Burn After Reading

For a little over a week now I’ve been interning at Pumpkinhead, which I would love to rhapsodize about for the rest of this post.  Unfortunately, I would then be obligated to track you down and kill you, which wouldn’t be pleasant for either of us.  Fortunately, our public launch will come this summer.  So stay tuned for the exclusive scoop on The Next Big Thing On The Web, right here!

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I’m at TEC because startups are exciting, and I am easily bored.  I decided that I would work at a small startup firm this summer, and TEC was the first and best opportunity I found.  There’s an important life lesson in there somewhere: many of life’s problems can be solved with a simple Google search (and the rest can be solved with duct tape, or if all else fails, Bing).

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On my first day at Pumpkinhead I suffered a commuting calamity (broken bike chain), got familiar with our product, shot a few rounds of pool, set up a product testing system, learned what an Arnold Palmer is, and met the team.  On the second day I fixed my bike chain and arrived at the office at a nice, standard Boston East Coast working hour: 8:45.

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Fortunately California doesn’t operate on such cruel timetables, but as I waited for the team to arrive I could only think of one state: Kansas.

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I’m certainly not in Kansas anymore… and Hallelujah for that!  Getting up early is not my strong suit.

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The team is fantastic here.  Five us work from the main office, and two remotely.  When it comes to startups, you know you’ve got a talented team when just talking to people about their work makes you feel like a simpleton.  (It could also mean you’re a simpleton.)  Talented coders, people who have already taken businesses to the highest level, and no extraneous bureaucracy to stifle the fun and excitement of doing great things every day- the only part that feels like work is going home.

By the end of the summer I hope you’ll have read eight exciting blog posts, featuring:

• the madcap adventures of a fast-growing startup
• original video from the mountains, cities, and savannah of Tanzania
• what not to do when you move to San Francisco
• the hijinks of nine interns with one common idea:

“Entrepreneurship is all about the Hustle.”

-Om Malik- TEC Quote of the Week

Stay tuned.