5:56 pm
·
The tale of what happens when it gets close to closing time
This is the story of every weekday spent
looking at the top right,
My Macbook pro, slowed down by a million
tabs in plain sight,
There used to be buffered videos and
downloaded documents,
Now there are bookmarks, there is
pocket, yet the same predicaments,
At my old job, this time meant quitting
came easy around now,
We’ll pick this issue up
tomorrow, someway, somehow,
At best this will be a bug, at
worst something that needs a fix,
It isn’t that bad, it’ll be good
in a couple of weeks,
Regress this and run that suite,
lets make sure we follow process,
Lets have a meeting pile on
another, we need our leaders to bless,
But now it’s you, it’s the clock, it’s your
cabin without a view,
You have hours and minutes and
new problems to chew,
You have the same problems, just
a smaller set of people,
You have the same headaches, just
a different source of evil,
What became of team lunches and
morale events?
What happened to planning
committees and coffees over nonsense?
It is but a function of moving to something smaller,
Punishment and learning — the hopes of
becoming a baller,
Relinquishing options for equity
and a moonshot,
Redbull, caffeine and venture
funded food for though,
What determines happiness and keeps
insecurity at bay,
At least here in the bay, dreams
never get in the way,
Plenty of dealers who encourage a
hand,
Plenty of castles made out in the
sand,
Staying lean and floating like
ice,
Untouched vagrancy, brought about
by vice,
In these 4 minutes that the A/C whirs to a
halt,
You look away, analyzing the
lines of your fault,
You head away to recharge your
batteries,
The drive back, drivel on the
radio drown out your inner sighs,
To each their own as you check your phone
stuck n traffic,
Eating out again, since cooking
stopped giving you the kick,
Is this really a worthy tradeoff
for work and your sanity?
Nothing better to throw yourself
at and no one for clarity,
Finding your calling has little
to do with a number,
But you have been clueless for as
long as you can remember
Thug Life
·
What does it say when I cant hit chrome again,
How can I be so blase when there is so much to gain?
A lifetime of struggle punctuated by battle,
A multitude of users herded like cattle,
So when they click, and make that call,
I can survive and pretend to stall,
The ever close ceiling that will make me wonder,
The gravity of motion, that will come asunder,
One more line of code, and another feature,
So I can breathe life into this creature,
That can mint money when I press run,
But leaves me broken, unable to face the sun,
Pizzas and Beer, declining health,
Questionable social skills, already shrouded with stealth,
Fatter than ever before and no set schedule,
A nerdy T-shirt, messenger bags that look cool,
And yet i rise, late again,
Motivation tipping and demands insane,
A missed call and errors of my ways,
Why has this deal not been closed in days?
Set targets and bonuses to be spent,
You wonder which way hope went,
But it is a thug life that you signed up for,
Take me back to school, I dont want this war,
Sleepy eyes and timecards to boot,
Putting out fires, lungs stained with soot,
You live to fight
And in spite of in spite,
You keep the faith and soldier on,
Little knowledge and fear of the long con,
This hope, that ebbs and flows,
Keeps me sane when the wind blows,
Happy hours that bond with colleagues,
Revolving doors and warehouse digs,
Its a template that has fooled so many,
Its a punchline that seemed so zany,
But feet up and a commit made,
The race starts again until you are dead,
Is this the life that you really wanted?
Or was it a nightmare that came unsaid?
The addiction fuels your fight for another 2 weeks,
Your games are over when you play for keeps,
Try as you might, this has you hooked more than drugs,
But this life is here, replete with thugs
How can I be so blase when there is so much to gain?
A lifetime of struggle punctuated by battle,
A multitude of users herded like cattle,
So when they click, and make that call,
I can survive and pretend to stall,
The ever close ceiling that will make me wonder,
The gravity of motion, that will come asunder,
One more line of code, and another feature,
So I can breathe life into this creature,
That can mint money when I press run,
But leaves me broken, unable to face the sun,
Pizzas and Beer, declining health,
Questionable social skills, already shrouded with stealth,
Fatter than ever before and no set schedule,
A nerdy T-shirt, messenger bags that look cool,
And yet i rise, late again,
Motivation tipping and demands insane,
A missed call and errors of my ways,
Why has this deal not been closed in days?
Set targets and bonuses to be spent,
You wonder which way hope went,
But it is a thug life that you signed up for,
Take me back to school, I dont want this war,
Sleepy eyes and timecards to boot,
Putting out fires, lungs stained with soot,
You live to fight
And in spite of in spite,
You keep the faith and soldier on,
Little knowledge and fear of the long con,
This hope, that ebbs and flows,
Keeps me sane when the wind blows,
Happy hours that bond with colleagues,
Revolving doors and warehouse digs,
Its a template that has fooled so many,
Its a punchline that seemed so zany,
But feet up and a commit made,
The race starts again until you are dead,
Is this the life that you really wanted?
Or was it a nightmare that came unsaid?
The addiction fuels your fight for another 2 weeks,
Your games are over when you play for keeps,
Try as you might, this has you hooked more than drugs,
But this life is here, replete with thugs
The Watchers rise
·
Hi
I am Amit, I work at a big tech company, looking to go full time with my idea that I am working on the side. What do you do?
I work for .....
Watch the reactions closely. The crowd will thin gradually. They will gravitate towards the clearly accomplished entrepreneur out here on an ego mission. Some others will move towards the older exec looking to reinvent himself. Yet more will move to the brunette who discusses marketing as the cornerstone of success.
And yet you find yourself, in between conversations with seriously interesting people, generally aimless. If you ever find yourself lost in a crowd that is out to practice the tenets of networking, you are a watcher.
I define Watchers are the tribe of people who are dabbling, they are involved but not committed [obligatory bacon and eggs story]. In exercising my brain cells some more, I find distinct categories of people at networking conventions.
The Doers - They believe they have found their calling. They are self appointed born entrepreneurs. They move heaven and earth to work on their startup. Tons of respect, great hustle, flawed motivation.
The Naysayers - Hands down the most annoying set of people who you will meet. They will shoot down your idea and burn your business plan. They are great critiques but terrible if you want to get a sounding board. Their advice skews negative and having made peace with not ever having a venture of their own, they are the naysayers. Annoying as fuck as I have pointed to before.
The Entrepreneurs - Probably not at this event because they are busy raising money or setting up analytics on their MVP.
The Watchers - Lets go back to the first conversation. Everyone who starts down this path is a watcher. They have a number of interesting characteristics
1. Insecure - Cannot take the plunge of leaving a cushy 100k+ job
2. In need of validation - Not just your vanilla kind of validation whores, these folks will seek ever increasing validation on either their product or idea before embarking on a journey of building
3. Smarts - Worship the Lean Canvas to the extent of drawing it out in the air and pointing at flaws in you business in terms of Alexander Osterwalder
These folks are also in search of activation energy. In advertising jargon, they are well qualified leads. They actively seek out opportunities and validation. They seek out help, partners, potential funding but are crippled by a fear of failure. A fraction convert but not nearly enough. They make up reasons to not succeed or give themselves a reason to buy a 1 way ticket to a cushy job.
Interestingly enough startups like One Month Rails are ever decreasing the threshold of entry for these watchers. But is that a core problem. Youtube videos and tutorials existed prior to Udemy and Coursera. If it is indeed motivation, then TechCrunch and their lavish dreams have you covered. Resources on the internet cannot possibly be a problem.
Why are the conversions failing for the Watchers? Are we even asking the right questions to get more people to kick their jobs to the curb and just try something out? What do you think?
I am Amit, I work at a big tech company, looking to go full time with my idea that I am working on the side. What do you do?
I work for .....
Watch the reactions closely. The crowd will thin gradually. They will gravitate towards the clearly accomplished entrepreneur out here on an ego mission. Some others will move towards the older exec looking to reinvent himself. Yet more will move to the brunette who discusses marketing as the cornerstone of success.
And yet you find yourself, in between conversations with seriously interesting people, generally aimless. If you ever find yourself lost in a crowd that is out to practice the tenets of networking, you are a watcher.
I define Watchers are the tribe of people who are dabbling, they are involved but not committed [obligatory bacon and eggs story]. In exercising my brain cells some more, I find distinct categories of people at networking conventions.
The Doers - They believe they have found their calling. They are self appointed born entrepreneurs. They move heaven and earth to work on their startup. Tons of respect, great hustle, flawed motivation.
The Naysayers - Hands down the most annoying set of people who you will meet. They will shoot down your idea and burn your business plan. They are great critiques but terrible if you want to get a sounding board. Their advice skews negative and having made peace with not ever having a venture of their own, they are the naysayers. Annoying as fuck as I have pointed to before.
The Entrepreneurs - Probably not at this event because they are busy raising money or setting up analytics on their MVP.
The Watchers - Lets go back to the first conversation. Everyone who starts down this path is a watcher. They have a number of interesting characteristics
1. Insecure - Cannot take the plunge of leaving a cushy 100k+ job
2. In need of validation - Not just your vanilla kind of validation whores, these folks will seek ever increasing validation on either their product or idea before embarking on a journey of building
3. Smarts - Worship the Lean Canvas to the extent of drawing it out in the air and pointing at flaws in you business in terms of Alexander Osterwalder
These folks are also in search of activation energy. In advertising jargon, they are well qualified leads. They actively seek out opportunities and validation. They seek out help, partners, potential funding but are crippled by a fear of failure. A fraction convert but not nearly enough. They make up reasons to not succeed or give themselves a reason to buy a 1 way ticket to a cushy job.
Interestingly enough startups like One Month Rails are ever decreasing the threshold of entry for these watchers. But is that a core problem. Youtube videos and tutorials existed prior to Udemy and Coursera. If it is indeed motivation, then TechCrunch and their lavish dreams have you covered. Resources on the internet cannot possibly be a problem.
Why are the conversions failing for the Watchers? Are we even asking the right questions to get more people to kick their jobs to the curb and just try something out? What do you think?
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