Hasta la vista, baby

I hinted last week that there was going to be some further news and pulling together of threads relating to me and this blog. Today marks a major milestone in that pulling together. Today is my last day as Director of Product Management for Kinamik Data Integrity.

This is a day of mixed emotions for me. I've been with Kinamik for 8 months, I've really enjoyed it here, and the work has been interesting and challenging. Being in Spain has made accessing the UK market quite tough, but getting the blog going has opened up a whole new area which I have found invaluable. Kinamik will do very well in the future, they have just had a new round of funding and they have a great opportunity opening up in the States, which to my mind is vital to any fledgling software company. They have great backing and are set to expand their offering further into data security, in the UK and US markets. This would normally be some sort of dream for me to be involved in, but circumstances have not been kind to me.

I would love to be able to stay and help, but my circumstances changed dramatically during my time out here. I am gutted to be leaving the people behind, and the weather. I'm giving up a stake (unless they want to keep me on as a non-executive board member of course...) in a company which I firmly believe is destined for success , and will stay in close contact.

Without going into unnecessary details, there was an untimely death in my immediate family in late March which has made things very stressful for me, and my wife, as time has gone on. As we approached our first anniversary, we realised that there was more reason to return to the UK than to stay where we have no family and few English friends. I think this was around the time I picked up my reputation for being grumpy, although maybe there was an element of this already.

Going back to the UK was never part of my immediate plan, but I started to feel the pull more and more as time progressed. Giving up life on the Costa Brava with an exciting start-up to be with family is a hard decision which most people will always come to the same decision on. It was just a matter of time and opportunity. It really has not been easy to do.

The management team here have been great friends as well as work colleagues, so this post is really an au revoir to them, rather than a goodbye. I am keeping my flat in Barcelona until the end of the year, because, er... I can. I will definitely be in touch by email, and almost certainly on the phone in the near future. Try and stop me!

As a very wise man once said: "I'll be back."