A week ago, last Saturday morning, I finally moved all of my stuff out of Inxight to a storage center. The truck was hardly filled by the 43 boxes and a Steelcase chair that I bought at the end of a TED conference years ago. These remains of 20 years at PARC and Inxight and the emptiness of the truck and the parking lot fail to portray the incredible journey it’s been.

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I’ve never had a problem generating lots of words. I practice my ‘generation’ skills plenty as any friend would readily confirm. The talking doesn’t exactly get in the way of doing, since I do plenty too. (Friends would you grant this too?) However, all the talking has been stealing time and likely will to write. Hence, a New Year’s resolution that I held quietly to myself ‘til now.

Say Less, Write More.

Certainly, like most everybody, talking to people is a powerful way to develop an idea. A few times saying things to some fine ears w/ minds & hearts (this doesn’t qualify), and you have a reasonable test of idea and approach. Then it’s really time to put it in writing, where friends and maybe strangers can take and give.

These guys are the enforcement squad. Are they bad or are they sweet? Okay, maybe cheerleaders. One certainly represents, nicely, writing more, and the other apparantly represents talking more, but perhaps podcasting is actually just talking developed to the point of writing.

I left one big question hanging in that last entry, though I knew the answer. I meant to leave real space between leaving Inxight and picking what to do next. Though this part was and wasn’t so on purpose, the separation of entries mirrored the thinking. Answer is … starting another company with a co-founder who found me through a friend of mine.

I met Yossi for the first time in mid-April. The week before, I got an incredible offer from SAP. Just 2 weeks before that I’d formally declared my intent to move on, though really six months earlier I’d promised myself that April was it, and said so to Inxight CEO Ian Bonner. During those six months of knowing mentally that I would move on, it was thrilling to feel free and to be ‘available’. But the process had a natural structure of opening, middle, and closing.

The meeting with Yossi started the five week dash to decide despite my intention to wait awhile. SAP and other BigCos could wait for moons with no impact; in the other case, I could feel the ticking, the beating. And the decision came down to these two ends of a spectrum. Either the largest enterprise-software company (note the dash) or the smallest (zero everything).

Two offers I felt I couldn’t refuse. Carlin, my wife, wondered whether if I couldn’t accept either, that perhaps I should turn down both. Utterly sensical, or perhaps radical. Friends, family, new acquaintenances listened, many placed their bets silently, after making sure I wasn’t missing anything major. Most everybody said you have to decide, go with your gut, or follow your heart. You know.

The founding route appeared so suddenly. Magically, as if the universe was saying that I shouldn’t go the easy way to the great offer sitting there. “Hell no, don’t go.” Or that I needed to be a founder even if I was saying I didn’t want to be just yet. “Swing, baby, Swing.”

Was it too fast? Not an affair, but perhaps a rebound? The old man in me was saying, let one go. And the young man, well, you know. One friend said, “as to options developing (too) fast, that’s the v. nature of good ones.”

We’ll see. Meanwhile, my heart is beating loud and clear.

It’s true, I am moving on and am truly excited about next things. Bittersweet? A friend asked. No, more like Wistful Sweet.

Twenty years ago today, I drove out alone from MIT to California in a Blue Standard-Shift Celica to do a thesis at PARC. And it’s been one long trip through PARC and Inxight until now. Roughly 10 at PARC and 10 at Inxight. The journey for me was to be part of inventing things and then taking them out into the world until everybody is using them.

I do feel that this has happened in a way. Just as it happened for PARC in general. When people say, a little too loosely, that PARC didn’t succeed, I usually respond, PARC succeeded, Xerox didn’t in fully capitalizing on it, and if they had, you wouldn’t have all what you have today. Xerox did fine. And, Inxight is doing fine, never better.

Inxight is a huge part of me. It’s a big step to leave. And in a sense, I will never leave. My long-ago Xerox badge still hangs in a showcase at Inxight. Some day I may take it and other things on the walls that belong to me. Until then, I remain an advisor, shareholder, and most importantly, a friend.

A thousand thanks to all that helped, for the time, knowledge, money, support, and fun along the way