Start-up reality

/ Robert Pease / Leave a comment

One of the realities of starting a company is that sometimes it just doesn’t work out and you shut down.  Check out Andy Sack’s series of posts on shutting down Seattle-company Judy’s Book after several years and over $10MM in venture capital.  Going through a wind down (as I have) is a humbling experience because the wind just leaves the sails and you are dead in the water.  People move on and you lament what could have been.

Andy has some great posts on both his feelings going through the process as well as a real-time postmortem on lessons learned.  Andy is great guy, successful entrepreneur, and ring leader of the Seattle Open Coffee Club (which I have yet to return to) where I met him briefly.  Thanks for sharing Andy.

Thoughts on the Symantec acquisition of Vontu

/ Robert Pease / Leave a comment

I’m a bit late to the party on something very few could say they are surprised about.  Congrats to the Vontu team (and Benchmark Capital) on the $350MM acquisition by Symantec.  With revenues generously estimated at $30MM that’s a nice 10x+ multiple. Funny thing is that Gartner estimated the DLP (Data Loss Prevention) market to be pretty small (around $170MM in 2007, I believe).  Hope it works out for the Symantec folks who have their work cut out for them after a downgrade and questions regarding overpaying for Vontu. As for the other players out there, definitely a continuing sign of consolidation although one must wonder where Orchestria’s proclamation of "next generation" DLP factored into their partner Symantec’s decision process.  Hopefully Rich will chime in on that.  Also, interestingly, while I was at MessageGate we were called upon to handle the workflow around an email once the Vontu system detected it on more than one occasion.  Hope that was on the due dili check list…

Updated:  Thoughts on the DLP market and M&A from Rich Mogull.  Thanks Rich.

Think twice before you forward that internal memo

/ Robert Pease / Leave a comment

Stuff like this never ceases to amaze me.  This story is about some rather unsettling accusations against Bear Stearns CEO Jimmy Cayne and what happened when a few ill fated employees decided to share his internal email response with the outside world.  Although down over 5% today, I remain long (gulp) Bear because I think they got their dirty laundry out first (unlike Citi and Merrill).  Should Cayne go the way of Prince and O’Neal?  Dunno, but this swift action is an example of the tight controls I believe Bear has in place.  Time will tell…

Every once in a while they get something right

/ Robert Pease / Leave a comment

Congratulations to Brian Lamb and his award of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.  No doubt that CSPAN is an acquired taste…and one that I have.  I had the opportunity to see Brian speak at the University of Virginia’s festival of the book in 1997.

Mr. Lamb is on my list of people to spend some time with…and I thank him for what he has been able to build among the noise and chaos of cable television.

A great weekend

/ Robert Pease / 1 Comment

Univofgeorgialogo

We traveled to St. Simons Island, GA last week to spend a few days with my parents and participate in the annual Georgia/Florida game.  I say participate as we don’t actually go to the game in Jacksonville rather tailgate with the mass of UGA fans that descend on this small coastal town every year for the event. 

Thankfully, Georgia actually won this year (sorry Gary) and we can continue to call this a rivalry after winning only three previous times in the past 15 years (dating back to my time as an undergrad).  Lots of great time with my parents and seafood at local places like the Crab Trap.

This is nothing that hasn’t happend before

/ Robert Pease / Leave a comment

I was having a discussion with my Dad about work and work challenges recently and he used this phrase as a way to  extract emotion out of the latest fire or emergency.  He spent many years turning things around and squeezing profits out of places few thought possible.   Combined with this is to take any problem and "break it down to dollars" or something to that effect.  Again, remove the emotion and approach the problem pragmatically.  Great advice.

Looking for product marketing talent

/ Robert Pease / Leave a comment

I am looking to expand my team a bit at Hubspan and am looking for great product marketing folks.  Ideally, you would have a background in enterprise software, collaboration, supply/demand chains, and/or B2B.  Position is located in Seattle and offers the opportunity to join a rapidly growing early-stage company.  If you are interested or know someone who might be, send a resume to robertcpease at gmail dot com.

College football Seattle-style

/ Robert Pease / Leave a comment

Marel and I had the opportunity to attend the Washington/Oregon football game this past Saturday.  Going to see the Huskies play at home was something that had been on our list of things to do while living in Seattle and, thanks to our friend Steve, we were able to experience it. 

A few of observations:
1.  This rivalry is pretty intense comparing to ones I know well from the SEC like Georgia/Florida or Tennessee/Alabama – great passion among the fans on both sides.
2.  Tailgating is pretty serious although the tent shelters are to keep the rain off, not the sun.  I saw a few grilling set-ups that were pretty impressive.
3.  You can get hot chocolate (whip cream optional) from the guys walking the stands vs. Coca-Cola.  This is indicative of the goal of staying warm.
4.  They serve Ivar’s clam chowder at the concession stand.  More for staying warm.
5.  The stadium is old school – bleachers in the end zone, running track around the field, and no concentration of big dollar skyboxes.  Classic college football.

All in all, a great experience although the Huskies lost.  Give Willingham a few more years and UW will be a contender.

Dsc04270

The joy of flying

/ Robert Pease / Leave a comment

No, this is not another post by someone ranting about a miserable travel experience with a major airline (although I have no shortage of those).  This is about a trip I took last week to Irvine, CA and having two first time flyers sitting in front of me – a boy and a girl that I would guess were somewhere between 4 and 6.

If you fly a great deal, you begin to take for granted many of the things this pair was pointing out.  Namely, how much you could see, how neat it was to be flying in the clouds, and as one pointed out, they were "higher than grandad’s house."

The airlines don’t make it easy to enjoy flying these days and sharing the joy of this pair made the whole experience so much better.

White caps on the way home

/ Robert Pease / Leave a comment

A bit of a "wind storm" tonight made for white caps and waves blowing over the 520 bridge today on my way home from downtown.  These don’t get as much lip service as the rain out here, but apparently they are another fixture of this place.  This was not as bad as last year when the power was out for days on end and we had 90 mph gusts – although my friend Rob may dispute that as he was landing at Seatac tonight.  Looks like it has passed at this point.