I've been meaning to create some kind of public space to collect my thoughts for some time. I used to write a lot, and my friends and colleagues will know I'm quite vocal about my day to day observations.
I don't think of whatever I write here as something I'll actively promote much; maybe a link on Twitter, but certainly no big announcements about setting it up, or sharing updates through ubiquitous syncronised posts across all of my online profiles. I think I prefer it as something much more banal, something you could come across by accident, something that you might have known in the back of your mind existed but never really thought much about reading until some idle Sunday afternoon
But, it makes sense; as a 16 year old I bought a copy of 'Revolution in the Valley' (anecdotes from the creation of the Mac), accidentally discovering the context of personal computing without really realising the significance of what I was reading, it just felt like intriguing recent-history that none of my peers were into. At university I was fascinated by whatever was happening on the West coast of America, but sitting in my dorm in England's midlands it felt ultimately unrelatable. I never really imagined I'd end up working in one of the fabled companies the Valley produced, yet spending an intense 18 months at Uber Technologies Inc., through to my current position at a series-A mobility tech startup, I only recently had a realisation that I may have a perspective that not a terribly large number of people have.
Maybe the last few years are a result of some some sub-conscious choices I made along the way.
But most of all, I don't want some of the more significant and interesting moments go unchronicled - days are long and hectic, and the environment is such that you often don't even realise what you're going through until after the fact. I want to use this space both to touch on some things from first hand experience, and also write some thoughts on startups and technology at a macro level too. I don't want to forget anything worth remembering or discussing on the journey, and this simple public archive seems like a fitting place.