Alec Whittington

    As most of you who read this blog are aware, I left CrystalTech a few months back to pursue a different path. I went to work for SMBLive, first as a contractor on a 3 week rush project, then full-time. Well the honeymoon was short lived and after going to Washington D.C. to meet the other members of the company I soon realized that this was not the company for me. I will not get into the details, but lets say the direction the company was taking me was not where I wanted to go. At this time I also realized that I was tired of slaving for someone else and making them money and that I needed to take a risk that I had been avoiding for way too long. I started in the IT game before the first bubble burst and was burned badly by one company and then by a second. So to say I was gun shy of Web 2.0 would be an understatement.

    Along came CrystalTech, whom I worked for a total of 4.5 years, taking a small break to spread my wings with another company during that time. I was comfortable there, I had everything I could want; support from management, all the dev tools I needed, and a great staff. But I wanted more and it was time for me to take a leap of faith. So I did, I went to SMBLive / Mural Ventures. Even though I left them, they served a purpose. They reminded me that 1) I have very marketable skills and 2) I still wanted more from my career and needed to take more risk.

 Jumping - with a safety net

     So I needed another job. Well I contacted my network and put out the feelers all the while hoping a job that I had passed up in May was still available. It did not take me long to hear back from it and the news was positive - I had a new home if I wanted it. So it is with great joy I announce that I am the Development Manager for Animal Attraction, www.animalattraction.com. The owner, Dan Cohen is a great guy and easy to work with. I look forward to my continuing relationship with them. So there was my new safety net, you gotta pay the bills before you can make that leap. While in DC I stayed with my buddy Antonio Chagoury and his family. Let me just say that they are now my second family and I look forward to going back out there several times a year to stay with them. Antonio and I had some good discussion while I was out there about his company Inspector IT and how it was going. He expressed his want to grow the business, I expressed my desire to one day own my own business. With that said, we both went back to our normal lives. When I got back to Phoenix, I got a call from Antonio saying he had something for me and to call him when I got a chance. That phone call changed my life and I never expected to hear what I heard coming from the other end. Not only was I about to make the leap I had been waiting for but Antonio was about the make a leap as well. He offered to make me an owner in his company, an equity owner not options, as well as making me his CTO. So now not only do I have my safety net, but I also have share of a profitable company.

So what does the future hold

• Well the plan is that Animal Attraction is my focus. We are getting ready to release our beta version of 2.0 based on DotNetNuke.
• Help grow the Inspector IT business. We handle all aspects of development as well as dealing with Offshore resources if needed.
• Within 2 years be working full-time for Inspector IT with that being my safety net.