Paul Amery

May I wish a Merry Christmas to my blogees. Or Happy Holidays if you prefer.

Christmas and significant life events (marriage, redundancy etc) are sparks that re-ignite our natural need to connect and be part of a community. I’m a fairly active socialite and networker, but recent events have moved me up a gear. Reading this blog is itself an expression of a need to connect & strengthen our self-security through knowledge. C.S Lewis once wrote “we read to know we are not alone”

2 articles & sites have interested me recently related to the issue of how to connect and measure my network.

1. Robert Scoble’s post on how his connections add value to him, and their preferred media for connecting. Interesting read, perhaps more notably by the absence of Skype, or email for that matter
2. Last month I started playing with Xing’s new tool, MyNetworkValue (MNV) which associates a $$ value to your social network after your enter a series of questions. I like the tools and the idea, but it lacks sophistication right now and something like this really should be integrated into platforms such as Linked in where it becomes directly relevant. Still, it’s fun to see who has the highest MNV in your team at work or amongst friends.

Wouldn’t it be interesting to see people quoting their MNV on resumes in future. We hear the cliche “It’s not what you know, but who” all the time, right? If it came down to decision time for a potential employer, MNV might be the tipping point.

Busy, busy few days. Here’s the skinny

• Talking to a couple of U.S. software vendors about short term consulting work
• Exploring potential consulting for Japanese companies: channels, users, platformization
• Very inspiring meetings with executive headhunters, impressive outfits & switched on guys
• Web development quote in for www.liddysoft.com, but that can wait until the first job
• Settlement in my bank today. Yee hah

So a bit of downtime now until early January. I need a break and change of frequency. Even though I feel I am taking recent events in my stride, there is no doubt stress can smack you round the head at weird times. So I will try very hard to not switch on the laptop. Who’s betting I will not go 48 hours?

My blog seems to have become quite popular for people interested in my new direction. It was just for me to help stay focused and part-therapy to keep my brain positive. But I am glad I now have a loyal reader base following my ‘how to rebound’ story.

I must remember to spell check.  So quick update.

• I registed my first company yesterday. Went with Liddysoft Ltd, for 2 reasons
  • 1. I wanted something bigger than just my name
  • 2. My Irish mother’s maiden name, Liddy. I need the luck of the Irish
• Registering is straightforward. but somes notes…
  • For the UK you need to nominate a secretary if you start a Ltd
  • It used to be (apparently) you could use your accountant. Not so
• Decided to go with Paul Amery, Founder. CEO with no staff sounds pretentious I think
• www.liddysoft.com is also registered, but I will make it a bit different to www.paulamery.com - focusing more on my services, testimonials and clients etc
• Logo and biz cards. Do you see what is happening here? Getting contracts should be priority number 1, and there I am pissing about with cute logos. Jeez…
• Contracts. Talking to my good friend Eleanora about how to set up contracts, rates etc. Do you go with the client travel expense policy or yours?

I have noticed one interesting behavioural change in myself. I’ve been up to 2am some days working on my business strategy, company registration etc. I need more sleep, but yet I feel really energised. Why? Simple… I am now raking my own lawn. It’s all about self investment

Hell’s teeth! Preparing for a new career adventure is a full-time job.

There was me thinking I would kick back for a bit and have time to relax and unwind before Paul Amery adventures Ltd start the next endeavour. I don’t think so…

Here is just a sample of what I’ve been up to since Black Thursday (the short version: VP to Paul “pack your bags, we don’t need you”)

• Discussions with about 4 good recruitment companies in London. Some strong leads, but it’s going to be quiet before Christmas. Good progress though in less than 1 week. One I recommend is hoggetbowers
• Personal follow ups with industry contacts.
• Negotations with my solicitor for an adequate settlement. Lisa Campbell, a good find
• Making my resume/CV super smooth. Apparently I wasn’t marketing myself well enough. Thanks Dionne
• Updating this web site
• Preparing to register my company name. The tough bit - thinking of a name. Amery Consulting Ltd (too obvious?), Liddysoft (my Irish ancestors - the Liddy clan), or how about something oblique - Ticketyboo? Ideas welcome

One nice thing about having some free time was being able to see my middle son’s (Daniel) nativity play, and just picking up the kids from school. I told my eldest, and most cerebral son - Sam that I’d lost my job and I was sad about it. In typical Sam fashion he said “you will be ok Daddy” and went back to reading Asterisk and Obelix. Kids are great aren’t they?

So where next for my career in 2008? Here are the options I will explore, either contract, interim or permanent. Permanent will need to be U.K, but I am thinking about interim work in California.

• Software incubator. Having vetted and reviewed thousands of software companies over the years, I’d be an ideal person to lead an academic/biz incubator. A bit like Salesforce do in Cali, but a European hub
• Software team leadership. Teams are teams, and I am a damned good leader
• Partner management and developer relations. I’ve organised and aligned with all tiers, from IBM size to fred and his shed companies.
• API and Platformization. A company wanting to evolve from product to platform need a clear roadmap
• Apps distribuition and channels: Vodafone live, Handango - right up my street
• Reiki practitioner. I recently qualified, and though it’s not going to pay college funds, I will devote a bit more time to practising

Last Saturday I hosted the kick-off meeting for PlugLondon, at Skype’s main office in London. As well as hosting and facilitating, one of my roles was to evangelise the Skype Platform and API - something I am still passionate about (despite recent events). The idea for this new London-based technology network group is 2-fold.

1. London is a huge centre for software innovation, but we felt it needed focus and organisation to show off that talent
2. We believe platform interoperability is the next step forward. Products will always be important, but how they plug and play together will be the differentiator. “Are you OpenSocial compliant?” will be a question you’d better have an answer for unless you want to look like an ejeet.

As thought leaders in the platform space we also wanted to hear from the developers at the coal face on how we can better enable them to ‘go create’. I will blog again soon about the proposed ideas.

I was really impressed with the quality of enginneers and web developers who turned up. Slightly less than the 130 we hoped for, but considering the temptation to do Christmas shopping and several people wiped out with flu - it was a good turnout. Here’s what we did…

• We had 4-5 demos of software products and platforms from London based startups, NFP organisations and more established companies such as BBC Backstage. I thought PlugLondon would be the ideal chance for attendees to get direct feedback from other savvy developers - and it was.
• People from Skype, PayPal, eBay, BBC and other developer heads gave a quick heads-up on their respective APIs, Web Services and platforms.
• We gave a Skypephone to the winner of the logo competition. We now have a logo - yay!

My thanks to Johnathan Gabbai (eBay UK), Antoine Bertout (Skype) and Christian Heilmann (Yahoo) for support and facilitation before and after the event. I will keep you posted on the next PlugLondon, which I hope we can run quarterly.

Last week I was informed I was being made redundant as Skype Director of Platforms, responsible for:

• The Skype Developer Program teams across London and Estonia
• DevZone
• Public APIs and Platform
• The add-on Gallery for users
• Tens of Tier 1 & 2 partners, and thousands of community developers

A shock no doubt, but I am very proud of the work my team accomplished. Check here for a journalist’s view of my achievements. So, I am back on the job market. Find me at linked in for job referrals and information.

I’ve put together this site for a couple of reasons, some of which I hope are useful. Not least of all - to me. It’s good therapy if nothing else

• My views on new software products, solutions, Web 2 companies and the software industry
• Thoughts and debate on socio-political issues
• Links and information about other pursuits and products.
• Complementary medicine and spiritual living