I Said Goodbye, And Now I Say Hello...!

I Can See Clearly Now

Over the summer our family took a trip to Greece – to historic Athens and the beautiful city of Santorini. We also experienced Bastille Day in Paris before heading over to Bombay (ok Mumbai.). It was more than ‘just a vacation.’ Rather it was an opportunity for me to take a break and clear my thoughts before making some changes to my professional life.

I was quietly introspective while walking through the majestic Acropolis; taking in the Antikythera mechanism (or the first analog computer as it is known), the beautiful sunsets in Santorini, the spirit of independence in Paris, and unfettered family time in Bombay.   So many metaphors in that vacation validated my decision that I had had a good run at SAP and that it was time for me to do something new. (See Thank You SAP! ...a decade in-memory…)

Starting Up A Brand New Day

On returning from vacation, I launched into an exploration of new opportunities. I was very fortunate to have many opportunities presented to me. It felt good to be courted by so many good companies offering engaging executive roles, however it came with the burden of having to say no to all but one. How to pick?

Through many years of work I’ve figured out what drives me: I like incubating new things and then I like scaling them. I don’t have much patience for the mundane or the status quo. All roads therefore pointed to taking on a startup.   “No diggity (no doubt)” the opportunity to make a ton of “FU money” (LMGTFY) at a startup was also something that merited attention.

Two roads presented themselves ahead of me. The road seemingly more traveled at this stage in my life would be to take the startup route (shamelessly borrowed from the most trodden Frost poem). So I came up with some criteria to focus on and narrow down my choices:

1. Fast growing product company that is known for being innovative in its category.
2. A great role, after paring away the title, an opportunity to create something new again.
3. A great place to work, where I know some of the people and will have fun.
4. An easier commute where I won’t  drive 55+ miles one-way every day.
5. Make enough money to support my family and have potential for upside.
6. My first name as my e-mail. (OK, this wasn’t a real criterion but that would be gravy.)

Classical Dilemma Between The Head and The Heart

The many options offered to me presented a lovely dilemma! I met some amazing people at the companies I was talking to and it came down to three who roughly met most if not all the criteria. In the end, I decided to follow my heart.

I picked a fast growing company that continues to innovate. One where I would help with their enterprise aspirations and match my passion to drive applications and platform adoption by developers. One where I would be surrounded by amazing people, some of whom I know, all of whom have checked their fancy titles at the door. One where I wouldn’t really cut down the commute but would make it a “passive commute” as I won’t be driving. And one that will actually give me my first name as my e-mail!

In case you haven’t figured it out by now, my heart picked Google (and so did my kids!) I will be working in the Google For Work team to increase developer adoption of their apps and platform. I am excited for the future and the chance to be one in a googol (that’s 10^24). That’s way better than one in a million!

We’ve Only Just Begun

As I write this I’ve already spent a couple of weeks in the new role at Google, having joined at the end of August. I am done with the first phase of my Noogler (new Googler) orientation. Here I met an amazing cohort of Nooglers, witnessed the changing of the Google logo in the main campus, rode the famous Google bike and am quickly learning all the bus routes to the East Bay.

I can sum up my experience in one word, borrowing it from my 10-year-old daughter’s lexicon: Awesomesauce! (Which to my utter amazement, was recently added to the Oxford English dictionary!) You truly learn something new every day!