The Start of my Next Decade
Kong. Thud. Drumbeats.
That was the start of the new decade in Japan. The sound of the temple bells being rung 108 times. The sound of fireworks being lit. The sound of taiko drums as new years revelers welcomed in the new year. The next morning we went to the local shrine to pray for good luck as a family.
My Omikuji fortune told me I would have medium luck this year. The advice was to be careful about the vehicles I use in my travels which immediately came true as I took the wrong train to the airport. The fortune also advised me to pay close attention to the small customers of Shine and treat them as I would large clients. And that my hopes and plans would not go as I expected & that I must give significant effort to make my plans become successful.
All in all good advice.
Reflecting back on how I started the last decade is pretty much how I start this decade. Driving out to CES with a coworker to man a small shared booth for my new startup, Shine. Last decade it was for my first startup, TrackR, which stopped operating this last year. A good decade run but fitting that as I start something new, the last venture I started fades away. Back in 2010, I was driving out to CES with my cofounders Christian & Tyler in hopes of proving naysayers wrong that our product was too niche to become a big company.
We had just manufactured our first 500 devices with a lot of hand assembly by us in our garage the night before (I don’t recommend doing this at your hw startup but it did save a ton of cash). We had no idea what we were doing and no clue how to be successful at CES. At that time, CES was not catering to startups like it does today and we teamed up with a YC company, Wakemate, to split a booth. Reflecting back, I think we both hoped the other team knew what they were doing but neither of us did. People would come by our booth wanting to distribute and sell our product & we couldn’t provide them any material or details. Our item tracking device got a small write up in WSJ and we celebrated by buying bottle service at a bar which was fun & a night I still, mostly, remember.
Flash forward to the present, I’m driving out to Vegas today and wondering if I moved forward at all? I am part of a small team working on a product that naysayers think is too niche or has no value. We are in a small shared booth with the Hardware Club. And I still have no idea what I’m doing.
However, I feel different. Instead of feeling unsure and scared as I was a decade ago. I approach my drive through the desert with a feeling of determination, resolve, and calm. Maybe my new years resolution is to just carry that feeling throughout this year.
Welcome 2020.
