Nothing ventured, nothing gained

Labor Day 2007 was the day of reckoning. Inter-Tel and Mitel, after spending who-really-knows-how-many months courting the possibility of a merger, had finally decided to bite the bullet and “combine portfolios in order to increase range across the spectrum of market segments” at $25.60 a share.

It’s always calm before the storm.

The great firing at Inter-Tel took place a few months only a few months after the great fire at Inter-Tel, which took out a small portion of the roof and caused massive damage to the 2nd floor. Fortunately, no one was hurt… by the fire.

On 10AM, the Monday after Labor Day, Marsha (not her real name) approached my desk and requested I follow her to the conference room. Even through Marsha’s glasses, you could see right through her poker face.

There were about a dozen of us, sitting around the table. Was this a secret award ceremony for the top 12 associates at Inter-Tel? Were we going to be taken out for dinner and told that we could work on a new industry strength, open source PBX written in Erlang? Scrapping the decades old legacy system written in a mix of languages?

Not quite.

Due to the recent merger, your positions have been eliminated. Here’s your awesome severance package.

By 10:10, I was restructured out of a job and by 10:20, I was escorted out of the building. It was fast.

I got into my car and drove off. I made three phone calls.

The first, was to the dear friend who recommended me for the Inter-Tel interview.

I said jokingly, “Sorry, but you’re not going to get your full referral bonus”

Inter-Tel required new associates to stay for a year before the referrer received the full bonus.

We chatted for awhile and made plans for lunch later in the week at our usual Japanese hangout.

The second, was to my dear girlfriend. It does seem strange that I didn’t first call the love of my life, but I knew the conversation would last a while. We were planning to purchase a house together.

“Don’t worry…”

“No, really don’t worry. Yes we can continue the house search…”

“Yes, we’ll have enough money”

”I’ll find a job.. don’t worry, seriously.”

This went for awhile until I realized that I was just around the corner from my destination.

“I got to go, hugs and kisses”

I dialed the third number.

”I’m coming over.”

I pulled up outside Preston’s house.

“Like, right now.”

It’s been less than a year, and OpenRain has done superbly well.

I never had any illusions about how easy it would be to start a company. I knew it would be constantly challenging. And, it is.

When I think about how I got here, I am truly surprised that it stemmed from a single event that Labor Day just under a year ago.

In The Matrix, Neo is given a choice between the blue pill, a life of simulated reality, or the red pill, an opportunity to awaken and given a chance to change the real world.

I wasn’t courageous enough to take the red pill. I had thought about it, but in the end someone had to force it down my throat.

Taking the red pill, turned out to be more fun, more challenging, and more rewarding. If you ever find yourself at this crossroads, take the red pill, I highly recommend it.