I’m fascinated with first offices.  I’m not talking about the bedroom, the dorm room, the garage, or the apartment.  I’m talking about the first real office.  Here’s mine.

Bill Warner took this picture of me standing in front of 875 Main Street in Cambridge, MA last year.  My first real office – for Feld Technologies – was the fourth floor.  The building is a narrow five story building (three windows on the front) – long and skinny – 1600 square feet total.  The elevator opened directly into the office, the front of the building (that you see) was to the left; the bulk of the space was to the right.  I vaguely remember a cave like office near the back along with the bathroom and lots of open space in the middle.  When we moved in all of the left over shit from Pegasystems was still there – they were the previous tenant. 

While I had offices in my bedroom at my fraternity (351 Massachusetts Avenue) and in my bedroom at my parents house in Dallas, this was my first real office.  We had to take out the garbage and the place always smelled like damp, sweaty, anxious nerds.  We had some great times and some awful times, but this was where it all really started for me.

Where was your first real office?

Steve Bell of Startup Trek came to Boulder about a month ago and did an interview with a bunch of Boulder people, including me.  Following is part one (12 minutes) of the interview where I talk some about my history, my first company Feld Technologies, and the Feld Technologies’ motto (“we suck less.”)

I also spend some time talking about how I first learned how to do deals, acquire companies, and make angel investments.  You get to learn how I met Fred Wilson, Rich Levandov, and Jerry Colonna.  And, as a special bonus, you get to see a reasonably tired version of my avatar sitting in one of the chairs in my office.

Every now and then I run across someone who is still using software that we wrote at Feld Technologies.  Some of this software dates back to 1987 – a fact that never ceases to amaze me.  And – no, I can no longer provide tech support at any price.

We didn’t have much swag at Feld Technologies.  In fact, I think the only swag we had, other than a few t-shirts which still make their appearance every now and then, is the mug pictured above.  A fraternity brother of mine from MIT emailed me this picture recently – apparently this mug sits on his desk and serves a very mug-like purpose. 

I remember how agonizing it was to buy these mugs.  Should we get 50?  100?  There was probably a price break at 200 and we even considered that.  Were they too plain?  Should we spend an extra $0.17 per mug and get a grey background to match our stationary?  Who should we give them to?  Should we charge for them?  Decisions, decisions.

Anyone recognize that font?