My Dying Words: Please, Someone Build Passdown

Ahh, another long day at my pc, building the Passdown company. After struggling through the weekend, attempting to fix a website problem. The thought kept crossing my mind to scratch it. Delet it! Get rid of the mother fucker! 

I lived through the local area swat team pointing their assault weapon at me on Saturday.

As much as they seemed serious, in all honesty, I was so depressed about so many things in our startup that, I didn't realize till I saw the photo that I was a target, and that one pull on the trigger could have silenced my life. I probably wouldn't have cared much. My dying words would have been. Please, someone build Passdown.

On Monday I did it. I deleted my old website and started building the new one. More problems presented and irritated me, yet it was looking to be a better site. I'm no designer and I do not have knack for it. It's another one of the many things you have to do, because your startup has no money to pay someone to do it. The list is long in this area! What is the saying? I can do all, but I'm not the expert in anything? Something like that. 

Passdown has a great team now. Wael, Jie, Tesmond, and I. Yet we all have day jobs and other responsibilities. It's super hard to build a startup in the beginning. That borderline of keeping the day job to survive can almost never be let go of. It pushes the entrepreneur to extremes. When can you make the choice to commit to the startup one hundred percent? You can't, unless you get traction or funding. Super hard to get either of those. That's another mountain we climb. How do we get traction? Well we can, without funding. So I don't worry about traction as much as I worry about getting funding so my team can afford to quit their day jobs and go on a journey with me. It's hell. It's worse than getting an assault weapon pointed at you. It's way worse. Traction seems to be our only answer. Traction won't be easy but if we can nab that without funding, than we will have put ourselves in the best possible position to succeed.

That cold hard bullet pointed at you. That's a startup. The risk we take may not be life threatening, but we are always on this brink of life or death. Most of our startups fail. So sad. That's the death part. The ones that succeed,that's the life part. Most of us entrepreneurs know the death part pretty well. 

The Startup Graveyard.

Seek traction, and don't worry about funding. The key is TRACTION. And that can be achieved with minimal funds and no funding.

Thank You Startup Gods!

Ahh, as founder I go through all kinds of emotions building a startup.  Probably more than the treps who join me. I have never joined another teams startup, that is my next adventure if Passdown fails. Yep, I have already decided I'm going to help someone else build their fantasy. But that's a ways down the road. For now I have to manage the hoopla for Passdown.

I'm in a very interesting place with Passdown. First, when I made the decision to chase Passdown, it was only to develop a test site to see if people wanted such a service. But that got blown out of the water by the few people I told the vision too, those early adopters. Oh, yeah I still have a test site, and right now it's in a big mess, as I spent the day hacking it up to get rid of all my excessive talking! I'm building the second test site, you know you have to have A/B testing! So I have two test sites to either build or redo. On top of that I am building the Passdown team. Oh, I'm doing so many things, it's crazy.

Today was  beautiful in Denver. It was seventy degrees, and if you look at my last post you will see I went through some trauma, with being trapped in a active crime, police zone. But all the while before that, I was pretty down. My mind was fighting the doubt of Passdown. The naysayers were yelling in my head. The Venture Capitalist were wrinkling their faces and saying you suck! The personal self beating of the mind was taking place along side the crime scene. I wasn't really afraid of getting shot, as I didn't really care at that point. A wild gunman shooting me was like nothing to the crap in my head. Of course I didn't want to be shot by the cops, as that never turns out good. But a wild gunman on the loose is a bit sexier. He can shoot me, but the cops cannot!

Safely home, I wanted to curl up into a cocoon and not come out for six months. Yeah, humbug. I figured out what I need to do to fix my current test site problems. So that gave me some sort of relief from my brains beating down on me. Then I got an email. Wha wha what? Another developer wants to be apart of Passdown! Well Damn! I just asked the startup Gods the other day if they would send me developers who want to work on Passdown and two request have been sent in the same week! Hallelujah!

   

How is that even possible? My 90% profile has been on Cofounderslab for six months now. It's a crappy profile and I don't care to fix it. In the first few months of being on Cofounderslab I reached out to many developers and none of them have ever responded back to me. You see developers in America don't have too, they don't need work. They can get any job they want for top pay. They do not need to work for equity.

We have a shortage of developers in America. To me when none I sought out replied, I felt like dirt. I felt like my idea must be bunk. But now, developers are reaching out to me. Hmmm, something changed, and that was my test site, and of course the Startup Gods, who ever they are. I believe they heard my prayer. I believe, because building a startup is believing in the unknown. It's believing in building something that has a certain idea, but that idea will be shaped and changed along the way. It's believing in an uncertainty as a possibility. 

I was so excited to read this developers email. This person was so excited about my idea. This person could see that Passdown has something truly unique, yet the growth opportunity is not only worldwide, but Passdown finds a market right there in front our faces. 

I cannot be more thankful for this email at a time my mind was butchering me. This beating I take is not new to me. It's my startup minds design. I will always be tormented. Sometimes I wonder if the torment will end if I am successful, but I bet not. I cannot create without the tormentor. Sometimes I wonder how I live with the tormentor, but I always do. It's the someone who replied to my request. It's the Venture Capitalist who said yes, it's the gunman who didn't take my life. It all works out, even though the suffering, can be grueling. 

Successful Founders Are Insane

I keep this statement taped to the wall in my startup office. It says

"Most successful founders tend to work on ideas that few besides them realize are good. Which is not that far from a description of insanity, till you reach the point where you see results.  Paul Graham"

It's funny how true this is. It explains exactly who I am. Mostly I'm insane. If you went through my startup closest you would find quite a few of these types of ideas of mine. To me the vision is never completely clear, yet it's always more clear to me than anyone else.

Find Us At passdownapp.com

The art of taking your idea and getting others to believe in it enough to join you in your insanity quest is like painting the picture for each person individually and the painting never comes out as an exact duplicate. It's leaving my brain at eleven million milliseconds and entering into the others at a much slower rate. They are processing the idea all the while I'm still adding more paint. Sometimes when I tell someone about Passdown, it strikes me and other pieces to the paintings puzzle is revealed. The person I told doesn't know that. Only I do. Shhh

This is where you get the revelers who express joy in your idea, and the scoffers who just cannot grasp the vision. It's a hard place for us treps to be. At least for me it is. In my last post I had asked the startup Gods to send me developers and for the Broncos to win. In seconds the Bronco's won! But I didn't put much hope into finding developers as they are in high demand. They do not need to work for free, on someones insanity vision. Okay there are no startup Gods, but it's a nice thing to believe in. Exactly twenty four hours later I received my second request answered. Woah! maybe they're really are startup Gods?

A very kind developer stated "This is a good idea" and I want to know more about it. He also offered his extensive developing background. Whoa, whoa, whoa. You see I take delight in the person who see's something in the idea of Passdown. The people who do this, fit into the quote above. They see, and realize something is good. And they want to be apart of it.

Sometimes Things That Do Not Make Sense Are The Best.

Honestly I've seen the vision of Passdown about one hundred years into the future. I've seen humanity using it, talking about it, sharing it, in the future. I've pictured many of the problems Passdown will have to overcome. I've invented code algorithms in my head even though I do not code. I've seen what it will do for humanity in it's most precious form. I've overlooked from the balcony at the ones who will get greedy. Yeah, I'm still in the magical aura of Passdown. Yeah, it's still just an idea. But it growing. It's taking roads where schoffers do not walk. It's riding right up the path to the user soul. And the users will say if it's a go. No one else has any say in it, not even my team. 

Yep, it's the road of uncertainty, lined with users. For now they tell us to build, so we will do that.

Looking For A Trailer Trash Accelerator

I was chatting with my lawyer and he was sorry my team did not get selected for Y Combinator's winter program. I was feeling pretty down about many things going on in my life lately, not just the YC disappointment. I was feeling as if I had lived my life as nothing more than a dreamer who always fails. I big fat failure. Some sort of white trash pathetic loser. Why do I think I can go up against all those other teams filled with brilliant people who know how to spell and write a paper with no grammar mistakes?

To think I would ever have a chance at getting into the number one accelerator in the world, well that's just a false dream of hope in my head. As we chatted I said that no accelerator would ever accept me into their program unless it was a trailer trash accelerator. I have a long list of skills and all of them are about as good, as useless. If any one of them stood out strong enough maybe it could carry me. As you can see, I'm still feeling sorry for myself! I hate falling into self pity, but when your entire life has a closet full of failed startups, among a long list of ofter disappointments, well maybe I'm justified to feel down for a bit.

My team is carrying on with Passdown. We are working on many things, including getting the app built and released. I'm building an alternate website to do A/B testing, I'm also deciding if we should split the company into two. A nonprofit for the data storage side and a for profit for the social network auction side. 

This morning I stopped by Fort Logan National Cemetery to film an info video about

Passdown. It was just a test day. It was a beautiful -4 degrees fahrenheit. The video test gave me some great info. First I recorded the entire thing upside down. That's because I rigged up a car cell phone holder to a pole and when I snapped in my cell, I didn't realize it was upside down. I suppose that's the trailer trash side of me at work. I could use my tripod and camera, but my cell seems to take better photos and videos. 

If you know of any trailer trash accelerators, let me know, I will apply! ; - )

Startup Accelerators VS: The Voice

I love watching The Voice. It's incredible beautiful to watch singers take the risk to display their talents; to not only be judged by four judges but the television audience. People everywhere watching them succeed or fail.

As I watch The Voice I can't help but picture each contestant as a single startup applying for a shot at acceptance into an incubator. I witness great singers pick the wrong song, that just doesn't sound so good when they sing it. My ears can hear how great their voice is, and then when the competition sings next, I wither into what I know is coming for the other singer. I suffer the anguish of the impending AXE off the show.

I know this walk. It's my team applying to an accelerator. Oh we are good. It's just that we played the game, and picked the wrong song to sing, as this happens on The Voice.

Shark Tank is sort of The Voice for startups. It's that chance to sing your song, and be pushed into greatness or be slung into the pile of “Nah, not so great”

This is the road us entrepreneurs walk. Often times this rejection, scorn, and judgment can put me into a deep sorrow. I may stay in it for days, but surely this doom teaches me something.

While in the pit, my mind wanders all over the place. I take in all the

discomforts and search for my ladder. What is it that I must learn to get to the place I want to take Passdown? How can I help the team? How can I reach the people? How can we sing our song? Can we make it flawless? Can we take the judgment and shape it into something better than we presented? 


Of course we can.

Birth And Death Rate Research Is Iteresting

I am doing research for Passdown, my current startup. We need to know the death rate in the US and the World. the only current info the Center for Disease and Prevention has is from 2011. What about the two years in between then and now? Of course 2014 is not over so we can't count it. Where is the current info, for 2012 and 2013? 

Here are some interesting snippets I took.

 and this was also old data from 2011 from some random site. I found it interesting to think that 107 people die per minute worldwide. WOW, have you even thought that every minute someone was passing away? I never think about that, sometimes I have wondered how many people were having sex at any given moment, but I have never thought about death. Do any of us? 

Can you imagine that 150 thousand people die each day worldwide? Yeah, that's pretty easy to imagine for me. But 150 people die each minute is hard to picture. 

Y Combinator Anxiety Has Passed

As my team and I await the answer coming up on October 28th, as to the decision if Y Combinator will invite Passdown to be interviewed for a potential spot in the winter 2015 program, somehow I'm finally at peace with it.

My soul as flip flopped back and forth between "We're gettin the invite" or "We have no chance in hell". It's been an agonizing pressure on my spirit. 

For some reason today, I feel complete at peace with it, no matter what the answer is come next Tuesday. I woke up to find Wael's email saying he had a dream last night of being in San Francisco. That was a nice morning email. I would not tell him my dreams, as I had a few this week with people getting shot in the head. Ugg, nightmares that make no sense. Disturbing that they were in my head in the first place. I do need a dream of walking the streets of China Town at the minimum. Even the Golden Gate Bridge would be a pleasant image in my sleeping brain.

Back to work, doing all I can to build Passdown into something grand!

Strange Places Startup Ideas Come From

Today is my twin brothers birthday. We are not literal twins. We grew up close. I am the last person in the family to have seen him physically, the last one to talk to him on the phone, and the very last contact was a text. I had deleted it to clean up my cell data, but I think he said "yes" to a question I had asked him asked him.

Three Years Old

This is his first 'rest in peace' birthday. As I have mentioned in other post, that we are still waiting for the Mesa County coroner's office to receive test back as to the cause of death. He was found in his apartment decomposed. No one had missed him in life, and it's pretty much due to the fact he withdrew from all of us as he had so much trouble living with the shame he put on himself for wasting his life on alcohol. 

In High School

He had not spoken to his two beautiful grown children in four years. He just couldn't,even though they held not one shred of resentment or anger towards him. He slowly let go of every person in his life, except me. I was the last. I had not recognized the game. He had asked for personal space as he needed to heal he said. I honored his request, forgetting about suicide thoughts tricky little maneuvers. (Make everyone think you are fine, when you are not) These last six months of waiting for the coroner's office to call and give us something to rest our ever flip flopping thoughts on has been tough. 

I do not know why it's so important to know the answer, yet it is. The one answer I dread is that the lab results will be inconclusive, and they will never know why he died on his bathroom floor with the sink water running. I just don't want that answer.

One Of The Few Photo's Found On His PC

Because of his death, I created Passdown, the startup Wael my cofounder and I have applied to Y Combinator for. When you visit the Passdown website you will find a video of his actual apartment exactly the way it was when they found his body. It would be great if you would wish him Happy Birthday,and sign the beta list in his honor today, tomorrow, and as soon as you can. Passdown is going to be a service you and your loved one's are going to be grateful for,one day. 

Passdown is super COOL and it has a SUPER cool bonus factor to it. Wael and I do believe you are going to love it. In some twisted way, my brother gave me a gift, to build for you. The strange places great startup ideas come from.

~ Happy Birthday Mark ~

 Love You

Yeah, I'm Applying To Y Combinator..Again

Last year when I applied to Y Combinator, I had all these ridiculous superstitions. The first one was, "don't tell anyone" as if that would somehow jinks me from getting in.

A year has gone by and so has the startup I applied for. I have a brand new startup and it's so very new and crisp. It's hardly out of my brain and it's wowing people. I have spoken about this reaction I am getting to this startup as a reaction like no other startup I have built. I have said that it seems to make people get this sparkly look in their eyes and a magical expression on there face. 

As a trep building failure after failure, this is a very odd place for me to be standing. Is it I have figured out how to sell people? Or is it that I have been blessed by the startup gods to create something people will want? Yeah, they might not know they want it, but when a person experiences the awe of it, they, usually, SPARKLE. It's really weird to me. Cause I've always lived in the world of rejection. The world of people wrinkling their forehead at me. This startup does not have that effect at all. It's an effect I have never seen.

I was at my day job today and I ran into Myra whom was the first person to light up and announce "I want to be a part of Passdown." Here she was again so lit up, tell me about your presentation! I told her how explosive perfectly it went, and she looked me dead center in the eye again and said "Cause this is supposed to be" "it's supposed to be" 

In a weird way I think "I wish I knew what she knew" cause to me Passdown seems like all my other ideas, just some desire to make the world better,a passion built in me. Just something I chase, like I always have. 

Yet, Passdown is breaking down paths on it's own. Blasting into life, it is. When I change the website, when I figure out how to say it to the masses. When people fully can walk in the light of what Passdown is. Yeah, they will be like Myra, and so many others. It's something for all of us. It's something amazing, that will impact the world. I do know that. The thing is I have the failure list on me. What if I can't reach people, and show them how cool Passdown is? What if I fail at the traction part? What if this beautiful baby dies, cause I didn't know how to be a successful entrepreneur? These thoughts haunt me as I pursue on.

I am in the process of applying to Y Combinator. I would like it if I could turn in my application right now, but I'm fine tuning. I want to present Passdown in the best possible light. Yes, they want to know about me, blah! It's Passdown that carries the shine. It's Passdown that makes people sparkle. I'm just the vessel it chose to deliver it. And I want to deliver it best I can, for you. Cause if Passdown gets built all people will enjoy it's gift. All people will be grateful. I can't rush, on building this gift for you. 

Therefore I am not worried about jinxing this years application to Y Combinator, with weird ritual fantasy's my mind creates. My team has the same chance as any team. I do believe that the people of Y Combinator read every application. None of us are trash to them. They give every idea respect. If your team and my team are not chosen. Go forth and keep building, cause a different path awaits! There is always a path, even if it's not the one you wanted to go down.

Personally I started a thing on my blog about Y Combinator, I thought I should apply every year to Y Combinator until I'm 90 years old. It think this will be a good thing to blog about. "The woman who applies to Y Combinator every year, and never gets in" Then finally when she is 90 she gets in. Now that's a story! 

Why Not? I learn something about myself and others each time I apply. Lets keep a good thing going ~ I'll let you know the day I hit SUBMIT. : - )

Being Called Brilliant: A Founders Smile

I've been working my ass off, since the voices in my head started whispering to me the ideas to build Passdown. The days of endless creating have captured me into the ideas amazing gift. 

As the founder of Passdown, I'm five hundred miles ahead of where you will pick up the Passdown vision. Oh yeah, I've gone down the fantasy road in my head, thinking about every single thing that could be possible. 

The magical joy and sparkly look in peoples eyes when they hear about Passdown is very pleasing to me, yet the place I'm at with Passdown is even more mind blowing to me, that I sometimes feel like an alien has invaded my body and is the one responsible for this incredibleness.

The other day Jared from Name.com called me brilliant. WOW, that's so hard for me to swallow. When I think of a brilliant person I think of Brad Feld, now he is a genius. Me, a person who is mathematical and grammar challenged, how could I be brilliant? It must be that alien in me. 

I felt honored to be called brilliant. It gave me a blushing smile private to myself. I know what I have in front of me to do. Build a big ass company. Spread Passdown to every connected person, so that they too can get magical and sparkly, and feel the joy that just a few have experienced.

May Passdown capture the earth and give humanity this brilliance that is seeping out of me. ~ 

Presenting Passdown At Denver Startup Week

I've been working my butt off creating 20 slides with 15 seconds in between them to present Passdown on Insight Night,during the upcoming Denver Startup Week. 

Somehow luck fell in my path. It was an email that I had almost overlooked as it was in my 'promotions' folder. That's the folder people want to sell you stuff in. Who looks at that as important?

My email system is to look at it daily, clear out the useless, respond to the needed,and be captured by those daring enough to take risk like I.

So there it was some man asking to know what my startup was and if it could inspire the world. I was so busy in the mind building my new startup Passdown that I didn't really read the email thoroughly. So I had thought he wanted to know what my company did. 

I shot off some fast typed email to him and told him exactly what Passdown was. And for some reason, I added the statement. "Hope I don't get picked" as I knew it was some kind of presentation to the public, but I really didn't give that much thought. I just knew, I haven't spoken in front of crowd since I was in eighth grade, and yes, my knees actually did knock. It was an unpleasant experience burned into my memory.

The next day Jared from Name.com wrote back and said "I hope you do get picked, I have not thought of this" 

I got picked. At moments I am terrified to speak in front of crowd. I have no experience doing it. But then that is what us founders face in the entire startup build. A founder has to wear so many hats, and yeah, some of those hats are really uncomfortable. 

Truly, I am excited to share with Denver StartUp Week, what seems to excite people immensely. My new startup Passdown. It is a baby startup, hardly two and half months old and this baby is making peoples eye's sparkle. It's making them act in ways I have never seen. When to me, it's just another idea I am chasing. With a ton of work to be done, risk to take, mistakes that feel like endless agony, problems to be solved, people to meet, triumphs followed by despair....yeah to me it's just another one of my crazy ideas. 

All my ideas have always had one thing in them for me. It's my gift I want to give humanity. Yes, I'm always wanting to help people, in some massive way. It just seems this is what one must do. I must do it. This sparkle in peoples eyes for Passdown, yes, it pleases me. Maybe Passdown is the ache inside me to build for you. Maybe it will be the one.

I don't know. I'm looking forward to finding out.  

   

Magical Feelings Of A Startup Rising

How can I say it? I shake my head in disbelief for what my mind keeps telling me makes no sense. Yet all my senses are turning up the joy, the pleasure, the amazement. I keep asking myself, what in the hell did I come up up with in my latest startup build, that makes people respond like I have never seen or felt?

I've chased ideas my whole life, and the reactions were always the same. People smiled and said, "that sounds nice" 

With Passdown it's different. Something about the idea is resonating with people. I'm.... I'm, so taken aback. Are they really saying these words to me? At times I feel as if I have died and that I'm in some sort of time warp and the fantasy I chased all my life is playing for me to ease my pain as I go into the next world. Except it's not. It's real life. I'm breathing. 

I do not know what Passdown has, that none of my other ideas, inventions,or projects didn't have. 

People seem to have some kind of magical face of happiness when they hear about it. Oh, almost certainly, this is a reaction I have never experienced. It puts me into this place where I think, I must be dead! No one likes my ideas, no one ever has! 

Here it is upon me. This is just the beginning. I go on long walks and think about all these positive reactions people are having to Passdown. If this is just the beginning,then what will the future open up into? Oh yeah, I have the same fantasy as every VC, "It's the Next Google, The next Facebook, The next Apple" 

Those are the Magical Organic Miracles that propel all of Startups and VC's to keep searching, keep seeking that very beautiful Pot Of Gold! 

I don't know what the future is going to be for Passdown. The thing I do know is that, something is happening to me. The people are responding like I have never seen. There must be something in Passdown. I don't know what it is, but for now it feels like the magical dream we are searching for in the startup world. And heck, I like this feeling on my body, as shocking as it feels to me. It's way better, then "oh that sounds nice"

A Founders Nerves: Taking The Stage

Wow, Passdown is a very different startup then my last one DigiThin. I'm meeting people from around the world who are excited about it's potential. Yesterday I met someone from my home town Denver. 

Denver startup week is coming up in September and someone sent me an invite to present my startup on stage. Well, I didn't think much about it, and shot off some sloppy scraps of data and told the man what Passdown is. I didn't realize until later I was supposed to send a pitch. Woops. It wasn't really a pitch, it was just the facts of what Passdown is, and some snippets of the web site build. I also included in my note "I hope I don't get picked, I'll be nervous to be on stage" 

Yep, just the thought of having to be on stage in front of an audience makes my stomach ache. Terror fills my mind. 

Myself, I love going to pitching events. I've been to a few. It's really great to go to these type of events as a founder, you can learn how to pitch when watching others. I've seen great pitches and the sad ones that didn't make sense and the person bombed! That's my fear! Making a complete fool of myself and not being able to pitch the company in a good light. 

Surprisingly the man sent an email back to me and said "I hope you do get picked, this is something I had not thought much about!" and we will help you so you won't be as nervous. 

Uhh Ohhh, I could be in serious "nervous hell trouble." Here it is, what a founder must do. A founder has to wear many hats. A founder has to do all kinds of things they don't want to do.I remember how much I hated all the legal paperwork, filing documents with the government. There is a ton of things when building a business that I do not like, and speaking in front of a crowd is at the top of my list! 

I have to remember it's for Passdown not me. If I do get picked to be one of the presenters getting my scared as hell ass on stage would only benefit Passdown. It may open up some doors. Doors that lead to additional team members. Doors that help bring the service to you. 

The only thing I have going for me to not get picked is my sloppy submission. The only thing I have going for Passdown to get picked is, well, it seems to be a startup idea that makes people excited around the world! 

I'll let you know if I have to take the stage! Yikes! I think I might vomit right now!

The Story Of This Startups 2090 Man

2090 Man

As I have been building Passdown, there is a page in the web site called The Year 2090. It's a look into the future. Seventy Six years from now. On this page is a list of currently used Social Networks as well as some made up networks or apps of the future. Here is the list.

Twitter: 1.7 MM Followers

WhisperApp: 19 MM Replies, 28 MM Hearts 11 MM Whispers

Facebook: 5 K Friends

Facebook Business: 842K Likes

FoundMe: 11 K Negotiations 20 K Nods

Pinterest: 4 MM Followers 9oo K Pins 12 K Repins

LinkedIN: 2.9 MM Connections

Youtube: 920 Videos 1189 Subscriptions

Medium:1200 Post, 879 Unpublished Posts

Mobile Apps Galore:69

3Yobitor:7 Externals 1 Completion

StrappyApp: 4 K Straps

Gmail:157 K Sent 224 K Received

CountTheStairs:7 K Accomplishments

Vine: 30 K Likes, 55 K Comments, 48 K Loops, 211 KRevines

Instagram: 28 K Followers, 22 K Post

Blogger: 28 K Post, 14 K Unpublished

Tumblr: 48 K Followers, 32 K Post

Wiggle:19 K Wiggles

GeeVee: 10 MM Compliments, 17 MM Encouragements

It might be hard to imagine someone having these high numbers in any of their network accounts. Yet the social internet hasn't been around for seventy six years. Maybe 20 years since we first starting getting connected to the World Wide Web. It's important for you to look at the future to understand what Passdown is. 

You see I had this problem on the right side of the list was a great big blank spot. So I needed a decoration and my graphics man Sultan, came up with 2090 Man. He is sort of the unofficial mascot now. He's so cute.

Passdown will be launching the beta sign up in September. We have so much to build for you. We at Passdown are very excited about your future.  

Benefits Of A Power Outage

The following is an email I recieved from my friend and team member in Egypt. During our work back in forth between two countries and across an ocean. We must wait out the power outage before we can communicate again.

Jana,

I read what you have said about the power outage in Egypt... you know what ? there are a lot of benefits from this outage :

- Gathering the family around the battery lamp enforce the family links 

- Enforcing the cardiac and the pulmonary system as you must use the stairs instead of using the lift ( my apartment is in the 17^thfloor ) ,

and losing some weights too.

- Increasing other senses than sight , as touching and smelling and from what I see ,  we will evolve soon to Bats . 

- Increasing the faith part in our lives , when the power cuts off , we all say "Oh my God" ( I add "#$%@!" but not in front of my daughter of course ) , and when it returns back , we all say "Thank you God."

I can fill a glass of water in a complete darkness without falling a drop out of the glass , can you do that ?!

I can do it :D

I felt jealous when you said that only your lawyer and your colleague at work understand what is Passdown , I understand the idea, but I want you to explain it to me as you explain it to a 5 years old boy .

I consider myself as a part of your team and I don't want to feel that I am missing something.:)

Have a brilliant day and I will be looking forward to your reply.

Best regards.

 Sultan

*It's not that I do not think Sultan knows what Passdown is. I know he knows. I really have not told many people about it. I will be launching it in September then the world can judge the idea. It was more that when I had told my lawyer and this colleague at work, it was their reaction to it, that had surprised me. I spent two years telling people what DigiThin was and not one person had the reaction of more than " Oh that sounds nice" No one got excited about DigiThin. To see this reaction to Passdown, well, it took me back. It shocked me, it made me see that Passdown has the potential to be a real company that helps people. And with Sultan on the team how could it not be a great company? Someone who turns the power outage struggle into an opportunity for other advancements in life. I am moving to Egypt, I need to lose some weight! 

Life And Passdown

It is everything to be filled up with the meeting of you. Yeah you, the reader of these very words. How I hope to meet you one day, I truly do. As I love meeting people.

Building startups has allowed me the blessing of meeting so many people around the world and my country. I had to seek out help from others to help me. With my new startup build Passdown, again I am meeting all kinds of wonderful people, with stories of LIFE. Yes, this makes me so happy.

Greg whom helps me learn how to use Wordpress among other things has just had his first born. This delights me to see his joy in the miracle of love. I also am impressed with is unique skills he has developed to help entrepreneurs. 

Sultan whom lives in Egypt has been a rock in this build. I cannot tell you the amazing man he is. He is my graphic man for this build. We have come to know each other in just a few short weeks. I do not watch the news for the most part, so I do not know of the struggles Egypt is facing. They have scheduled power outages as there is not enough power for the country in the hot season. Sultan had a tooth that needed to be fixed, and while at the dentist office, the dentist had to use a battery lamp. Wow, I can't imagine living in a country with a power shortage issue. My power only goes out because of a storm or some car crashing into a power source. Sultan tells me how water and fuel are just around the corner for his country. : - /

I find these difficulties he has to live with daily as an extra bonus to who he is. He makes light of it, and I laugh a world away from him. But in my heart I am compelled to put myself in his shoes and walk the road of these struggles.

Can I imagine being at the dentist on back up power? With a flashlight perhaps? No. 

I'm getting so close to releasing Passdown to you. It's for everyone who is connected. I have my fears that you might not like it or understand it. But I kinda think you will. After all, gifted people from around the world are helping me build it for you. I believe that when people create together, the idea becomes a living thing. The idea takes a little piece of life out of all the people who contribute to the build and turns it into, well, AMAZING.

Life ~ even in our suffering it is the gift I embrace. 

Keep dreaming and building your startups!