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So there was this company called Xceed with really great offices in the Woolworth Building in Downtown New York - and there I went to work pretty much with one years experience in accounting after college - and Xceed was a company that built web sites for other people - and blah blah you pretty much know the rest. But while there I did become the Controller for a flicker of time - and did budgets and collected bills and wondered how this place could possibly be making money. |
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My
NEW YORK TIMES !  |
In New York I got married to a wonderful guy (Mike ) who was in the Coast Guard at the time. Taking everything into account ( yikes! a bean counter joke) it was pretty plain that things just weren't in balance ( ok, I did it again) -- |
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| and sure enough the whole thing collapsed. But once, for a flash of time on paper it was worth a lot of money. The problem in the end was a collapse in demand for web sites -- the now famous dot.com meltdown -- web sites designed and produced for the dot. com'ers by those of us with the nifty names like Xceed and RazorFish - and ..... disappeared along with our food chain.... but what time it was ! | |
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The business experience gained was amazing! At times, I did everything from the general ledger to the budget forecasts, from audits to collections and anything needing a sharp pencil in-between. At the same time I got to manage and create process in a hypergrowth situation with a wildly varying set of managers and capabilities. All this I survived until close to the end when it was time to leave ..... wiser by far, and happy to be free of the stress of a business in decline where there was nothing I could do to help. I still will miss the wacky, irresponsible times of a start-up and the incredibly steep learning curve that I was allowed to participate in while bringing structure to the raging beast. Great friends I acquired ! The deep understanding of the services business was a real lesson, the creative process won part of my heart and mind forever, and the value of sound management practices ( abundantly absent ) are forever fixed in my mind. In the Woolworth building there were gargoyles in the lobby that had the faces of old Mr. Woolworth and all his friends. Xceed leased the floor with Mr. Woolworth's original office , we had client meetings there because that was really cool -- for even now it had its own bathroom and a fireplace, rare wood paneling and marble -- and it cost Mr. Woolworth and Xceed a lot of money. In the end perhaps it was to presage Xceed's "five and dime" stock value for like Woolworth's, Xceed drifted into insolvency. New York, New York, what a wonderful town! Post note: If the
company had survived and I had been there, I would have been walking out
of the subway station next to the World Trade Center at the worst moment
on September 11th, 2001. My heart and prayers go out to all those who I commuted
with daily who were where, but for fate and finance, I would have been. Xceed Stock Chart |
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What an incredible ride = what perfect blindness |
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