Momentum is definitely a big thing. When you get a little bit, everything seems to feel a little bit easier. Your morale and confidence peak, it's easier to stay motivated and focused, and the sky even seems bluer. OK, maybe not that last bit, but you know what I mean.

We were in a place like that towards the end of last year. We got invited (finally, after several applications) to the CED Tech Venture Conference, which was an important chance to raise our visibility, meet investors, etc., and I had speaking engagements lined up at All Things Open, Tri-JUG and an NCTA event. In the span of 2 months we had 4 big chances to be "out there" getting our name out, and we had some really cool new stuff ready to demo... life was good.

And then two weeks after All Things Open, I find myself on the back of an ambulance, being rushed to the hospital with a heart attack. Talk about your momentum killers. :-(

After that, things went into something of a tailspin. Obviously there was a period of time when I couldn't have cared less about startups, business, or even technology. I was just happy to be alive, and was focused on bike riding, diet, and cardiac rehab. But all through that, I figured it would be easy enough - eventually - to step back into working on Fogbeam and get things moving again. As it happens, it hasn't been quite so easy.

I mean, don't get me wrong... I'm back. Definitely, absolutely, 100%, back. But I can only say that as of maybe sometime in the past month. But there was a 9 month gap in there where I really just wasn't in the right place mentally to focus on this. It's hard to explain, as I was back to normal physically within a couple of months, but the mental recovery was actually the harder part, and getting back to where I am excited about technology and excited about building a company took a LOT longer than I expected.

I had a little false start back in Feb., when I wrote some code, did some stuff, and thought I was back on the horse, but it didn't last. It's been discouraging to deal with all this, and even more so very exactly because all of this happened when we did have some momentum going. Now I find myself wondering what it's going to take to get that back.

I guess there are a lot of things that can kill your momentum: the "fake work" that sama talks about, dealing with fundraising, dealing with acquisition talks, whatever. But from my personal experience I'll just throw in "health issues".

I'm sure you guys get (or will get) tired of hearing about this from me, and I am generally not the preachy type but I'll reiterate this again: pay attention to your health. No, really, do it. It's super easy to assume you're indestructible and immortal, and to push aside concerns about health. I know, I lived that. And the younger you are, the easier it is.

But trust me, it's not a good idea to blow that stuff off, no matter how young you are. Don't say "I'll wait to get back in shape once we have our exit". I mean, there probably won't be an exit if you're dead; and if there is, you won't exactly benefit from it. And remember, on things like heart disease, the artery damage that leads to heart attacks and the like, can begin really young. Even as young as your teenage years. So no matter how busy you are, or how old you are, NOW is the time to start eating right, lose weight, quit smoking, whatever it is you need to do.

Sorry, I'll step off the soapbox now.