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4 October 2006 104 Comments

Living to Do What You Want to Do (or why b5media is the best funded company around)

About a year ago, I began working with b5media on a limited basis. I was contracted to migrate the About Weblogs network blogs into b5media – a job that included having to write a custom importer for WordPress which would migrate the content from Nucleus CMS. Little did I know at that time that doing so would eventually lead to today. In December, I started a new blog, Emerging Earth, in the Technology Channel, a channel that I would someday be in charge of. In February, I volunteered to spearhead a new Channel, the Sports Channel and we launched Light the Torch which covered the Olympic games in Turino. It was the first time we opened up a blog to be a group blog that was open for anyone to post on – and we did it well for the most part.

Later in February, we moved the fledgling b5media network to a robust cluster (well it was robust for the time) and I assumed the mantle of systems administrator. We saw the network grow to almost 150 blogs, monthly network pageview statistics that make me sweat, several denial of service attacks that caused me to take my lunch break early to put down, as well as several hack attempts (some successful, some not).

It’s been a learning experience all the way and when the directors of b5media clued me in to the fact that they were going to explore the possibility of getting venture capital funds and that, if successful, they wanted to bring me on fulltime, I was elated.

Truth be told, I began looking on to my next venture back in February – I even hit some speedbumps. Back in July, we had even planned on moving to Virginia (though that is not in the near future) and had mentioned I was quitting my job with Northrop Grumman. I couldn’t go into details at the time. However, today I put in my resignation notice effective October 18th and now I can tell you why.

b5media is now a fully funded company and here’s the reasoning of Rick Segal of JLA Ventures, one of our VCs. (For the record, Brightspark is the other VC). By that, I mean, the founding partners have raised $2M in investment capital that will allow us as a network to grow beyond where we currently are. It will also allow me, as a core team member, to go full time and help make this amazing thing grow. I will be joining b5media full time as the Technology Manager, but I think Technology Architect/Strategist is more descriptive.

We have a number of large projects in the near future that will demand my time and attention. Notably, we plan to move to what I like to refer to as “Nuclear Proof” infrastructure. Our humble cluster of three servers are reaching their max and though they have done well for us (no noticeably obnoxious downtime, ya’ll?) so far, we believe our future lies in a more robust system. We have our plans and we march forward.

Also a key component of my job is going to be to spearhead some major development jobs. I won’t be doing most of it. We’ll outsource some and as money allows, we may even hire a developer or two in the months ahead. But I’ll be responsible for the deliverables.

We have other things that need attention. As the network grows (and exponential growth is expected now that we have passed this hurdle), the demands for WordPress support grows. This will include examining our current infrastructure, determining security risks in plugins and templates, and addressing those concerns as well as helping our bloggers use the tool to write. We want them to simply write and not be concerned about the technical stuff.

In the next weeks and months, my schedule is already filling up. In a few weeks, I may be headed away for a long weekend, then in November, I expect to be at Ad:Tech and the Techcrunch 8 party in NYC. Next spring, I’ll be at SXSW’07 in Austin, Texas and I’m sure more will pop up between now and then.

So that’s that from this end of the world. I’ve been dying because I have not been able to tell anyone what was happening. But it’s happening. It’s happened. It’s going to happen. Congrats, b5media!

Update: For the sake of posterity, let’s monitor Technorati mentions of b5media, shall we? :)

Posts that contain B5media per day for the last 30 days.
Technorati Chart
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Written by Aaron Brazell on October 4, 2006

Popularity: 1% [?]

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104 Responses to “Living to Do What You Want to Do (or why b5media is the best funded company around)”

  1. maureen 5 October 2006 at 12:59 pm #

    truely EXCELLENT news! finally you are getting the props you deserve and have worked hard for!

  2. maureen 5 October 2006 at 12:59 pm #

    truely EXCELLENT news! finally you are getting the props you deserve and have worked hard for!

  3. maureen 5 October 2006 at 12:59 pm #

    truely EXCELLENT news! finally you are getting the props you deserve and have worked hard for!

  4. maureen 5 October 2006 at 12:59 pm #

    truely EXCELLENT news! finally you are getting the props you deserve and have worked hard for!

  5. maureen 5 October 2006 at 12:59 pm #

    truely EXCELLENT news! finally you are getting the props you deserve and have worked hard for!

  6. Home Office Blues 5 October 2006 at 1:58 pm #

    Congratulations from a fellow Baltimorean! So I guess this means you are staying in town?

  7. Home Office Blues 5 October 2006 at 1:58 pm #

    Congratulations from a fellow Baltimorean! So I guess this means you are staying in town?

  8. Home Office Blues 5 October 2006 at 1:58 pm #

    Congratulations from a fellow Baltimorean! So I guess this means you are staying in town?

  9. Home Office Blues 5 October 2006 at 1:58 pm #

    Congratulations from a fellow Baltimorean! So I guess this means you are staying in town?

  10. Home Office Blues 5 October 2006 at 1:58 pm #

    Congratulations from a fellow Baltimorean! So I guess this means you are staying in town?

  11. Aaron Brazell 5 October 2006 at 3:27 pm #

    Thanks, everyone.

    Maureen: Long time has passed since the BUMED days, eh?

  12. Aaron Brazell 5 October 2006 at 3:27 pm #

    Thanks, everyone.

    Maureen: Long time has passed since the BUMED days, eh?

  13. Aaron Brazell 5 October 2006 at 3:27 pm #

    Thanks, everyone.

    Maureen: Long time has passed since the BUMED days, eh?

  14. Aaron Brazell 5 October 2006 at 3:27 pm #

    Thanks, everyone.

    Maureen: Long time has passed since the BUMED days, eh?

  15. Aaron Brazell 5 October 2006 at 3:27 pm #

    Thanks, everyone.

    Maureen: Long time has passed since the BUMED days, eh?

  16. Aaron Brazell 5 October 2006 at 3:27 pm #

    Thanks, everyone.

    Maureen: Long time has passed since the BUMED days, eh?

  17. Darren McLaughlin 5 October 2006 at 4:51 pm #

    Congrats, Aaron. I’m glad to hear everything is going so well for you. Keep up the great work.

  18. Darren McLaughlin 5 October 2006 at 4:51 pm #

    Congrats, Aaron. I’m glad to hear everything is going so well for you. Keep up the great work.

  19. Darren McLaughlin 5 October 2006 at 4:51 pm #

    Congrats, Aaron. I’m glad to hear everything is going so well for you. Keep up the great work.

  20. Darren McLaughlin 5 October 2006 at 4:51 pm #

    Congrats, Aaron. I’m glad to hear everything is going so well for you. Keep up the great work.

  21. Darren McLaughlin 5 October 2006 at 4:51 pm #

    Congrats, Aaron. I’m glad to hear everything is going so well for you. Keep up the great work.

  22. Darren McLaughlin 5 October 2006 at 4:51 pm #

    Congrats, Aaron. I’m glad to hear everything is going so well for you. Keep up the great work.

  23. Carol 5 October 2006 at 8:09 pm #

    blah blah blah NOT LEAVING MARYLAND blah blah blah.

    YAY!

    Glad to see you’re sticking around. As soon as I’m done with the inspection process, you have a reserved seat in the coffeehouse. I’ll try to keep the groupies away.

  24. Carol 5 October 2006 at 8:09 pm #

    blah blah blah NOT LEAVING MARYLAND blah blah blah.

    YAY!

    Glad to see you’re sticking around. As soon as I’m done with the inspection process, you have a reserved seat in the coffeehouse. I’ll try to keep the groupies away.

  25. Carol 5 October 2006 at 8:09 pm #

    blah blah blah NOT LEAVING MARYLAND blah blah blah.

    YAY!

    Glad to see you’re sticking around. As soon as I’m done with the inspection process, you have a reserved seat in the coffeehouse. I’ll try to keep the groupies away.

  26. Carol 5 October 2006 at 8:09 pm #

    blah blah blah NOT LEAVING MARYLAND blah blah blah.

    YAY!

    Glad to see you’re sticking around. As soon as I’m done with the inspection process, you have a reserved seat in the coffeehouse. I’ll try to keep the groupies away.

  27. Carol 5 October 2006 at 8:09 pm #

    blah blah blah NOT LEAVING MARYLAND blah blah blah.

    YAY!

    Glad to see you’re sticking around. As soon as I’m done with the inspection process, you have a reserved seat in the coffeehouse. I’ll try to keep the groupies away.

  28. Carol 5 October 2006 at 8:09 pm #

    blah blah blah NOT LEAVING MARYLAND blah blah blah.

    YAY!

    Glad to see you’re sticking around. As soon as I’m done with the inspection process, you have a reserved seat in the coffeehouse. I’ll try to keep the groupies away.

  29. maureen 6 October 2006 at 11:16 am #

    yep aaron – LONG time – and we are both better for it! yah us! :)
    (doesn’t mean i don’t miss it every once in a while – esp since i’m right across the street…)

  30. maureen 6 October 2006 at 11:16 am #

    yep aaron – LONG time – and we are both better for it! yah us! :)
    (doesn’t mean i don’t miss it every once in a while – esp since i’m right across the street…)

  31. maureen 6 October 2006 at 11:16 am #

    yep aaron – LONG time – and we are both better for it! yah us! :)
    (doesn’t mean i don’t miss it every once in a while – esp since i’m right across the street…)

  32. maureen 6 October 2006 at 11:16 am #

    yep aaron – LONG time – and we are both better for it! yah us! :)
    (doesn’t mean i don’t miss it every once in a while – esp since i’m right across the street…)

  33. maureen 6 October 2006 at 11:16 am #

    yep aaron – LONG time – and we are both better for it! yah us! :)
    (doesn’t mean i don’t miss it every once in a while – esp since i’m right across the street…)

  34. maureen 6 October 2006 at 11:16 am #

    yep aaron – LONG time – and we are both better for it! yah us! :)
    (doesn’t mean i don’t miss it every once in a while – esp since i’m right across the street…)

  35. stef 7 October 2006 at 9:18 am #

    Aaron, just wanted to take this opportunity to say CONGRATS and a big thanks for all you do for us at b5.

  36. Aaron Brazell 7 October 2006 at 9:39 am #

    Maureen: It was good and it gave me the opportunity to break into the world of desktop support. NG gave me that opportunity when no one else would, thanks to my lack of job experience. Three years on from that, I’m glad to be moving on from NG finally.

    Stef: Thanks! :)

  37. stef 7 October 2006 at 9:18 am #

    Aaron, just wanted to take this opportunity to say CONGRATS and a big thanks for all you do for us at b5.

  38. stef 7 October 2006 at 9:18 am #

    Aaron, just wanted to take this opportunity to say CONGRATS and a big thanks for all you do for us at b5.

  39. stef 7 October 2006 at 9:18 am #

    Aaron, just wanted to take this opportunity to say CONGRATS and a big thanks for all you do for us at b5.

  40. stef 7 October 2006 at 9:18 am #

    Aaron, just wanted to take this opportunity to say CONGRATS and a big thanks for all you do for us at b5.

  41. stef 7 October 2006 at 9:18 am #

    Aaron, just wanted to take this opportunity to say CONGRATS and a big thanks for all you do for us at b5.

  42. Aaron Brazell 7 October 2006 at 9:39 am #

    Maureen: It was good and it gave me the opportunity to break into the world of desktop support. NG gave me that opportunity when no one else would, thanks to my lack of job experience. Three years on from that, I’m glad to be moving on from NG finally.

    Stef: Thanks! :)

  43. Aaron Brazell 7 October 2006 at 9:39 am #

    Maureen: It was good and it gave me the opportunity to break into the world of desktop support. NG gave me that opportunity when no one else would, thanks to my lack of job experience. Three years on from that, I’m glad to be moving on from NG finally.

    Stef: Thanks! :)

  44. Aaron Brazell 7 October 2006 at 9:39 am #

    Maureen: It was good and it gave me the opportunity to break into the world of desktop support. NG gave me that opportunity when no one else would, thanks to my lack of job experience. Three years on from that, I’m glad to be moving on from NG finally.

    Stef: Thanks! :)

  45. Aaron Brazell 7 October 2006 at 9:39 am #

    Maureen: It was good and it gave me the opportunity to break into the world of desktop support. NG gave me that opportunity when no one else would, thanks to my lack of job experience. Three years on from that, I’m glad to be moving on from NG finally.

    Stef: Thanks! :)

  46. Aaron Brazell 7 October 2006 at 9:39 am #

    Maureen: It was good and it gave me the opportunity to break into the world of desktop support. NG gave me that opportunity when no one else would, thanks to my lack of job experience. Three years on from that, I’m glad to be moving on from NG finally.

    Stef: Thanks! :)

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