Sunday, January 2, 2011

One of our senior managers wrote this to our colleagues on Saturday - News Year's Day - "Even after getting a call at 12:30am this morning EST, we got them to the finish line." When I read it I felt immensely proud. It exemplifies the number one principle of WorldAPP's culture - "To Be Of Service". WorldAPP is an interesting company for sure. June 27th this year will mark the 10th anniversary of the day my good friend and partner Stan Liachev and I shook hands and decided to start an Internet company. What a long and winding road it has been. No venture capital. No Facebook, Twitter or other amazing innovation to lay claim to. Just a will and a determination to succeed. Back in those days my partner used to pick up his heavy desktop computer every night and carry it home so he could keep working with our developers in Kiev. (He invented "mobile computing" LOL) Stan knew no other way than to just go forward. I have learned so much from that man. Perhaps the best lesson was the one that allowed us to get version 1.0 out the door. It happened after he "quit" one day because of my incessant changes to the application which kept delaying release. He came back as mad as a man as gentle as Stan can ever be and got me to commit to the concept of "sufficient minimum". Just shoot for "sufficient minimum" he pleaded so that we can at least see if the market wants what we offer. Well the market responded and WorldAPP is a thriving creative enterprise today because of Stan's great efforts. So let me start the New Year by tipping my hat to a great partner and great professional - Stan you are a blessing in my life and the true definition of what it is to be a "gentle-man".

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