Sometime last year (June 1998) I started consulting for a company called "The Big Network."  I took the job because a few friends had started the company, and it offered interesting work.  A cool writer from Wired wanted to follow the life of a startup, so he occasionally checked in on me and the other people who eventually joined the biggies.  This writer is named Po Bronson, and he turned the Biggie experience into a chapter in "The Nudist on the Late Shift."  You should buy this book - I can honestly say I enjoyed it, I prefer the second and last chapters.  The first tenish percent of the Biggies chapter is excerpted on Salon.com.

Although I think his description was generally accurate, there were a few minor errors.  The errors didn't change the tenor of the chapter, but I thought I would record a few nitpicks (so Po can call me a jerk ass):
 

• The Freezing Man truck thing was the work of our housemate Rus - it happened to be parked in our driveway on Po's first visit.
• Max occasionally says "giga-x," I rarely do.
• I never did freelance work at Artemis, but I did almost go work there - I wish I had.  I can't say for sure I would have been "employee number 7," although it was in that less than 15 ballpark.  I'm glad they succeeded - they worked hard and did the right thing.
• The Artemis logo wasn't steel, it was a large sticker in the window - it used to be a gym for women.
• The Joe Montana story is basically true - but we were never "good buddies" - he was just some guy who had a hanger near my tie down.
• I wasn't working on my instrument rating, I was getting my PPSEL.
• I suspect that John wasn't worried about me going over to Snap.  But if he was, and he is reading this page, he is a "stoopidhead."  A 5th grader recently called me a stoopidhead - it is the most clever insult I can think of.
• Po must have misinterpreted the $140K I was earning consulting four days a week as the salary I accepted when I became an employee.  I don't want to go into my salary, but suffice it to say it was much less than $140K.  I primarily decided to join Optical because I thought the idea was good, the company was small, and I placed value in the CEO.
• If there is a world where my skills will automatically make me millions, and you have cash - please send me email.  I'm sure my peers at Optical would understand. ;-)
• Max really does hunt squirrels - lord help him.
• Po's description of object oriented programming is good - but if you are planning going pro - I'd consult some additional books. ;-)
• A note related to programming books: Po writes that Mike used "Teach yourself Java in 21 days."  That book was cowritten by my high school friend Rogers Cadenhead - small world!
• Arie really did win all those contests.
• Po neglected to mention the the love of my life - Becky Chow.  This inadvertently placed me at risk of ending up in the doghouse. ha!
• The "two applet" architecture wasn't my intent - it was just how things evolved after I left - we all thought one applet would be smarter.
• I laid the groundwork for the Java stuff, but 80% of the code happened after I left.  Jason and Max should get that credit.
• The Dragonfly isn't an ultralight - it is a fairly sizable composite airplane.
• Perforce is really much better than CVS.

 

 

If you've read this far - you should probably also read Max's errata.

Remember, buy the book.