For those of you on the Denver SQL Server User Group e-mail list, you probably heard the news I am stepping down and aside from being President from January to April and will be back in May 2017.
Nothing bad has happened, thank God. On the contrary- something wonderful.
In September of last year (2016) I became aware of a spare time opportunity for start-up founders. Denver and the Front Range here in Colorado have slowly been becoming a hot-bed of start-up activity over the last several years. It now has several incubators, programs, co-working spaces and the like that did not exist. But none of them fit my full-time work schedule.
Years ago, I worked on my Masters degree in Information Systems at UCD in the evening and while I do have a Certificate of Entrepreneurship which I received during that time pursuing my graduate degree, it was nothing like the pressure cooker/crucible I am about to jump into…
The program I found (or stumbled across) is being offered through The Founder Institute and on Twitter: @founding
I applied and I got accepted!
But it comes at a significant cost. While I will be able to keep my full-time job during the four month program, literally EVERY other minute of my time is going to be hyper-focused on this program.
So that means several things had to give.
This past semester has seen me absent more and more from time with Boy Scouts. I also have had to decrease my teaching time and commitments as a Sunday School teacher at my church and as a youth leader too going into 2017. My desire to submit for SQL Saturday speaking opportunities needed to be put on hold during this time. And I needed to free up other time which includes stepping down as President from DSSUG for a while.
Marc Beacom is going to cover for me while I am gone. He is a successful entrepreneur of his own company datalere.com and I know he will do well.
It’s not like I’m stepping off the face of the earth but it does feel like that to me. I love volunteering, presenting, and helping others but I have a chance to flesh out an idea of using virtual reality (VR) to help people by giving them hope and comfort through unique and personalized experiences.
So I’ll be out of sight for a while and then I’ll be back.
Until then, Cheers!
–Todd Kleinhans
