Saw my team size peak as CTO, went to Beijing for the first time work on a project that never saw the light of day, struggled with cash flow realities and did w

Saw my team size peak as CTO, went to Beijing for the first time work on a project that never saw the light of day, struggled with cash flow realities and did what was necessary to keep the company alive, which meant essentially significant layoffs and personally leaving the company I built over the last 9 years so they could circle the wagons at headquarters in London. Joined a new startup with a founder I have long admired and wanted to work with for the last decade and did my first real work in Python/Django and Node.js as well as being solely responsible for ops in AWS. Startup failed to gain traction and we just wound it down last week. Now looking for a slightly larger company to deepen my technical chops, going through the whole SV hiring ringer for the first time in my life. Finding out how my past experience is simultaneously amazing and relevant or completely insignificant depending on whom I talk to and their agenda. In a sense my experience is reduced to few lines on a CV or at best a good story, but in job interviews there is really no way to communicate the color of what it was and the uniqueness of the experience. I am melancholy over this, but also awakening with fresh eyes to future possibilities. SV for all its faults and ridiculous rents is still a place that fascinates me and I hope gives me a few more good stories for my grandkids. If I find a good job before New Years it will have been a successful 2016 indeed.