People’s Software Company

It’s the day after TechStars and I’m in North Platte, Nebraska, with only 1,704 miles to go to my hometown of Watertown, MA. Over the summer I suspended H2otown, the community site I run for residents of the town, which was terrible for me and the people who missed it. In retrospect, I should have trusted the community more and let them run it while I was away, but it seemed like an imposition on them. Now that it’s up again, I’ve been writing the community that hangs out there letters on my trip home, and what I did over the summer.

Thursday, huh? Feels like Saturday to me. Maybe that’s because today is the first day after TechStars, the startup incubator program a friend and I participated in over the summer. We started a company called People’s Software, and we are making really awesome calendar software.

So how was it?

Well, it was like sticking my head in an active washing machine again, and again, and again.

Yesterday, all ten companies presented their stuff to an audience of around 400 people at the Boulder Theater, a 30’s deco theater that’s mainly used as a music venue. After working in the same room with the nine other TechStars teams for three months, I got to know many of them well, and I was very proud of all of them. Some of the teams had companies that were two years old on Investor Day, while others, like ours, were only twelve weeks old. I was proud because I think everyone did very well for the stage that they were in, us included. Don Dodge, a Boston-area startup veteran who came to Investor Day, contributed some reporting about it on the popular TechCrunch website. (Thanks, Don!)

This morning, I had breakfast at The Walnut Cafe with my friends Amy Gahran and Meg Spohn, who helped me find an apartment and my marbles when I lost them. Then, I packed up my stuff — my bicycle, a suitcase, my laptop, and two lightsabers (don’t ask) and said goodbye to Joe, our landlord. Joe is a 70-something professor of architecture at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Originally from Hungary, he’s still teaching and riding his bike to class every day. Boulder is a very healthy place — people are astonishingly fit. There are bike lanes practically everywhere and the weather and the scenery make it rewarding to be outdoors.

Before leaving, I dropped our keys off at The Bunker. That’s what the TechStars work area was called by everyone. It was in the basement, and it was a former health club. Orange. Bright teal. Lockers — lots of them — in the bathroom. David Cohen, Andrew Hyde and Joe Scharf added vintage video game machines, couches, a ping-pong table, and salvaged chairs and desks, and really, really fast internet access

In otherwords, Startup Heaven. People slept there, ate there, and generally indulged themselves in the privilege of being able to work on something they were very passionate about as often as they wanted for as long as they wanted.

(Didn’t you ever just want to work on something until you were DONE? With no interruptions? Move 2,000 miles away and lock yourself in a room — works like a charm).

I have no idea if there are Vice Presidential candidates yet. I know that the Olympics are happening — because I blast NPR like it’s AC/DC to wake myself up in the morning — but I don’t really know who’s winning or who the athletes are. Some guy won a lot of medals swimming. That’s about all I know. I ate toast with peanut butter a lot. And frozen Indian entrees from the microwave, which reminded me of the BBC science fiction/humor series Red Dwarf.

The stereotype of people who start tech companies, and especially those that participate in startup programs like TechStars or YCombinator is: two 22 year old guys who survive on ramen and code all day and night. There’s not many women, and people often ask why. My pet theory is that women and men start companies at different ages. Women don’t seem to take a flier at 22 — they get out of college and get a job, climb the ladder, and find themselves midcareer and bored as heck — so why not start a company? It’s a theory. As my friend Dan Gillmor would say, “File under ‘Interesting if True.’”

So today after breakfast, after packing, after dropping off the keys…I motored out of Boulder. I told the GPS I wanted to go to Watertown and it said that in a mere 1,982 miles I’d be home.

My. Own. Bed!! Lahmejune! Town Diner! Ug! I can’t wait.

I made a conscious decision not to try to make anything go faster than it normally would. Make it go faster — that’s what I had been doing for 12 weeks, and I was pretty fried. So I ate breakfast that wasn’t from the toaster oven and I packed slowly and I didn’t try to do 800 miles in a day.

I made it to North Platte, Nebraska. There’s a surprising amount of Wild West stuff here — Buffalo Bill’s ranch, Boot Hill. I don’t think too many people think of Nebraska when they think of six-shooter duels. It strikes me as a very cheerful town. There’s a restaurant called The Fat Greek and a big Western wear outlet. where they have actual cowboy hats without any air quotes. I looked at shirts, but there wasn’t a thing that I could wear in Watertown without people asking me if I was going to a costume party. Too bad, I always liked those pearl buttons. Shiny!

If you find yourself in North Platte, Penny’s Diner is open 24 hours and has excellent chili. A bowl of it and a Coke — $4.22. You gotta love a place where you can leave a 50% tip and not have to take out a loan. Arlene the short order cook is nice, too.

Tomorrow I’ll push on into Deepest Iowa. See you soon.