Tom the office cat is a huge orange striped cat that was recently put on a serious cat diet (we know his name is Tom because he wears a collar with an engraved i.d. tag bearing his name). Everyone loves the original Tom cat (not Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes --- don't think Tom-the-cat is a Scientologist as far as I can tell) ;). He let out a delighted squeal while running up to us and threw himself at our feet, rolling over and over for pets and playtime. He is such an attention grabbing cat. He would literally walk in to the office and make himself at home parked on the sofa and doing what I call "kitty shiatsu" on my lap. I coined the term "kitty shiatsu", which is when a cat decides to sit down somewhere and get comfortable by kneading with its paws on either a person or  inanimate object, until they settle down.

I learned that management dynamics, and the quality of management, counts for a lot. Failure of upper management to control the working environment, and the quality of the middle management counts for a lot.

I worked for a well-funded dot-bomb that burned through a massive amount of money (while not privy to the exact amount, the rumor was $20 Million) in just under 9 months. Most of the money was spent on lavish extravagances - like Friday afternoon wine-tastings and industry parties. Managers were hired at will, with no regard to whom or what they were to be managing, and with little regard to whether or not they actually needed a manager in that position. In a dot-bomb that at it's hey-day had about 50 people, there were 30 upper and middle managers and supervisors.

And the quality of management was suspect, also. For example, the VP's credentials amounted to the fact that she was a screen-writer in Hollywood (and writing for "Married with Children" at that). The Marketing Director was a former consultant that put her personal preferences, instead of those of our clients, into everything she did. For example, she didn't drink coffee, so she decided that the organization wasn't going to give coffee cups as marketing tools (which meant that everyone sitting at there desk were now not going to see our branded logo in front of them). But she did authorize cheap little aluminum "beaners" for use as key chains, with a logo that rubbed off the first time you put it in your pocket.

What management there was was ignored most of the time by the underlings who felt passed over for positions that they felt they should have had.

Programmers with master's degrees and PhD's were passed over for promotions in favor of people off the street who happened to be friends with someone and who had little or no education, much less experience with the subject matter.
(John can be reached at john.markor [at] mindless [dot] com)

I'm not one of the entrepreneurs who started and ran the dotcom where for 2 years I rode the wave of excitement, exhaustion and, finally, defeat, so I don't know if this letter will count. But I have been involved in other "old economy" ventures as well -- only some of which succeeded -- so here I go anyway.

Welcome to Humility School. Yes, you are smart and yes, you are hardworking.

But that's not the whole picture. The world is a far more complex place than it appears. Your marketing and/or technical smarts are no substitute for treating your human customers with real respect. Give them value and honesty, not marketing techniques. Give them a handsome website that respects their real interests, ability and bandwidth, not your latest Flash fantasies. And accept that, in the real world, life IS difficult and you don't always get what you worked so hard for.

You wanted the right to take a risk, so deal with it. Who knows, you might even gain a little respect for millions of hard working but non-entitled people who just keep on keepin' on every day. The lessons to be learned are human lessons and are, believe it or not, well worth the tuition you are currently paying.

There is a fictional story that is often read by high school students about a fisherman that finds a rare black pearl (hence the title - The Black Pearl. In general, the story is about what happens to a regular man that comes across something that is extremely valuable. In the story, his life is ultimately destroyed as a consequence of the greed and desperation that is triggered by the appearance of the black pearl. It is partially about the effects of success on people that do not fully understand the darker sides of human nature.

As an entrepreneur, I have experienced my own version of the black pearl. It involves a unique software application that essentially satisfies the needs of a very large and underserved market. Over a period of more than ten years, I have seen best friends turn on me because they wanted more equity than I was able to give; I have had developers steal the source code in the night because they wanted more leverage; and last but not least, an angel investor tried to steal the company after putting in more than four million dollars of their own money. While the courts returned the company to us in March, the man successfully convinced the 29 odd employees that we were to blame. After 12 years of fanatical effort and passion, we are once again alone with our vision and our determination. We do have 58% of the company, a beta version of the software and lots of computers. But we currently have no funding.

I have heard that there are honest decent business people out there that are genuinely looking for dedicated people with great ideas. But we haven't met any yet. When we came up with a huge business opportunity, we were so caught up in the excitement, we didn't think about the impact it might have on the people around us. As arrogant as it sounds, killer application may ultimately kill more than market share. As for us, we will keep on plugging. It's too bad there isn't a VC firm that specializes in integrity.

Your failed company offers COBRA healthcare coverage ... but is it really there? Here is my war story.

After (company name removed) of San Jose suddenly failed in December (due mainly to poor management), they sent us all standard COBRA-signup paperwork. I had a simple question for the insurance company Blue Cross, so I called them. They told me that Cyber IQ had stopped paying them and they had terminated coverage a month earlier, and so could not be offering COBRA.

Already furious at the management for stiffing us on salary, commissions, high expenses, etc., I now felt that they had crossed the line from bad management to toying with the lives - literally - of hundreds of employees and family members. I called the Department of Labor to ask if this was illegal. The answer is no: if an employer has healthcare then it must offer COBRA to a exiting employee, but if the employer does not have healthcare then it does not have to offer COBRA. Worst of all, there is no requirement to notify employees of the terminated coverage!

My advice for those leaving a failing company (or still there) is to call your health insurance provider and ask them if you are still covered. If so, make the call again from time to time. If not, notify everyone you can in your company.

Good luck to all of us!