The Good News, Linux Fans, is Venture Capital Is Harder to Find

I had the good fortune to work for a company that never got VC funding. Not that they weren't trying; in 2000, just as the dot-com bubble finally burst, they were looking fast and furious for outside money. It never arrived, and in December all non-executives were laid off.

Several twists and turns in my life later, I got an email from my old boss, saying they had weathered the storms, landed a few lucrative customers, and had a cash flow once again. Would I be interested in coming back?

It was one of the smarter things I've done in my life. Going back to that company a second time paid off handsomely, both in $$$ and in knowledge.

I left later for personal reasons, but I found out before I left that they were about to be bought out by a larger company. The advertising budget, which had been a thorn in our side, was suddenly no longer a concern: the primary product would be integrated with other, more mature products, and introduced to a raft of willing customers; and the purchasing company already had a fantastic system in place to support the new line-up.

I don't know what the purchase price was, and I would want to know only out of academic curiosity. I *do* know that it was a welcome transition for the guys who had held on, through thick and thin, to the idea that they could make a difference.

And someday, within my lifetime, I expect to see their new idea of encrypting every single file become standard practice for those who care about security.