Synchronicity — Crazy How Things Align
So it’s been awhile, oops missed that Q2 goal for the post, in a good way. A lot has transpired in a short amount of time so I have been putting this off.
After landing in Bali (March) I dove into building a low code MVP using www.bubble.io for my new start up idea — CODENAME: HIPPO for Hippodamus the OG of planning. Lots of progress in mapping out the complexities of what I wanted to do in a model, and a simple wizard up front to simplify my thinking + add value. BTS — Journey at the same time I was reading this great book / highly recommended:
What a concept — that if you are lucky enough to make it to 80 years old you have about approx. 4000 weeks. There’s a beauty in the finite of it all. My calculator says I am at like 46.3 % — YIKES! I really liked this idea that:
It’s easy to say no to the things you don’t want to do, it’s even harder to learn to say no to the things you want to do. You only have so much time/energy it’s impossible no matter how productive / optimized you are to do it all.
I see it all the time people get FOMO, try to do a million things at once, and at the end never get anything done. Now where the book stood out to me is this story about — synchronicity. That the joys of life / leisure (doing something for the pure sake of doing it / enjoyment without any goal/gain) really are best shared and without it there’s very little motivation.
So story goes in the USSR days the communist had this great ambition to run the factories 24/7. The working population was then divided into three shifts, blue, green, red and an alternating schedule was created. Now given the joys of bureaucracy rules like keeping parents / kids on the same color was suppose to happen but it didn’t, and other complications. Now if all of a sudden you are Green and your best friend is Blue you never get to see them / hangout grab a beer, talk shit, or anything else. Well at that point life = sucked — what’s the point of just working and never spending time — SYNCING — with your family or friends.
Which brings me full circle — for the last 3 years I’ve been living in mini cycles — sabbatical — remote work — sabbatical/startup. Very grateful that during tough times I had a lot of options I created and made the most out of the situation. Did a lot of learning about myself, tried a lot of new things, and met some great people along the way. Yet nearing the last 6 months I’d say I was beginning to feel Out-of-sync. Not having a homebase meant a lot of time and energy always planning the “next” thing, not going deep when you don’t have roots.
So I was in Bali working on Project Hippo with the intention that after I checked off 2 dream trips — Mentewais Surf (I paid a deposit for 2 years ago) — and Vietnam (family background, moto, and tattoo) I would have a MVP (minimal viable product) with some traction to setup the company in NYC. I loved the hustle of the city, the energy, was closer to family (Toronto), and had a very cool crew of people I had met via travels could see building community around. It would be an incredible challenge to get the company funded + visa but not impossible.
Yet things happened…
I was catching up with an old ForgeRock friend (Sutton) sometime in March and just was offering to help them get some systems etc. setup. It’s important to me that you support your friends, and help lift them anyway you can — especially if you have skills to help. Over the course of our catch up (Friday), Sutton then pitches me to join the new start up him and Lasse (one of the original ForgeRock founders) were building in Norway. I am like look I am in Bali…, I am going surfing in Mentewais, touring Vietnam… I won’t be available for another like 2 months at least, you are just a Seed stage.. don’t need me until Series B… blah blah not sure was ready to go back into things..
We are hiring for your role now… and if we hire anyone from Euro it’ll take 2–3 months transition for them to start… so LET’S GO!!
Saturday he talked with Lasse, Monday they sent me an offer. How could I say no? Everything seemed to align.
Work Wise:
- Get to work with people I respect and enjoy to build something from the ground up — put my stamp on it — already had funding + traction
- Opportunity for financial upside (stock options)
- Utilize all the work I’d done the last 3 years building Rev Ops Roadmap + Project Hippo → continue building “body of work”
- Remote first culture / Offices in Oslo + SF = Flexibility despite homebase setup
Life Wise:
- Oslo as a home base was easy transition (lived here for 7 years) + beautiful life of nature and good friends here.
- Being Euro allows mini adventures ie. Portugal, Berlin, etc. + reconnecting with close important friends / deepening.
- Get to build momentum in work not having to think about where “home” is — more energy + focus in next cycle vs last 3 years of personal development priority.
- Less of a transitional city (NYC — ppl in and out) opportunities for connecting with community — Jiu Jitsu, Startup, Dancing, climbing, etc.
So with all that — I said YES. I finished out my adventures Surfing, exploring Vietnam and joined www.indykite.com at the company kickoff in Italy.
3 months later I am excited that my work permit finally got approved → means I can start looking at buying an apartment here in Oslo = hosting visitors in the fall!! That and I am incredibly happy with the decision to join IndyKite and move back to Oslo. My colleagues and the progress we have made is exciting. I already got to take advantage of a slow July in Norway to work remotely for 3 weeks (Portugal + France) while surfing before work and catching up w friends after. Now it’s work work focus until end of August remote for a bit before and after Burning Man in SF. Then full speed setting up in Oslo + scaling the company until the end of the year.
Think my ideal situation for the next 3–4 years while focusing on building the company will be:
- Oslo Home Base (80%) → Brazillian Jiu Jitsu, Dancing, Climbing + Hiking
- Portugal Remote Base (20%) → Surfing
- Mini Euro Weekends once a quarter (Berlin, Zurich, etc.)
- SF + Burning Man
- Home Tdot + NYC visit
- Bali XMas → NYE
Thanks for following along on the journey. I’ll try to share more about the systems / processes etc. behind a new start up next post.
Looking forward to catching up with people somewhere soon and let’s see where this all goes next and don’t forget to…
COME AND VISIT ME!! OR COMMENT WHERE I WILL SEE YOU NEXT??
