The Start of a Business
Those that know me know that while I love my job and love working with the great people of state government I have always aspired to be an entrepreneur. There isn’t a day that doesn’t go by where I dream of finding my professional niche and growing out of my shell and creating something to be truly proud of. So here I am trying to chronicle this journey for all of you…well maybe more for myself?
In my day job I’m amazed at the number of great people I meet with outstanding ideas to make government run better, more efficiently. While my degree and my job title have deep roots in technology and software, what I love about my job is it allows me to learn a wide range of business processes that support government. Public service is a career to be proud of.
Prior to my current stint in government, I spent a number of years doing software consulting and during this time I have met some unbelievable people who have helped foster my career. Key to all this are the people that introduced me to open source software and the guiding principles that govern it….open code, open processes, open standards and most importantly open minds. Why do I hold the open source software movement in such high esteem? Because there are few places that can reap the benefits of open software than state government.
It is out of this realization that I’ve been motivated to start a software company under the name of Apteno. Open software has used the penguin as their logo and I found it fitting to start a company inspired by the biggest species of penguin, Aptenodytes. Admittedly I can’t take sole responsibility for that name as it was a name that was thought up by myself and two coworkers, Jeff Thompson and Kent McDonald over 6 years ago when we flirted with starting a business. The inspiration behind that name is as relevant now as it has ever been and so I’m reviving it and the domain name I registered years ago for it.
So we have a name, but do we have a business plan? Well, sort of. When previously you may have been able to dream up a business plan it is best to be lucky and have one fall in your lap. That will be the subject of my next post!