When I'm not helping clients think about their spirits
brands, frustrations with distributors or plans for global hooch
domination, I spend a decent amount of time working with early
stage and smaller companies in other industries. And since Seattle
is reasonably tech-heavy at this stage (Amazon, Facebook, Google
and Microsoft all have office space within about a 1-mile radius of
my desk), a lot of those clients have aspirations of hockey-stick
growth curves with the potential for an early exit via IPO or
strategic acquisition).
These folks make for fun – if occasionally zany –
clients. I enjoy working with them, and also with my colleagues who
focus their practices exclusively in the startup arena (like this guy). But for those of us who are old
enough to remember the dot-com bust, before which every startup had
at least one foosball table in its lobby, the idea of putting some
adult supervision into the mix doesn't seem like such a bad
thing.
