Things are great, so it’s time to leave.

(Please excuse any minor inaccuracies, dates, or statements here- this is, to the best of my recollection, a truthful recount of parts of my professional and personal life)

Once upon a time, I was just another cog in the machine at Apple; it was 2010, and there was a recession. I happened to be lucky enough to work at one of the only really recession-proof companies around at the time, sparing myself from the horrors of the market after the ’09 crash on Wall Street.

During this time, I had grown tired of having very little room for growth or advancement, outside of the things I had created for myself to accomplish to help better the team I worked on and making them more efficient. I constantly read news about startups, had my ear to the ground, and eventually found an article about this guy you may have heard of, Jack Dorsey, and this new company he was working on- Square.

My mom’s health was rapidly declining from cancer, but she told me never to pass up hidden opportunities in life. I went through some interviews at her behest and was hired as employee #60 in January of 2011 to help handle the daily challenges of IT at a growing company with an ambitious dream of democratizing payments for small businesses, and quite honestly, the world.

Over time that role grew naturally into leadership, as I found an interesting crossroads of my previous experience at larger companies and my natural inclination to solve problems and build things.

Six-and-a-half years later, I’m now on a much needed break of indeterminate length to reset myself before figuring out what exactly it is I’d like to do next. I’ve got plenty of neglected personal projects and a kid mostly home for the summer. I am proud of what the team I worked with had built and will continue to build, proud of the accomplishments they’ve achieved and the things they’ve inspired (Hi there, Larry Gadea! :) )

I’ve done in a lot of things in my life, worked in everything from retail to radio, small business to enterprise and startups. I don’t know if I’ll stay in tech specifically- the things I’ve gone through at Square have given me a lot of insight and experience around business operations in general, from legal to accounting.

I’ve dabbled in amateurish street magic tricks. I have a nine year-old kid and a wonderful fiancée at home, a placer mining claim in Northern California to prospect, a healthy stock portfolio with hundreds of different investments to manage, angel investments in startups to handle, and season tickets for the Giants. I still haven’t managed to find a cathartic break in my writer’s block I’ve had for decades, and I’ve got this terrible on-again, off-again relationship with photography.

I won’t be bored, and I fully understand the extreme privilege that I’ll have to do these things without worrying about my finances for a while (or even a long time if I really wanted to) thanks to the massive success of (now two) of my previous employers, and well-timed investments into the stock market during periods of extreme uncertainty.

A casual prodding around of my network to see what’s going on out there beyond what was my daily work life will probably happen, even if I’m not really prepared to dive into something for a short bit. I’m always open to hearing suggestions or ideas, so feel free to reach out.

I’ll miss the team and the company. Those of you that I worked with closely have a burning need to do the right thing more so than being right, and that’s what the world needs- the humility to recognize when to serve yourself up a slice of humble pie and just do the right thing. There are plenty of brilliant minds and humble, understanding people trying to build the things people need to do business for themselves, and the world is in good hands.

I’ve had no regrets about the folks that my team and I have hired; some were difficult personalities to be certain, but have a driving need to achieve perfection and do the right thing. You certainly can’t break barriers without the right cast of characters who can help you achieve that.

I’m grateful to the amazing leaders I’ve had the pleasure of following at Square, for both challenging and accepting my ideas, sometimes at separate moments, sometimes simultaneously. Your approachability and dedication to the unique culture of the workplace is amazing.

For now, and to rather unoriginally quote Peter Pan, second star to the right, and straight on till morning.

Peace and love.