BalancedThought

Exactly the kind of thing that I am still afraid of to this day. :)

2 days before I got married, I dropped the production database by accident from a GUI tool where “right-clicking” can be destructive if you click to fast. The application scheduled radio and television commercials and within 48 US states for a large international advertising group. The bigger problem was that the DBA had only been doing incremental backups and didn’t have a full back against which to run the incremental backups. He had never created a full backup.

Fortunately, given the nature of media buys in that time, all placements were printed and faxed. My team sent me to my wedding rehearsal dinner and spent the next two days collecting printed orders and re-keying them into the system.

I am forever grateful to that team.

Hey Man, Husband and Father. I have a large amount of respect for you. My only suggestion is to apologize to your wife and family for not being able to provide now. The love and forgiveness that you receive from them will lift a weight off you that you may not know is there.

Also, remember, you aren't the first Man, Husband or Father to be in this situation and that you are not alone. At this point, make sure not to be prideful and accept the gifts of known and unknown people who want to help you out. None of us made it to where we are without the help of family or the kind words of strangers.

This too shall pass and you will come out even stronger. I am in the New York area and depending on what you do, I might be able to help introduce you to people. You can reach me at rwoodruf at gmail dot com.

There were several rounds of layover at a startup where I worked and so I expressed my concern to HR that I wouldn't be able to find a job if I were laid off. Her response, which I never believed, is that employers don't look so unfavorably towards laid off workers and that finding a new job would not be so hard.

Well, this article states just what I feared. Fortunately, I have never been laid off or fired but I have never felt that it would be easy to find a job if it ever happened. Being laid off would make me feel as if I wasn't capable even if it wasn't the case. It would sure be a blow to my self-confidence.

Best of blessings to those who are unemployed and still looking.

It seemed to me that they went back to the original application and pivoted. They didn't go back a build the same people to people proximity app. They built the people to environment proximity app which let them know about things going on in their environment (example from website : the Bart train is not running for the next two hours).

So, I don't think they gave up something successful to pursue something less successful. Rather, they decided to continue to work on something about which they are passionate.

It was risky. But, I also believe that there are two key points from the story that made it easier.

1. He married a woman who is extremely supportive and dialed in. 2. He had a savings that he could fall back on. So, getting kicked out of Y Combinator was heartbreaking but not soul crushing.

Basically, he had some good protective factors which made it possible for him to take risks.

Congratulations and best to you and Storenvy.