OK, so maybe change isn't so good! Readers here may recall that I recently moved to Sarasota to work with Hal Helms and my Flash guru buddy Mike Britton at a startup company. I moved down a few weeks ago, and working with Hal and Mike has been great. Building some good, large object models, starting work with Flex and ActionScript, and getting along great. The work was interesting and the team meshed perfectly.

Unfortunately, on Monday the owner of the company "changed his mind" and pulled the plug on the whole thing. 30 people laid off just like that. He essentailly gave up after just three weeks because he apparantly thought that three weeks is plenty of time to generate a huge response to his company. Three weeks! It's just absurd.

On one level it's not that big of a deal, I know I'll find another job. But it's hard not to be somewhat angry that this guy basically gambled with 30 people's lives on having an unrealistic response to his business in less than a month. Note to self: whenever you hear someone flaunt their "integrity" and the desire to build something "world-class", run away as fast as you can. ;-)

Hal, Mike and I may throw together a podcast to talk about what went wrong and lessons learned, kind of a post-mortem.

Anyway, this does give me plenty of time to play with Flex 2, Model-Glue:Unity, and AJAX. And if anyone has the need for some senior-level development and architecture work in the Raleigh area, or via remote development, please shoot me an email at brian428 at gmail dot com. Thanks!

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  • # Posted By Sami Hoda | 7/12/06 3:41 PM

    I wouldn't necessary run away from "integrity" and "world-class", but look closely at the business model. Developer forget to ask about that and do their homework (pull background checks on the company!)

    At eCivis, we're proud that we've grown on our revenues, and have a healthy outlook for the future. I pounded them with questions when I joined, and they came back with great answers.

    So now, at eCivis we're building a world-class SaaS app in ColdFusion with great integrity. :P

  • # Posted By diamondtearz | 7/12/06 4:04 PM

    I'm sorry to hear about what happened to you guys. I had a very similar experience with a company that had me move to an inconvenient part of town and was trying to get me to uproot my family and some of my other developer friends to come join the team and gamble our lives in Atlanta only to shut the whole project down with 2 weeks notice. I was so resentful and still haven't let go but was relieved to finally end all of the unrealistic crap that was all dreams and a moron's business model. I learned a lot about startups and what not to do in a business from that experience.

  • # Posted By Brian | 7/12/06 4:05 PM

    I hear ya Sami, I was venting more than I was literally condemning laudable goals like integrity and world-class. I did do a lot of homework on this company, but being a start-up it is not possible to do a "background check". Everything that was presented sounded valid and they seemed to have good faith. They had spent a lot of money setting it up, and they had hired a number of excellent people in all areas of the business. The owner was a successful person already and was known as a man of integrity.

    In other words, I don't believe it would have been possible, other than disbelieving everything that was said, that this was a possible outcome. I could see it folding in a year, or even six months, but three weeks? That's not enough time judge things. That's barely enough time for your site to be indexed by the search engines. We're all wondering if something else happened that we don't know about.

    Like I said, I'm not really upset just because I was convinced to move down and then promptly laid off. I'll get another job, and hopefully it will be even more interesting. I guess I just don't like being lied to, hence my tongue in cheek rant about running away from people using "world-class" to describe their goal.

  • # Posted By Brian | 7/12/06 4:08 PM

    To diamondtearz, I agree that I definitely consider this a learning experience.

  • # Posted By Sean Corfield | 7/12/06 4:44 PM

    Wow! Sorry to hear that Brian. I'm sure y'all will do OK jobwise but it's a hell of an upset after relocating like that. I hope you guys do make a podcast about this - I think it would be very valuable for a lot of developers to see inside a business failure like this.

  • # Posted By Dave Carabetta | 7/12/06 9:16 PM

    I know this is more of a "Hal" question, but is this the same project that forced Hal to skip CFUNITED this year? Sorry to hear about all this (yeah, I know, not very consoling.) If you only lived in New York City, we have an opening for a senior CF guy. Unfortunately, telecommuting isn't an option. Best of luck getting things sorted out. I agree with Sean that a podcast would be a great learning experience for a lot of us.

  • # Posted By Hal Helms | 7/12/06 9:24 PM

    Yes, Dave. This was the project that caused me to skip CFUnited. Jeff and I just did a podcast on the experience. It should be up at helmsandpeters.com on Sunday night. I think there are some really important lessons to be learned.

    BTW, if anyone DOES have any need for a senior developer, I can unreservedly recommend Brian. He's an incredibly bright guy, a very quick study, and a complete joy to work with. The same is true for Mike in the user interaction area.

  • # Posted By Sean Corfield | 7/12/06 9:34 PM

    Looking forward to the podcast (as always!).

    If only you guys lived in the Bay Area here in California (although I think I'm finally going to fill my current open headcount!).

  • # Posted By Al Everett | 7/12/06 9:42 PM

    His initials weren't GL by any chance, were they?

  • # Posted By Mike Britton | 7/12/06 10:08 PM

    No, his initials are TS.

    I was also a victim of this complete business debacle, and look forward to a time when we can look back on it and laugh. The experience is by no means unique to me, but it's the first time I've been laid off and I had a perfect record! hehe

    I look forward to your new podcast, Hal. I'm sure it'll put things into perspective.

  • # Posted By Dave Carabetta | 7/12/06 11:36 PM

    Ah, that's a shame Hal. Your presence was certainly missed at the conference, and not just at the Simon Beatdown, I mean Frameworks Debate. ;) Looking forward to the podcast.

  • # Posted By Critter | 7/13/06 5:52 AM

    Are you planning on returning to the Triangle.. or are you making a go of it down there?

  • # Posted By Brian | 7/13/06 8:09 AM

    Hey Crit, I'm not sure yet. I have a few options here in the Tampa and Sarasota area, but still have the house up in Raleigh, and the better half is still up there as well. Basically the options are wide open.

  • # Posted By Beth | 7/13/06 12:54 PM

    Brian, Sorry to hear the news. To give up after 3 weeks sounds like the owner didn't have a clue.

    I second Hal's comment and highly recommend Brian to any employer.

    Did you notice that they still have their website up? my.com - http://my.com/images/mycom-team.jpg

  • # Posted By Brian | 7/13/06 2:14 PM

    Thanks Beth! Yes I did know that the site is still up, I believe it is just the formality of having it removed from the servers at the hosting company. It will probably be gone by tomorrow, lost in the Void of Regrettable Websites.

  • # Posted By there but by the grace of ... go I | 7/16/06 11:39 PM

    "No, his initials are TS"

    see this and more with google's cachine (at least for a bit longer)

    see the cached results of
    http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=%22Learn+more+abo...

    but how can you check out a start-up? never take the plunge?

  • # Posted By Ed.T | 7/17/06 8:52 AM

    I am very sorry to hear about this. I can't imagine not being successful with the talent that was apparently there. If there is anything I can do to help please get in touch. This sounds like the perfect opportunity for someone with a valid business plan. Good luck to all finding the next paying gig.

  • # Posted By Alan Frayer | 7/17/06 9:55 AM

    Hey, guys!

    Hal knows me, but the rest of you don't because my.com split their operation between two locations. I was in the tech support end of the hosting side.

    We were blind-sided, perhaps even more than you, because we weren't there to pick up rumors. We were making big plans for "world-class support" and getting told "we might not get this" or "we might not get that." At no point did we think we'd end up with being shown the door, however.

    If you run into any opportunities for us operations-type peoples, keep us in mind!

  • # Posted By Joe | 7/31/06 8:20 PM

    Hi, I am brokering the domain MY.com, and was searching google and found you. Maybe if I find a buyer for it, I can get you a job too? ;)

  • # Posted By Brian Kotek | 8/1/06 12:18 AM

    Just be very careful doing business with this person. As you can assess, his planning and follow-through abilities are sorely lacking.

  • # Posted By Mike Britton | 8/1/06 1:23 AM

    Agreed.

  • # Posted By Joe | 8/2/06 9:11 AM

    thanks for the concern, and unless I know all the details, I don't know what to say, but I am just brokering it now, so I see no reason for this to hurt me... Good luck guys.

    Joe

    Slabaugh.org