo.com, which is building out their architecture on EC2 and using RightScale.  I am now a huge fan of the “RightScale Way”.  Great service, if expensive, but I have nothing but good things to say about them (and Rob as well!)

Lastly, I am working on a top secret project I hope to have done in the next four weeks.  Stay tuned

Well, my last contract just finished up, and quite successfully I might add!  I am looking for work right now, so if you know anyone that is looking for a Senior Development Engineer / Architect specializing in LAMP goodness, write andrew@andrewedmond.com!

Now… off to enjoy the weekend

Word has gotten to me today through many blogs that GridNetworks is being acquired, or merged with another company.

I don’t know any more than any outsider knows.  I’ve spoken with several of the early investors in Grid today, and they are in the dark as well.  Just to clarify I’ve kept my mouth shut about any rumors I’ve heard and WAS NOT the source of the leak to the press about this.  In fact, it is entirely possible this is ALL rumor, I really do not know what is going on.

I’m still a common and preferred shareholder, so I suppose I will find out the terms of the rumored deal after the board approves of the acquisition.  Of course, that will be confidential so don’t come asking me, because I won’t tell you.  Anything you’ll learn about this will come through official channels, not through me.

A lot of people have asked me today why I left the company in December of 2007, which was just a couple months post-venture funding.  I knew one day I’d tell the story, and have kept closed lips until now.  This is ALL I will say on the subject, and after this post is written, I won’t speak about it in public again.

First off, let me correct some myths:

SOUR GRAPES:

In fact, I don’t have any sour grapes over GridNetworks, nor towards Jeff Payne or Tony Naughtin.  Several of my friends still work there, and I keep in contact with them as well as others that also chose to leave the company.  Listen, it’s in my best interest that Grid does well, because I’m a shareholder.  It’s true that Jeff Payne and I did have very large disagreements about the direction of the company, but Jeff is one of the hardest working guys I know, and has stewarded Grid for a long time.  If there is one thing I can say about Jeff is that he is tenacious, intelligent, and very smart.  However, some our professional disagreements eventually did turn personal.  Being in a startup is a pressure cooker, and it does sadden me that Jeff and I probably never will have a personal relationship again.  But I choose to take the high road and move onto the future, rather than dwelling on the past.  Jeff also has chosen to take the high road and has been working hard at besting all of Grid’s opportunities, of which there are many. Today is the most I’m going to ruminate on the past because I’ve gotten so many emails and phone calls, and leave it at that.

FOUNDER:

Gregg Garrett, Andrew Edmond, and Steven Ohmert founded Scream Networks in January of 2005.  We were looking for a high caliber CEO, and Jeff lived on Vashon where Steve and I lived and we showed him the product prototype in April of 2005.  Jeff was just the type of guy we were looking for.  Well regarded, established, could help fund the company, and had a history in this space from Real Networks, which is where I met Jeff when I was 24.  Jeff helped fund Scream with me, and when it came time to bring him on as CEO, he insisted we create a new company (in Delaware, Scream was incorporated in Washington State) with his attorney, we did a transfer of assets and liabilities, and Garrett left the company to pursue other interests.  We renamed the company to GridNetworks.  About that time I signed a NDA with Grid and really can’t say much about the operation of Grid past that date.

WHY I LEFT:

I worked on Scream for approximately 10 months before Grid was actually incorporated (in August of 2005), without pay.  I continued to work for Grid without pay for another 8 months, and my days were 10-14 hours long, and I had a young son at the time (under a year old).  I considered Scream/Grid an excellent opportunity and was very proud of the technology that Steve and I built.  We did hire people at the time, and Jeff did fund the lion share of Scream/Grid past the summer of 2005 along with many smaller angel investors (I already was in the six figures of personal investment).  Like I said, I can’t say anything about the company’s inter-workings past it’s incorporation, other than to say we did raise 9.5M which closed in October of 2007.  The firms investing were Panorama, Cisco, and Comcast, which is all public knowledge.  This is roughly about the time Tony Naughtin came in as CEO and Jeff stepped down to a CTO role.  By that time, personally, I felt I had given Grid everything I had to give.  I’m an innovator, hard working, creative founder type, and it seemed the company was well on it’s way to success.  My role there would not have been interesting to me, so I left.

The long hours had begun to take it’s toll on my family life, and I promised my girlfriend to take her on a road trip for a year, and that’s what we did.  I bought a 38″ Fifth Wheel and a 2008 Chevy 2500 HD and we spent almost 10 months on the road seeing the states.  It was a great relief, and though I was now a Grid outsider, I wished them all well, and stayed in touch with many of the employees.  It did bother me to hear that Jeff never mentioned me as the founder, and that he claimed that he was the founder, and that the technology was his idea, but in my mind if that’s what Jeff needed, I didn’t care to dispute it.

WHAT I THINK NOW:

I don’t know what to think of the news that came out today.  I certainly had heard rumors, but like I said I’m in the dark as much (probably more) than anyone else.  I think Grid’s technology is fantastic (I built a lot of it!) and if there is anything I’m sad about it’s that some relationships got heated in the pressure of a startup and that some of them are broken past the point of recovery.  I can’t take full blame for that, but I will definitely take my share.  Anybody that’s been in a startup, knows that the interpersonal pressures - especially as a founder - can be very tough.

WHAT I’VE BEEN UP TO:

I’ve been consulting here and there after we got back from the road trip - I just did a large contract with Wizards of the Coast - and have been consulting on a lot of scale / infrastructure jobs for other well known companies.  In addition, I’ve been bootstrapping a new company/product in the mobile space, and am again working long hours to get the project completed on top of my consulting work.

LESSONS LEARNED:

I learned a lot at Grid.  Every experience helps shape us - the bad and the good - and the result is that the overall experience was great.  Are there things I wish I could have changed about my time at Grid?  Absolutely.  Are there regrets I have?  Not at all.  I did the best I could, learned a lot, and met a lot of fantastic people that I hope to be lifelong friends with.

THE FUTURE:

This is the last I will say of Grid for a long, long time, if ever.  Anybody that approaches me, as many people have today, will be directed to this post, and it should answer most of the questions I have received, or will receive about Grid.

What I’m working on now is a new mobile gaming platform along with finishing up some long term consulting contracts.  More news on this as I can share it!

Andrew

I get asked a question quite frequently.  From friends, colleagues, family… What is your next startup, Andrew?

I’ve been a serial entrepreneur for the past 14 years, with five solid companies under my belt.  My first was stellarly successful.  A few in between have been moderate hits.  A couple never made it to market.  In that time I’ve learned a lot of lessons of what makes a successful startup, and what it will take me to get involved in a startup again.

Here is my list of lessons that I plan to apply to whatever startup I get involved in again:

• Founder level is a must:  I’ve gotten involved in startups post angel funding, and it’s not quite for me.  One of the major reasons is that the type of vision that I have for a company tends to be bigger than I actually have the authority to apply if I’m not at the founder level.  The other reason is I’m *good* at being a founder level employee.
• High profit, high volume, low competition, low investment is a must:  These criteria will meet all future startups I get involved in.  Small projects aren’t for me.  Low profit or high speculation startups aren’t for me.  Low volume startups aren’t for me.  The next startup I get involved in will address a BIG market needs, with little current competition, and have a profitable business model from the get go.  Otherwise I’ll pass on the idea and keep looking.
• Clear exit strategy: the startup should have a clear exit strategy, preferably, making a lot of money through a proven business model and selling to a larger company looking to get ahead in a certain market.
• Carefully choose partners:  I’ve had great luck with partners, and poor luck with partners.  The trick I think really is to imagine yourself with whatever partners you choose and imagine the worse case scenarios that you might go through and see if you guys have the chemistry to survive through the hard times together.  And then on the flip side, think about the best case scenarios and imagine how well you would handle success together.
• Have the time: I spent a couple startups trying to be both a good partner to my girlfriend, a great dad, and keeping a good social life in place.  You have to look at a startup as something that will take 110% of your time for a short period of time if it’s going to be successful.  This next time I will have only one other priority other than my startup: my son, but everything else will go into the success of the startup.

So what does this mean?  When and what is my next startup?  I don’t know.  All I do know is that all my criteria needs must be met and then I’ll dive in.  And if good projects come along, I’ll pass.  I am going to wait for that something GREAT to come along and I’ll know it when I see it.  And I’ll keep the blog updated in either situation

After a nearly three week trip to the Bay Area, I’m back in Seattle.  I spent my time down there at a wedding for my step-brother, working on-site at TubeMogul, and attending Burning Man for the first time in 7 years.  Of course, after that much travel I picked up a terrible cold, but it seems to be fading and I’m getting back in the swing of things here in Seattle.

Now that I’m back in Seattle, my employeer, TubeMogul, and I have decided to alter our relationship from full time employee to part time consultant.  Long distance relationships can be challenging, and in the end I was looking for something more local so I didn’t have to travel so much, and they were looking for someone in the office everyday, something of course I could not provide.  In the interim I will be helping them through the transition to their new employee that will replace my position, and continuing consulting work with them on an as needed basis.

So, I’m on the hunt for a full time job in Seattle, and it’s going pretty well so far.  I’ve contacted some recruiters and there are plenty of great positions open at some exciting companies in the northwest.  The going forward plan is to meet with a short list of good companies with good positions and find the one that is the best mutual fit.  When I land at my next company, I’ll write up a profile about the company and how I plan to contribute to their success.

What a great post about this company I’m working for, TubeMogul.com.

http://watchmojo.com/web/blog/index.php/2008/06/24/tubemoguls-march-towards-becoming-the-online-video-index/

I’ve been getting requests for more stories from the Flying Crocodile days, and I plan on writing some soon.  I’ve been busy with my new position at TubeMogul, and it’s softball season which I’ve been taking my son to several times a week, plus I have a lot of other projects going on.

I’ll have the next chapter for the FCI story up within the next couple weeks and some more pictures too.

I’ve also been asked to give a gritty detail of my experiences at GridNetworks - but unfortuntely I’m legally bound from talking about my experience at GridNetworks, so at least for another few years, I’ll have to keep my mouth shut.  However, when the time is right I’ll be more than happy to recount my time there, experiences with certain people, and lessons learned.

Peace!

I was looking at companies in the Bay Area recently and approached some recruiters to discuss who was looking for help, and I got referred to a bunch of great companies.  I took interviews at Digg.com, talked to Facebook, sat through grueling day long interviews with stellar teams at Yahoo!, two brand name content delivery networks, too many Facebook Apps companies (there are like 1000 of them, and frankly they all suck) and one small video startup called TubeMogul.

When I started I wasn’t really looking to start full time at a company - was looking for some top shelf clients for my new consulting company - but I ended up getting some offers and they were almost too good to be true.  I had an idea that engineers with experience in scale and PHP were in demand, but I had no idea.  A lot of my punky rebellious nature that was unwelcome in Seattle was embraced in the Bay Area as a personality strength, rather than as a weakness.

I took an interview with TubeMogul because they looked like a very interesting startup, and it was East Bay near some friends of mine.  Instantly I felt a vibe at that company that I just loved.  It was intense.  Ambitious.  Extremely, deeply, competent.  In Seattle I was surrounded by indecision, terrible management, short sighted vision.  The Bay Area was a huge improvement from all the companies, but nothing like I felt at TubeMogul.

So, take a serial entrepreneur like myself, a great product, and an amazingly talented, focused, and skilled team that is both young and also experienced, and I fell in love at first sight.  I took the job, and worked for a couple weeks finishing my remaining assignments for AndrewEdmond.com consulting.  Now I’m on TubeMogul full time.

What is TubeMogul?  Well, pretend you have a video you want to upload to YouTube.  There goes 30 minutes of your life uploading it, tagging it, and then add it to your list of videos to monitor.  Now, lets say you also want to upload it to Revver, Viddler, Veoh, Vimeo, Google Video… you get the idea.  Now what if you have 100 videos to upload?  1000?  This is where TubeMogul comes in, it will take your video, and upload it to 18 major video portals, saving you tons of time.  What is more is they offer transcoding services to make your video look best on EACH of the video sites as possible (each one with different formats, screen sizes, and best incoming video parameters).

Perhaps the most powerful part is the analytics engine so that all your videos can be sliced, diced, and measured from a single dashboard where you can look at the video plays (and lots of other data) from all 18 engines juxtoposed on a single graph (or however you want to configure it).  And it will mail those reports to you when you want.

Fun huh?  What is best is that they’ve been working on this for more than a year, have a lot of success already and I’ve seen their product roadmap and couldn’t be more excited.

Well, it’s my first day at work, and my virtual machines are now installed, and I gotta get to work cracking through this code.

Well, I’ve been consulting on and off since 2002 after I left FCI, depending on the job.  Some jobs I’ve done either have been for friends, family or close associates where they just needed someone who they knew they could rely on to get the job done.

I decided to open AndrewEdmond.com as a full on consulting firm early this year after I left GridNetworks, even though it’s been incorporated and active since 2004.  In the first month of 2008, I had two new clients, and have added two since.  I wanted to have my website up in February, but my clients have been keeping me busy!

We will be adding more items to the website over the next several months, including case studies as our initial projects wrap up.  I am also working on releasing my first open source project, which I’m excited about.  I will post the details here as soon as I get near my first candidate release.

Go check out http://www.andrewedmond.com/, and let me know what you think!