I was born at night...not last night.

Five nights up to May 29th 2012

Friday 5/25: Dinner at Abe and Arthur’s. Celebrated Dennis (high school buddys) and mine bday.

Killer gifts form WIll and Dave…

Saturday 5/26: 40+ people in the Central Park celebrating Dennis and mine bday. Beverages were had, soccer was played in the rain and angry birds balloons were released into the air. 

Sunday 5/27: Helicopter ride around NYC with Mom, Pops, family and a couple friends.

Monday 5/28: Went to the MOTH Slam.  Watch this and you will be hooked: 

Tuesday 5/29: Inked up. 

You need not have any regrets for the past.
You need not worry for the future.
The present is happening.

Thanks to all for the well wishes! I’m extremely lucky to have such a badass support system. I’ll see you all back here in a year!

Fred Wilson on Employee Equity

Quick notes fromt he USV partner’s live stream found here: http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2012/04/mba-mondays-live-employee-equity-archive-and-feedback.html

Founders - the people who are there at the very beginning. Who have the idea, created the company, who dropped everything they were doing and focused 100% on the startup. Founder stock has nominal value from the start. Next to no tax implications. This is a good thing.

Founding team - People the founders recruit to build the product. Can probably give them founders stock. Stock has economic value. Stock has value so they may need to pay taxes depending on how much it’s worth

Employees -  people you hire when you’re turning yourself into a larger organization

Vesting - earn your equity over time, usually over 4 year wth 1 year cliff (need to complete at least 1 year with the company at a minimum)

Sound Divider

Building a wall of sound
An entire apt wall with speakers
Old, new, used, weathered
Of various quality and standards
Scaled it back to be a room divider
Fold-able, movable, functional
4 panels, made of speakers, constructed out of wood, iPhone dock
Sound Divider

Work in progress

Forming teams (3/6)

Once the bus starting moving, everyone is asked to go up, to the front of the moving bus and…

1. Introduce yourself
2. Talk about your skill set
3. Pitch an idea

After about 1.5 hours, it was time to pick the idea you like and form teams. I was sitting next to Brandon and across from Jordan and Matt. We had a little quad with the following skill sets:

• Biz Dev
• Product/Strategy
• Designer
• Back-end dev
• Front-end dev

We went around and communally decided that what I had pitch was a fun idea that we all wanted to work on. We had 4 of us ready to go and seemed like we could use one more dev to build faster. We took a look at the google docs outlining the rest of the bus to see who we wanted to target. There was only one other Rails dev, Patrick. We had to get him.

I made my way to the front of the bus and told him the idea, the team we had so far and that we already have the only other rails dev on our team. If he (Patrick) were to join any other team, he would be the only rails developer. On our team we would have two and can scale faster. After meeting the rest of the guys, he was on board and we became 5 strong…

• Avi: Biz/Strategy/Product
• Brandon: back-end Rails dev
• Matt: Designer/Front end dev
• Jordan: Biz Dev/Strategy
• Patrick: back-end dev Rails and node.js

Day 1 on the Bus (3/6)

It’s early in the morning. Crisp and cold Boston weather. This is the first look at the bus that will be taking 30 or so of us to SXSW in Austin, TX.

Patrick on the far right is part of Team Time Clutch.

Passing by Delaware

After 18 hours on the bus, this hotel bed in Charlotte, NC looked even more amazing.

Kickin it with Danny GoodTimes (3/5)

Departing NYC

The bus is scheduled to leave Tuesday March 6th at 6am. Given I’m coming from NYC, I figured I should trek north the previous day to make sure I don’t miss the bus.  Luckily Danny GoodTimes, of BU 503 notoriety, has a fairly comfortable couch. Dan and had a few brews and dinner at Shenanigans, the Irish bar know for its Friday Night Reggae throw downs.

Retro blogging StartUp Bus, SXSW, Austin, LA and SF

I was a combination of excited, relieved, overwhelmed, eager, distracted, lazy etc over during the month of March and didn’t get to blog much about StartUp Bus, SXSW, Austin, LA and SF. It’s a shame because I basically winged my way through a serendipitously crafted incubator over 29 days.

It covered coming up with selling idea, finding the right team members, building a product, pitching, re-connecting/meeting with VCs, angel investors, former colleagues, competitors, the role of an advisor, the importance of an office/work space, splitting equity, making tough decisions, process of raising money etc.

I’m going to go back and re-blog it all now that I’m back in NYC and have a bit more structure to my lifestyle.  So on April 5th, I will blog about what happened March 5th, on April 6th log will be about what happened March 6th and so on.  Get it?

I have plenty of great stories and experiences. Some are not fit to print but buy me a drink or two and I’ll probably end up sharing. 

note: there will probably be grammatical and spelling errors. you’ve been warned.

Last day at NBC

Turning my badge and weapons.

Studio elevator out.

Packing for my March tour

I’m going to be on the road for 29 days. Things I’m taking with me. 

2 pairs of jeans
4 collared shirts
6 t-shirts:
6 boxers
7 pairs of socks
2 pairs of shorts
2 rolls of athletic tape
1 hoodie
2 pullovers
2 belts
2 ties
1 headlamp
1 flask
1 bottle of Jameson
100+ I QR code stickers
3 dry eraser markers
assorted toiletries  
sunglasses
light jacket
scarf
winter hat
soccer shoes
chukkas
watch
macbook
iPhone
Bose noise canceling headphones
in-ear headphones
notebook
sleeping bag

Leaving my job for a bus ride.

Monday March 5th, 2012 will be my last day at NBCUniversal. I’ve had the chance be part of some great things and worked with some solid co-workers who have become amazing friends.  

Why?

I’ve always wanted the freedom to create my own vision and explore my ideas. I feel strongly that I’ve collected the the skills, network and confidence to do so. A couple opportunities and my instincts have helped me realize that the time is now.

What’s next?

I’m getting on bus. No really, I was accepted on StartUp Bus where a team of strangers, on a bus headed to SXSW (Austin, TX), have 72 hours to conceive, build and launch a start up. Think Road Rules but with nerds jamming on computers and a very uneven m/f ratio.

My timeline:

Mon 3/5: Last day at NBCU. Head to Boston, MA.

Tues 3/6: Get on Boston StartUp Bus.

Fri 3/9: Arrive at SXWS in Austin, TX.

Sun 3/11: Pitch.

Fri 3/16: Fly to LA. Keep building, meet new people and hang with family/friends.

Wed 3/21: Fly to SF. Keep building, meet new people and hang with family/friends.

Mon 4/2: Back to NYC. Keep building, meet new people and hang with family/friends.

If you’re in Austin, LA or SF area during these times, I would love to meet and catch up. Don’t be shy, hit me up adabir [at] gmail [dot] com or any of these other ways…

Twitter: @bringmedabir
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/adabir
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/adabir
Instagram: adabir 
Words with Friends: bringmedabir

or flash the Bat signal in the sky.