To those of you who know me, perhaps you’ve noticed that I always have a lot of ideas in my head (some grand, some not so much). By nature though, if you keep thinking, the ideas seem to coalesce: the bad ideas fade by natural selection, the small ones become parts of the larger, and the larger ones become grander still. The goal has always been, as the voice of my teacher Jim Hollan repeatedly urges me in my head: create new paradigms - new ways of thinking about familiar things. I think that I have finally done it.

Recently, I’ve created an opportunity for myself. I’ve quit my day job (I’ll still continue my night one) to focus on the ideas that have amazingly gelled together over all these years. I’ve thought it over for many months and have decided that the time to start my own company is now; it’s never been better.

This site is about the beginnings of that new company. Stealing a quote from John Battelle, I intend “to be as transparent as I can afford to be about the company and its intentions…” I am decidedly a novice, so this site will be about the motions of starting my own business and the lessons that I learn along the way. Hopefully, your comments and feedback will help.

For now, the company is named “TripTie” because it seems to fit well. It is a Travel business that focusses on the increasingly web-savy lifestyle of the leisure traveller. I plan to broker deals with existing web-travel companies (like Expedia, Travelocity, or Orbitz) to utilize their booking mechanisms. In return, I am sure that they will see a bump in newly brand-loyal travelers.

TripTie was inspired by the many places that I’ve been and the many things that I’ve learned from the many people that I’ve met: most recently, from my co-workers at Time Inc. and America Online; before, from traveling around the country while working for Pfizer Pharmaceuticals; before that, getting to know the audience of Harley Davidson riders; and all of my comrades at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of California at San Diego. I can’t list them all.

As for the current state of affairs, I am currently busy writing the business plan, researching my competitive landscape, and getting the details of the business down. I am looking for partners and investors (more on that soon). And if you have read this far, I hope I have whetted your appetite for some more. Onward Ho!