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December 31, 2009
bullets: 12/31/09
Just a few quick bullet-pointed updates:
- The fall semester is over! It was among the most valuable and enlightening semesters of my MBA...I wrote a full-fledged business plan, learned how to identify and evaluate new business opportunities, gave numerous short pitches and long presentations, and expanded my network. In the end, I kept the "B" in "B-School" with an A- in Entrepreneurship and a B+ in Starting New Ventures; my GPA remains firmly in the 3.3-3.4 range.
- The last three years have been all about the basics of business--accounting, marketing, economics, organizational behavior--and now it's time to put it into practice as part of the time-honored tradition of being an American small-business owner. I'm in the process of getting my own company off the ground; in a nutshell, we will develop location-aware and augmented-reality applications for mobile devices, focusing on gaming and related marketing and advertising opportunities. By the time I graduate in May, Aberdeen Interactive will be a real company.
- Of course, you need cash flow, so I'm doing consulting work to make ends meet. Right now I've got one main paying client and one client for whom I'm working on an equity basis; more than just trying to make a buck, I'm learning everything I can from each of them. They're both startups in different sectors and different phases of development, and both have a lot to teach.
- Kara is being exceptionally patient with me as I embark on a new career; if she didn't have a great job (and equally great health insurance), this would not be a possibility. It's scary and exciting all at the same time, and while she prefers the more stable career path of working for a paycheck, she's giving me some freedom to try to make a go at my dream of being self-employed. This is an experiment, though...if it doesn't work out, we'll pull the plug and I'll go get a regular job. My internal deadline for bringing home enough bacon to survive is the end of the summer, 2010.
- This is Dot-com 2.0 for me. But while the first dot-com era was me struggling through with no experience and not much direction, this time, I know what I know...and I know what I don't. The successful entrepreneur doesn't have to be smart, but he surrounds himself with smart people. I'm trying a lot harder to do that this time. I'm also realizing, as difficult as it is, that you cannot just go it alone; you need support from those around you to get a business off the ground.
- The holidays were very good and both Kara and I spent quality time with family and friends, and gave and got some great gifts. Given the general economy and my current cash flow situation, we tried to scale back a bit, and I found that I enjoyed Christmas a lot more when I tried to think of more creative gifts without just throwing money at the problem. For my part, I got lots of culinary ingredients, cooking lessons for the two of us at the Boston Center for Adult Education, books, toys and games.
- In strict industry terms, the gaming industry is a tough nut to crack. But if there's one industry I know better than any other, it's gaming...an added bonus is that gaming time can now realistically be considered "research". Right now, I'm playing Torchlight, the Diablo clone from some of the original creators of the series (can it be a clone if it's from the guys who wrote the original?). It's an enjoyable dungeon romp with plenty of unique items to satisfy the power-up packrat in me, and it runs reasonably well on my 4-year-old laptop. I also got the new DS Zelda game for Christmas, and I'm enjoying that as well. It's very similar to Phantom Hourglass with a few new puzzles and items; I really like the train as the primary vehicle for traveling around Hyrule. Not as jaw-droppingly innovative as Hourglass, but still fun.
- Speaking of gaming, Kara will accompany me to the first-ever PAX East this year, where I've promised her we can make fun of the cosplayers together. I'm really excited...I've never been to a gaming expo before, and I'm really really going to try to get the first version of my first iPhone game out there in time for the event, so we can do some marketing while we walk around and talk to people. My first boss, Mark, will also be there with his family, and it'll be great to catch up. It's funny...as interested as I am in games, most of my friends are not. But I'm sure I'll meet some interesting folks there; I'll have plenty of business cards on-hand to pass out.
- Writing-wise, both my submissions were rejected, but I have a good idea on how to retool one of the stories to make it more plausible. The feedback was that it was funny, at least, so that's good. As far as the blog goes, I think I'm moving in a slightly different direction--again. The articles I've been writing were genericized to the point where you couldn't tell who the audience was that I was writing for. I'm done with that: I know who reads this blog. So I'll be writing articles and stories just the same, but it's coming from me, Mark Dalius, to you. I definitely plan to go back to writing about what's going on in life as well--no articles about what I had for lunch, though.
That's all for now. As I recall, my resolution for 2009 was to keep on doing more or less what I was doing, and I think I stayed true to that goal, at least for the first three-quarters of the year. 2010 is going to be about new horizons and new opportunities, about working both hard and smart towards careful strategic goals, and to bringing new innovations to market. If '09 was about being on cruise control down the straightaway, '10 is about getting into the curves and standing on the accelerator.
So hang on for the ride!
Happy New Year!
Posted by Mark at December 31, 2009 01:49 PM
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