It's been a long time since I've updated this blog.  This post's title is taken from an email I recently sent my colleagues at Brightcove confirming my departure.  I'd gone into my sabbatical with an eye towards figuring out my next move.  It was a fruitful process that led me to conclude that, after 6 great years, it was time to move on.  I'm not yet quite able to say what I'm up to next but that's not what this post is about either.  It's about taking a little look back…

Ironically, I confirmed my departure on the very day that Brightcove was moving into its shiny new and beautiful new worldwide HQ in Boston.  It was bittersweet – there were so many cool things going on at the Company, so many new faces to work with and of course the stunning new space.  At the same time, the decision feels right for me and there's some neatness to the bookends' of having started in '05 pre-product launch, pre-revenue as part of the founding management team and staying through the recent IPO.

I will always look fondly back at the experience.  While many mistakes have been made, it was mostly a great learning experience for me on how to do things right. The first years were a wild ride, figuring out the business model – are we a premium platform?  an ad network?  a consumer destination?  none of the above? – getting the first customers and generally achieving that magic 'product/market' fit.  It was then a lot of fun to roll out to the UK, then the rest of Europe and also do a stint helping the APAC team get up and running.  Most recently thinking through how to scale the business operationally and otherwise was a different set of challenges. 

In all cases, I worked for and with high-caliber people – people I'd love to work with again in some capacity.  As I wrote in my farewell note, there are too many people to list – they know who they are – but suffice it say I look forward to crossing paths with them again.  In the meanwhile, I'm excited to see what the Company does in the coming months and years.  The opportunity in online video and, now, mobile is far from being realized and I look forward to seeing Brightcove continue to be in the vanguard on both fronts.