Life Updates, Uncategorized 4 comments on I’m leaving TokBox

I’m leaving TokBox

Friday will be my last day at TokBox.

It ends an eight year journey through multiple products, lots of different target audiences, four CEOs, and three different careers.

I asked Scott if I could say a few words at my last team meeting. I didn’t make it to the first word without starting to cry.

Across the tables in front of me were the SF TokBox team of today. And in between them were the faces of those who had come before. Moments replayed of team meetings past. Decisions second guessed. Triumphs celebrated. And of course tears. Lots of tears. Mostly my own.

It’s amazing what 8 years of memories looks like as it passes you by in a single moment.

I met the love of my life at TokBox. I can remember the first time she laughed. The whole office stopped to see who that was in the glass meeting room. I thought she was crazy. She thought I was too young.

I lived my wildest dreams at TokBox. A Turkish hick from North Carolina who makes it in big, bad Silicon Valley. An entrepreneur who convinces much smarter people to follow in his footsteps. A team lead who builds great products and people.

And oh the people.

Some amazing people were part of my TokBox journey. The ones who made me laugh. The ones who made me cry. The Chairman. My original BD partner. The gamer turned evangelist. The partner in crime with whom I grew up. The Dutchman with his orange hair. The kid from South Carolina with a huge heart. The CTO on top of his mountain. The office manager turned company leader. VPs past. And VPs of the future.

I wanted to say a few words to thank the people who had been so instrumental in making me a success while I was at TokBox.

There were hugs and tears and laughs. I finally squeaked it all out.  The appreciation was unexpected, warm, and overwhelming. And the goodbye tour was officially on.

Friday is my last day at TokBox. Words I never imagined would come from me.

just thinking out loud, Uncategorized 1 comment on When you’re young, you start revolutions

When you’re young, you start revolutions

You’re probably familiar with the kid who sits in class and makes comments like, “Java isn’t a real programming language, you can’t overload operators.”
Well that isn’t me.

You’re probably also familiar with the kid who answers all of the easy questions to make it look like they really know what they’re talking about, and then needs to sit in the TAs office to finish up simple programming assignments.
That’s not me either.

I’m the guy who finishes the mundane stuff early on so that I have more time to fiddle with my own projects. I have 3 or 4 start up ideas drawn on paper, and I’ve actually started building some of them, but what I’ve discovered is there’s really something lacking if you don’t have a group of like-minded individuals to share ideas and to tell you that something you’re doing is stupid or awesome equally. I think I’m searching for an environment like the one that you have created because I’m ready to figure out how to revolutionize an industry or an idea. I realize it’s just not something that you can do alone. I’m motivated by the reality that success isn’t random, and that it’s a combination of good people with good ideas. And I think my see it all, touch it all attitude makes me an asset to a small group who needs someone to do it all in the process of starting a revolution.

Becoming a PM, Uncategorized 0 comments on I build rocket ships

I build rocket ships

I’ve decided to refresh how people see me across various networks. One of those is LinkedIn where my summary is the one I wrote as a college student… which is now almost 10 years old. Here’s a cross-posting of the new, updated summary. I’ll post the old one tomorrow for posterity sake.

I build rocket ships. Let me tell you how:

It’s deliberate work.
Which demands attention to detail.
And it can’t be done alone.

But it’s not enough to just build rocket ships…

So I captain rocket ships. Let me tell you how:

I inspire a crew.
We point to an uncharted piece of space.
And we shoot for the stars.

But success does not come just because you’re brave enough to fly.

So I fill in my journal with adventures that show me the way. Let me tell you how:

As we explore new questions, and find uncertain answers.
My crew and I improve our rocket ship in real-time.
And invite many new characters along the way to join us on our journey.

Success is a difficult finish line to find. It means many things to many people.

So I speak many languages. Let me tell you which ones:

I speak the language of the crew who follow me – to listen, to direct, to inspire
I speak the language of the aliens we meet – to empathize, to relieve, to delight
I speak the language of the ones waiting at home – to validate, to capture, to defend

I build rocket ships. Then, with my crew, we take those rocket ships to unexplored heights. We bring value to those who believed in us, and delight to those who we meet on our journey. The rocket ship we bring back looks very little like the one we started with. It’s faster. It works better. We’re faster. We work smarter. And with those lessons learned, I build another rocket ship.

Becoming a PM, Entrepreneurism, Uncategorized 5 comments on Moving faster than the documentation

Moving faster than the documentation

I’ve decided to hop back into the game, and build a new app. I’m not announcing what it is yet because it’s no where near ready, but I really like the idea.

I’ve also decided to be really trendy, and use the latest in software development tools. This kills many birds with one stone:

  1. Challenge myself to learn a new programming paradigm as recommended by my favorite programming book
  2. Keep up to date with some of the newest, coolest toys on the block
  3. Connect more personally with the customers of the products we build at TokBox to better understand their needs in modern JS development

And I have to say that while I know we have a long way to catch up as far as TokBox technical content goes, we’re miles ahead of the current state of the coolest toys on the block in JS world.

In full disclosure, I’ve only tried the React.js stack, and not the Angular stack. I’ve also avoided Backbone, underscore, and many others. And so this may not be true in other places.

But I’m fascinated at how far ahead of the documentation and developer experience Facebook has moved on these projects. Tutorials written six months ago are grossly out of date with the latest code bases. GitHub issues that look like the problem I’m having have actually nothing to do with what’s in front of me.

I jumped into this world because I saw that the folks at Automattic had done so for Calypso. I figured I’d follow their lead. But I’m getting swamped.

What’s the killer resource folks are using? What’s the bare minimum project that I should be starting from? What’s the Slack channel I should subscribe to to learn bottoms up?

Any and all help is greatly appreciated.

Fatherhood, Uncategorized 7 comments on What are your singing in the car songs?

What are your singing in the car songs?

In high school, my buddies and I (well really just Nora, Shelby, Maria, Gottshall, & Ashley) would obnoxiously sing in the car, no matter the song, windows down, and as loud as we could. And in the vein of being a good father, I’m trying to pass these values – never be embarrassed in public to sing and dance, never be embarrassed to not the know the words to a song, make sure you laugh at yourself as much as possible – onto the kids. So far, the two big ones have their favorites, but I’m trying to expand their repertoire.

Luka’s favorite is – Uptown Funk (Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars)

Amelia’s favorite is – All I want for Christmas is You (Mariah Carey)

And I added these two the list, but they’re not picking up just yet…

Walking in Memphis (Marc Cohn)

The Shoop Shoop Song (Cher)

What’s your sing out loud in the car song?

Life Updates, Uncategorized 0 comments on I played hard for the money…

I played hard for the money…

I haven’t written up my CES report yet, but I did want to report that I left Vegas slightly ahead (don’t worry IRS. I’ll lose it at the ponies this year with Luka)

I was down my budget – $20. And I was all in on one last bet. Many a time, it comes out in the house’s favor, and I’m done. But that was not to be that night. 

The fellow hit his point. Went on to hit 3 more points and a ton of numbers in between. He was setting the dice on sixes on top, and so I played the 11 quite a bit. I hit it about 2/3 of the time which really helped explode my bank roll. 

He got me back to halfway. Next guy did nothing. Next one was good for 3 points. One of them was a 10 which helped huge on the odds when he hit it. 

Next two were useless. Then it was my turn. 

I had a great roll. I hit 4 points. A ton of numbers in between, and then seven’ed out. 

And at the the end I was back to being ahead. So I picked up, and went home. 

It was a ton of fun, and it’s why I love craps so much. 

But when that last all-in bet goes the other way…

Life Updates, Uncategorized 0 comments on Viva Las Vegas 

Viva Las Vegas 

 It’s one of my favorite weekends of the year… CES in Las Vegas!

Since… 2003 or 2004… Or maybe earlier… We’ve come yearly. It’s a boys only weekend, and the days of Luka and Theo coming are fast approaching. My only hope is that we get all three generations here together. 

It’s my dad, Aydin, and I. The three amigos. One night is a steak dinner. The next is a show. It’s been an awesome way to say connected even though we’re thousands of miles apart. 

The big items this year seem to be health, cars, drones, and virtual reality. 

I’ll let you know tomorrow how many thousands of steps we take walking around, and what all the cool gadgets were. 

Oh, and how much money I win at the Craps table 🙂

New Year Resolutions, Uncategorized 0 comments on Final weigh-in

Final weigh-in

2015 final weight chart
2015 final weight chart

Today I did my final weigh-in for a weight loss contest I started with Praveen last year. I lost. But here are the highlights and lowlights:

  • I had a great first 90 days. I was exercising 5 days a week for 30 – 45 minutes. It was a combination of strength and cardio. I loved it.
  • Then I got sick for a week, and I massively fell off of that bandwagon. I’ve not been able to get back on, and hopefully the 30 minutes of activity goal for this year will help (so far, it hasn’t)
  • Ramadan really got me this year. I lost a ton of weight, and then piled it back on.
  • Traveling got me a bit too
  • In September, I got a real downer bit of news at work, and that just sent me for a spin. I didn’t really recover from the emotional rollercoaster and stress that caused.
  • I can’t do weight loss by just dieting. I have to have an element of exercise. Even the lowest impact thing (such as Yoga or walking to the grocery store) helps a ton. There just has to be something.

What I’d say if I were to do it again is to not do a contest against someone who can radically change their life pattern in ways you can’t. Praveen killed it in Berlin, and then in Machu Pichu where he had two massive step functions down in weight loss.

The other thing I’d say, even though I didn’t see it for long, is that when I’m below 185 lbs I have way more body confidence than when I’m above 185 lbs. So, having peaked at 199 lbs in 2015, and been as low as 183 lbs at one point I think I can realistically say this year that I’m starting at 188.5 lbs, and that I’ll end the year at 175 lbs.

Here goes nothing 🙂

just thinking out loud, Uncategorized 3 comments on Can a year be 367 days?

Can a year be 367 days?

When I was 16 years old, I went to the DMV to get my license. I had received my permit on November 21, 1999 (one day after my birthday). The law said you had to wait 1 year. 2000 was a leap year, and so I went down to the DMV, and argued with the guy behind the counter that 365 days after November 21, 1999 was in fact November 20, 2000, and that he needed to let me take my driving test that day. His argument was that the computer system wouldn’t let him do that, and so the machines won that day. Damn the machines…

I haven’t really thought about that for years now. Other dumb decisions loom larger (crashing the car 1 month later; not focusing on soccer or school, but focusing too much on girls; etc.)

But on the flight back home Saturday, the family and I took off on January 2, 2016 at 9pm, and landed on January 2, 2016 at 11am. We then proceeded to relive January 2, 2016 for a second time – having another day’s worth of meals; naps; and the rest – before finally seeing January 3, 2016 (and we only saw that 1 time). On the way to Fiji, we never saw December 23. Well, technically we slept through it for a few hours.

So from that point of view, my 2015 was 364 1/3 days. And my 2016 will be 367 days.

Where does all of that time come from & go?

I haven’t been able to figure it out, but if I do, then I’ll definitely let you know 🙂