Today is my last working day at Apriso.
In case you've been wondering why I haven't posted here in over a month, it's because I've been completely preoccupied with getting the next phase of my life started. And, I thought it would be best to keep my mouth shut for awhile.
Leaving something to which I devoted so much time, energy and passion over the past 6 years is not easy. But no company can be an innovator forever. It's time for Apriso to become a marketeer of software, not an innovator, so it's time for me to move on.
To Apriso's executive team -- Chris Brecher, Don Vanderbeke, Jane Wike, Jim Henderson and Tom Comstock -- I wish you the very best of success and if there's anything I can do to help you succeed, I'm here to help.
To Apriso's investors -- Brentwood, Dresdner, LogiSpring, CMEA, SAP Ventures -- I hope that in some way I helped you realize the value you saw in Apriso when you bought in. Through you, I came to know new colleagues like Brad Jones, Jim Watson, Frans van Schaik and Jeff Nolan who, as the FBI puts it, have become "persons of interest" in my life. Frans, I will always appreciate the invitations to LogiSpring's annual conference and I hope to be around for many more as a friend.
To my Apriso Asia Pacific team -- Agnes Chua, Bargitta Wang, Ding Bang Man, Ma Jian Jun, Mo Jun, Pankaj Sharma and Wang Xiao Long -- what a privilege it was to work with you! FlexNet is a great product and you know it can dominate the market over here, so I know you will succeed. And while I'm on the topic of my Asia Pacific team, I need to recognise Sachin Bajaj and Sujatha Anand (HCL Technologies), Chuck Kathrein and Mike Grandin (Mustang), Jeffrey Wei (Systron), Leslie Cai (HP) and Jeff Kao (Accenture) as friends who really stepped up to support Apriso's foray into the China market.
Before I came back to Asia, a whole lot of people at Apriso did some terrific work in the early FlexNet implementations that proved what this product can do. I'd especially like to thank my friends Andrew Treanor, Betty Treanor, Dariusz Kudzia, David Austin, Deepa Arumugam, Deepak Sharma, Derek Julien, James Mok, Jean-Luc Delcuvellerie, Krzysztof Kubala, Linda Lammerding, Mel Ramos, Niranjan Reddy, Saurav Ganguly and Wilfrid Lemasson for all their work which proved that FlexNet will work in demanding industrial environments, anywhere.
Of course this post wouldn't be complete without a tremendous "hats off" to the people who got passionate and went heads-on with one another (including me) to build FlexNet, the best commercial off-the-shelf software application I've ever had the pleasure to help create: Andrzej Goryca, Bill Leyden, Chris Will, Jen Lykens, Kevin Sullivan, Nathalie Vergnolle, Pawel Rzadkowski, Waldemar Nowak and Yves Vergnolle.
Last but certainly not least, I want to thank Adam Bartkowski, Carl Hunt and especially Chris Will for getting behind FlexNet with your confidence and support over the past 6 years.
As to what I will do next, wait for a post next week. But anyone who's read my blog through the end of November will have a fair clue as to what it's about.
Dr Seuss, "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish"
"We see them come. We see them go. Some are fast. And some are slow. Some are high. And some are low. Not one of them is like another. Don't ask us why. Go ask your mother ..."
