I stumbled across this post from my old (and now defunct) tumblr account today. It is dated June 23, 2012, right after I graduated from Stanford to begin working on the startup I will be leaving on August 30, 2013.
As I take some steps away from the shore and safety of the bay area I think it’s appropriate to repost.
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Tomorrow marks a beginning for my current fledgling startup. We will begin pilot testing with real users, plan to get user feedback for a couple weeks while we fine tune our user interface, and then will begin to distribute our app to our customers. It’s been a whirlwind of a few months for me between graduation, moving into a new apartment, and working hard on our product.
But you know what the most important part of today was? My parents sending me a little flash animated e-card to tell me good luck, congratulations, and that they are proud of me.
That little card means more to me than any of the work I’ve done in quite a while and served as a great reminder that life isn’t about how good of an iOS app I can make, how successful I hope to be, or following the newest technological development.
You only get one shot at life. Surround yourself with people who make you happy and who love you. Don’t be fooled by money, fame, or power. You have the power to impact everyone around you if you choose to.
So stop kidding yourself into believing that extra 15 minutes of coding will get your new startup somewhere and go spend time with your kid, your wife, or someone who really matters in your life. And never forget how the smallest things can have the greatest impact on someones daily life.
Tell them people around you how much you love them, you never know when you will see them again.