This is a pretty significant personal announcement…

Lots of people have asked me “what are you doing with your life?” and I haven’t had an “official” answer.

Until now.

Starting September 7, I will be an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Kodiak Venture Partners in Boston.  My contract is for three months, and during that time I will be working with the partners (in particular John Abraham, Chip Meakem and Elliot Katzman) to learn how to build a business, namely Groupvine.

In particular, I’ll be writing a business plan, performing market research, lining up a wide variety of new trial customers and making incremental changes based upon feedback and market dynamics — all with the help of experienced entrepreneurs and former CEOs.

At the end of the three months, the end goal is to get Groupvine funding.

I was connected to John Abraham, one of the primary enablers of this deal, through Betsy Gatewood at the WFU Entrepreneurship Center.  Bren Varner and her together supplied me with some incredibly valuable advice about what to do and what not to do, and encouraged me to pursue this oppportunity.

John and I have been speaking since April, and has also done a great deal for me during this time.  Through him, I flew up to Boston to present to the partnership my vision for Groupvine and what I believe the market opportunity to be. (That was an experience in and of itself…one word: incredible!)

If you’re in the Boston area, let me know and let’s get together.  If you want to know more about what I’m doing, drop me an email or leave a comment.

My decision has been pretty controversial with my parents and some members of my family in particular because it’s a significantly higher risk than getting a job with benefits, etc.  But I think the time is NOW to take that risk and I will forever wonder about missed opportunities if I didn’t do it.

Thanks for reading.  I’m very optimistic about the future and this amazing opportunity.