Poor Gerald Ford eh? Thanks to Saddam, even in death he’s just a footnote.

So, guess what I did today..? That’s right! I signed the papers to complete the first round of funding for the new company. We now have money in the bank and shareholders to suck up to.

So now I can safely say just how absolutely fucking terrifying the last few weeks have been. It’s all well and good suddenly deciding to abandon the security of a perfectly good company to start a new one; it’s all very well buying out part of that old company, hiring staff and agreeing to take office space. It’s all perfectly very well.

But it generally makes good business sense to get your investors’ cash in the bank before you do all of that.

Of course, given the timing of everything, that wasn’t quite possible. And so the last few weeks have been a bit like a drawn out version of the bit between the Dukes of Hazzard car leaving the ramp at speed and it landing safely on the other side. A frozen moment in time as I frantically arrange meetings and produce business plans and financials and have meetings and make phone calls and finally - finally - get a signature on a piece of paper that means everybody can be paid and the real work can begin.

Yeeeeeeee haaaaaaw.

Phew.

So, yes, I’m solvent again. The new company can start ordering business cards and buying new technical toys for the developers and new desk tidies for everyone else. Of course there’ll be lots more fundraising to come, but there’s no feeling like that first splash of money in the bank. The one that means there really is a company, and it’s actually going to be able to pay its bills.

If anyone feels like putting their name down for the second round now, to save me the hassle of updating the business plan in a few months, that would be just dandy.

...

And so, with the first, most scary-hurdle cleared, I can say a bit more about the plan for the next few months...

Although I haven’t said too much here, most people have figured out that the first project embarked on by Much Too Fun will be this. The site has been in beta testing for the last couple of months and it finally launches officially on January 1st. We’re very excited. As ever, I’ll put the launch announcement up here first.

Meanwhile over at The Friday Thing, there’s excitement in the air too. It’s TFT’s fifth official birthday in the first week on January: five years since it went from being a quirky part time thing to a proper weekly paid-for ezine. Of course since then, lots has changed: not least its ownership, three times. And it’s free again. But it has more subscribers than ever and continues to get funnier and funnier as I’ve contributed less and less. A coincidence.

I don’t want to spoil anything, but expect exciting news from TFT in the coming weeks too.

So, yes, exciting times. One thing is certain - this coming year is going to be at least as exciting as the last, if that’s possible. I just feel bad that Saddam and Gerald won’t be around to see it. Not least because I know Saddo was a huge fan of TFT’s weekly Haiknews and Gerry loved a Textimonial.

Awww, alright, here you go, Gez. Just for you...

gudbI grld 4d
in def, as in lIf
u plA 2nd fdl 2 a tppld prsEdnt
alwAs the brIdsmAd
nvr the mnstr