If You’re Not Having a Daily 2:08pm Panic Attack, You’re Not Trying

I’ll start this private newsletter post with a confession, actually a couple confessions.

Here comes the catharsis! Yeah! The pinnacle of weak writing!

First confession: I was bored. For a long time.

We’re all friends here, so If I’m being honest, this boredom started all the way back somewhere in the midst of ten years ago. Vista Equity Partners, a private equity firm, had acquired Automated Insights in 2015 for a handsome sum. I was working with all their portfolio companies, trying to make AI happen for them in 2015.

In 2017, I was on a plane coming back from the National Association of Broadcasters annual conference, where I had been on a panel with the head of AI from IBM talking about AI and television, and as the plane was landing, it hit me.

I was done. I needed to exit. I wasn’t sure why I felt that way for a long time. Now I know.

I was bored.

Flash forward to a couple of years ago. I was bored. Again. Or maybe still? I saw an exit coming and I took it. I essentially decided to turn a bunch of lemons that were out of my control into lemonade.

It took 2 years, but damn that lemonade tastes good.

If I can survive the daily afternoon panic attacks.

I’ll explain.