The hat I’m wearing now
Yes, since the beginning of the last hiatus I have been devoting myself to a new startup, Zomega Terahertz Corporation. It has consumed all of my free time and continues to do so. I’m the CEO of the Corporation, but I will tell you that as a small business, where there are only a handful of people involved, everyone wears alot of hats. I still laugh about it, but one experience I had back in early January of 2007 really brought this home for alot of the people that I interact with here at the Center for THz Research at Rensselaer.
We were racing to finish our latest prototype of the mini-Z 1000, a portable, compact turnkey THz spectrometer that we were going to be showing at Photonics West in San Jose, CA later in the month. When I say racing, I’m not exaggerating at all, there were plenty of long days and nights leading up to that show, and we didn’t have enough time or people to get everything done that we would have liked. Add into this mix a prototype that continued to develop knew quirks and problems just as quickly as we could fix the old ones! At one point we were trying to get the focused transmission mode working (thats where a lens focuses a collimated THz beam into a tight spot on a sample, and on the other side a second lens re-collimates the beam for processing), and I was sanding down the backside of a high density polyethylene lens so that it would fit in the holder… there was quite a bit of material to remove, and I had white powder all over the place, and my fingers rubbed raw from working the lens. At this point, one of the students from the Center walks in and sees me.
“Aren’t you the CEO?” he asked, sounding puzzled.
“Yes, it’s a glamorous job, isn’t it?” I smiled. Definitely not what he was expecting.
It’s not part of the job description, but it’s what has to happen in a small organization to perform. I’d argue that larger organizations would benefit from executives getting into the trenches now and then, and not just for photo opportunities. Herb Kelleher, founder and one-time CEO of Southwest Airlines, certainly would agree. Having an understanding and connection with the operational parts of a business form an organizational culture and competency that can become a competitive asset, as Southwest Airlines has proven.
We’re starting to grow, and I expect we’ll be adding quite a bit of talent to Zomega over then new year. I hope to share some of our growing experiences with you, even if our competitors might be reading (Hi guys!). More to come…