I feel like I should document a major change in my career and life. I've left my job at Teamwork to chase the dream in San Francisco.

Teamwork has been a massive part of my life. It has been a fantastic 6.5 years. I wasn't looking for another job or anything like that; it has taken a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to drag me away. I would hope everyone who worked with me closely already knows how much Teamwork means to me and how all-in I was.

It was really tough breaking the news to people. I felt guilty and sad. I have an exciting opportunity ahead of me, but it was tough to acknowledge that I was leaving Teamwork.

A line graph of tears versus words.

When I joined, the domain was http://teamworkpm.net, there were 8/9 people in the company, and there was only one product. There are now 250 people and 5 products. If I had to guess at the time, I wouldn’t have imagined being there almost 6.5 years.

I've worked on Teamwork Projects, the website, the mobile apps, desktop apps, launched Teamwork Chat and Teamwork CRM, plus a load of other things. It has been an amazing experience growing with the company. Always exciting and challenging.

I'll be the biggest champion of Teamwork and I'm sure it'll go from strength to strength. I can't wait to see the integrated suite / business operating system vision come to life with Teamwork Chat and Teamwork CRM at the center 😃

I'm so grateful to Dan Mackey, Peter Copinger, and Billy Mahony for giving me this opportunity and always being there for me. I wish I could name and praise everyone who helped me, but I can't.

When I started my career, I had my eyes on Silicon Valley. I remember interviewing for Teamwork, knowing that I had basically already accepted a job in Florida (for more money). A foot in the US door, I thought. It was Peter's ambition and drive that won me over. I really believed this little company in Cork was going to "take over the world". And I have no regrets.

So what's next?

I'm joining ToDesktop as co-founder and CTO. ToDesktop allows you to convert your web app to a desktop app in 2 minutes. It saves you the hassle of having to build a desktop app from scratch, to figure out the security certificates, automatic app & security updates, building for Mac, Windows, and Linux, and more.

I've known Dave Jeffery (the CEO and founder) for years. We've ran the CorkJS meetup together for the last few years. He's brilliant. What he has achieved so far with ToDesktop is impressive, especially as a one-man band.

Personally, I've always strived to have the most impact or influence possible on a company. I put my heart and soul into what I work on. Deep down, I've always wanted to do my own thing, to make the big decisions. I'm grateful for the experiences I've had up until now, but I've always felt I had more to give.

I feel like this opportunity has come up at the right time in my life, and ToDesktop is a good fit. Dave, the product, the tech stack... I even wrote a book on Electron, perfect!

Why San Francisco? Well, we've been accepted in an exclusive startup accelerator programme out there. The programme itself seems amazing, as does being in the alumni network for life. It's truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

We're catching a flight out there tomorrow and won't be back for a few months. We hope to generate a lot of growth during that time. A great sign is that all the revenue up to this point came purely from organic / inbound channels.

It could be a complete disaster; I might be looking for a new job in a few months. It could result in us taking on investment or continuing down the bootstrap path. Who knows.

We have an idea of what we want to do but ultimately we're open to wherever this takes us. We have some feedback from customers, roadmap ideas, we'd like to have a remote-first company, and so on... but we don't want to get ahead of ourselves. I'm heading into this open-minded, ready to soak up as much as I can, and work as hard as I can. Who knows what will come out of it.

So I head off tomorrow. I'm feeling both excited and nervous. I guess there would be something wrong if I wasn't nervous. For someone who likes to think long-term, it's jarring to be so unsure of what's ahead of me. The opportunity is undeniable though. Who knows where I'll be or what I'll be doing in a year's time, but bring it on.