Because I don’t possibly have enough to do with this whole startup thing and kids and whatever other stuff I’m pursuing, I also like to have one or two side projects going to keep the blade sharp.
Currently I am working with two wildly different groups.
The first is AURA, or the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy. They manage a half dozen of the largest telescopes in the Western Hemisphere (Tuscon, Hawaii, Chile, a couple of others) and I’m helping them do a little shared-services technology work. The topic of the project is a little boring, but I get to keep talking to astronomers about what they’re looking for, I’ve already been to the Tuscon telescope and am hustling a visit to the Hawaii site.
The second project is working with a team building an institutional grade cryptocurrency trading platform. On the plus side, the topic is incredible to learn about, very timely, and it’s incredibly early days and the opportunity is rich. The downside is that the CEO/Founder is one of the least coachable dudes I have ever met. Early stage fundraising rewards those that understand the system and ‘match the pattern’, but he thinks he is too smart for that. So far he has been unsuccessful. I am friends with investors, and they are equally frustrated (it’s why they brought me in). I need to get to a Jerry Maguire “help me, help you” moment.