Back in the Valley Again

You know why I love startups?

Because they are the most hopeful working environments you ever will find.

Let's consider the alternatives:

* Government. Not a good idea. Most agencies, departments or administrations on a local, state, regional, national, or international level calcify, sooner or later, into bureaucracies that resemble George Orwell's dark visions.

* Non-Profits. If God's work is still being done, in our secular culture, it's NPO's who are doing it. As I have often posted, there could be no recovery along the Gulf Coast of Mississippi were it not for the non-profit groups and volunteers who have relocated to the area post-Katrina. This sector must also include religious groups, because many churches have been providing badly-needed labor and materials to help rebuild the area. But, that said, working for these groups is an exercise in frustration. Luckily, there is a new service that provides some accountability in the NPO sector -- Great Non Profits. org.

* Big corporations. An utterly horrible option. Here, you get the worst of both worlds -- bureaucracy and entropy.

* Academia. No comment. Why work in an institution that believes in the outrageous concept of "tenure?"

* Work for yourself. This is an excellent choice. The only problem may be with your boss.

* Startups. These are the companies I love. They are not for everybody. But, unlike all of the above options, these tiny firms are focussed on the future. Anything seems to be possible.

Thus, today, I started once again to commute down the peninsula to a company so small that the empty boxes in the lobby outnumber the people in the office.

I am Employee #9.



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