All good things…

It is time to head out and risk everything to find a yet another great world. 29th August will be recorded in the annals of history as my last day in Sininen Meteoriitti.

I have been working for the company for six years now. And what six years have they been! I was employee #13 when I joined, and now we number close to 80. I’ve been experiencing – and to an extent, hands-on creating – the change from a small web outlet to a fast-growing, ambitious SharePoint consultancy. So yeah, it’s been a great experience with a lot to be thankful about!

Freedom?

First, the answer to the critical question: The time is ripe to start one’s own company.

When all this finally clicked into place, a quote from Star Trek: The Next Generation came to mind. In the scene, Captain Jean-Luc Picard is pushing his first officer to take up a promotion that will give him his own ship – not entirely unlike leaving a visible position in a recognized company.

Your present position as first officer of the Enterprise
brings you prestige, distinction, even glamour of a kind.
You are the second in command of Starfleet's flagship —
but still, second in command. Your promotion will
transfer you to a relatively insignificant ship
in an obscure corner of the galaxy, but it will be your ship.
Being who you are, that ship will vibrate with your authority,
your style, your vision. There is no substitute for
being in the center of the stage — any stage.
— Jean-Luc Picard, in “The Icarus Factorâ€

I need nor want no more control or authority over others. But freedom, in the form of having the maximum available choice of options for your destiny, that is certainly something worthy. Freedom, in the form of maximum liberty to arrange the work/life balance, that certainly has value.

And thus, at this time in life, this just feels right.

Details?

Unfortunately, there are few yet. I’ll share what I have, though:

  • We are four people (Sami Poimala, Lauri Kotilainen, my wife Riikka and me).
  • We all have versatile software development backgrounds particularly in the Microsoft space, so it’ll be the business we’re in.
    • Honest, we don’t have a very exact business plan yet! Of course, we have a few dozen leads and zillions of ideas, but we’ll get the right people together first, then look at what we’ll actually be doing.
  • We won’t be having an office quite yet, but will rather work from our homes.
  • We will be available starting from 30th August, although we’re likely to keep a rather low profile in the beginning.

The company name and more details will be published as things mature. Meanwhile, I have a bit over two weeks to get my desk clean and make sure nobody at Meteoriitti notices my absence when September comes. Better get crackin’.

(Oh, and of course, if you are in Finland and happen to need some quite professional developers/consultants on the .NET platform, please feel free to contact me)

August 12, 2010 · Jouni Heikniemi · 6 Comments
Posted in: Entrepreneurship, General

6 Responses

  1. Jaba - August 12, 2010

    Wow! Good luck to all of you!

    Oh, and I trust that whatever company name you choose, it will be a creative one, just like I'm used to see from you. :-)

  2. Jan Wikholm - August 12, 2010

    Kudos for Picard quote. :)

  3. Jouni - August 12, 2010

    Jaba: I'm afraid the truths regarding commercial feasibility will somewhat limit our expressiveness in this regard. Thus, you might be disappointed with the name. ;-)

    With that said, there's no way we would stick to the entirely ordinary way of doing things!

  4. Ronak Bhavsar - August 12, 2010

    Wishing you glorious future…

  5. Sanna - August 12, 2010

    With you guys behind this, whatever you end up doing it can only bring success. :)

  6. Jaba - August 12, 2010

    Jouni: in a land with company names like Appelsiini, Siili or Hurtta anything goes.

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