Bill Watt’s Blog

I know this isn’t a work blog but let me share a little personal information about me that has to do with my job. As of today I have been basically doing the same exact job for 8 years - Happy Bill Watt Day to you!

Yes, some of it is very different because I actually had quite a few different jobs while at FairMarket but the fact still remains that it doesn’t feel like anything is radically different from the day I started till now. It is certainly more fun now than it was before the acquisition when we were in the post-IPO death spiral including a dwindling workforce doing an increasing amount of work (we went from a peak of 250 people in 2000 down to 35 at the “end” in Sept ‘03), a stock price that seemed to match the decline of the employees and ever increasingly bad execs that blamed the employees for not wanting success enough.

Side note- my list of “favorite” stories from my startup days is far too long for this particular post but let’s just say the interim CEO got a $50k bonus for finding a perm CEO which was his focus during his 6 month term. Granted… He managed to find himself one day while (I assume) looking in the mirror. I also assume that constituted a full day’s work for him.

Anyway- as happens every year at this time I have to ask myself why I’m still doing this. Other folks have gone on to be doctors, lawyers, teachers, parents, … And I’m still working on the FairMarket platform, the same people still act like I should be doing more / working harder (any FAIM people out there remember, “Only say ‘No’ in front of ‘problem’?”), and every day I think to myself I should send these stories to the writers of The Office or to Dilbert but then stop myself because who would believe them?

Maybe it is time to buy that Porsche and call it a day.