something new

This is the sixth time I’m starting this post because I’m not sure exactly how to begin. But I’m not starting it a seventh time, so here it is: I am leaving Swivel.  My last day is Friday, 9/26/08.

Why? The time is ripe for me to dive head-first into cultivating a handful of my own ideas. I’d love to help Swivel usher in the imminent era of data awareness, but there simply aren’t enough hours in the day to do both. In addition to my own projects, I will also have the pleasure of helping a number of other young companies sprout their own wings — more on this later.

What about Swivel? Swivel is entering a very exciting time. The team’s commitment to focus, execution, and innovation are second to none. The world continues to struggle when it comes to the ever-growing importance of data. Swivel is well poised to fill the gap by enabling access to data and fostering greater engagement with data. Let’s be clear: this isn’t videos of funny cats. This is much, much bigger.

The Swivel team has been my family for the past two years, so departing is very difficult.  I look forward to continue serving Swivel in any way that I can do so.

Fun bits about my time at Swivel:

• I have a funny name.  Funny names beget nicknames.  Here they are, in order of appearance: 1-huned-% (thanks Seema), hoonie (thanks Sara), garam masala (thanks Richard), hunumbra (thanks Nazanin). I love them all.
• There are a handful of videos of me being retarded.  Here’s one.
• Visnu and I have had a lot of weird, varied conversation.  For example: Star Trek, In-n-Out Burger, and uptime.