Reading Listening Absorbing Placing

At times when I used to play chess against my grandfather I thought I could beat him.
I was fast, daring and between moves I incessantly kept on chattering to disrupt his concentration, dare I say I never won, cornering his King, Queen and measly other pawns in no time only to watch shell shocked his houdini acts...

It's the same thing which is happening in business. But this time 20 years older I'm trying to learn the virtues of patience, stealth, and observation. I want to think I'm like the black mamba, I'll gather information, read even more to fill in not only the facts but the links between different businesses, who's sharing with whom, what are the drivers of revenue sharing, absorb the weaknesses which my partners have and then judiciously strike where the weakness in the link is the highest.

I was brought up through strict catholic upbringing to believe in honesty, straightforwardness and ethics. I've got to change these to trust through suspicion, guile and defining what ethical means. There are choices I need to make in life. I can't depend on the providential state system to bail me out, there is only one goal I pursue ... starting my business.

I met a guy in Grenoble after chatting 4 months with him on skype for CTO role. He's technical without being geekie, understands the cost benefits of open source projects and the horrible problems it might bring. He's actually deployed 1000 screen network in Switzerland in petrol stations and is actively pursuing the dream of integrating intelligence in digital signage.

In Malaysia we've looked at our competition and in a few weeks will be happy to announce some good news.

On the investment front our drive to find the 1.1 million US$ continues. We've sent the business plan to MAVCAP, and to a few high net worth individuals. We're looking at the debt side of things also and come next week I'll be knocking on doors of some highly ranked individuals.

And on the client side we're working on a prospectus we could send to people who've approached us for pilot projects.

At times, I do get lonely and disencouraged. Is all this scarifice really worth it. I could have been a Investment banker or in a General Management role in a firm... and then I remind myself of a higher goal, I think of the parable which always struck me for its brutal honesty ... that of the multiplication of talents, and I strive on.