When Bly Berken and I launched this site in 1996, Amazon was a fledgling bookstore, Bill Clinton did not have sex with that woman, and 68% of people said they would *never* send their credit card number over the internet (turned out they had a point).
Since then, across all our sites we've logged 3 million forum posts, registered 153,000 users, and shipped 156,000 orders. That's a pretty good run for a small business and I am beyond happy that it's well-positioned for another successful 25 years.
However, SBO's future will unfold without me, as the time has come to step down.
A bout with Covid, cancer treatments, and age have made it difficult to write code and it's put a dent in my writing, too. Those have been my primary contributions to the site for the past 5 years and the SBO team deserves better support than I can now provide. I also think I might have one more start-up left in me, something a little slower and simpler.
SBO is in good hands; hands that I trust. Al has owned the organization for 5 years now and has brought many positive changes to the site. With the business in Florida, he has lots of potential employees with sailboat building experience at Hunter, Catalina, et al, and lots of manufacturers who work in the marine business. That's good news for the site and for sailboat owners everywhere.
I've met so many amazing people through SBO: Peggie, Jim Bohart, Rodd Collins, Brian D, Don Guillette, Jim Seamans, Rick Dinon, Gary Wyngarden, John Hadley, and a hundred others. I will definitely be back now and then to check in on things.
Thank you to everyone who has supported this site, some of you from its first days. I don't have the words to describe how much it has meant to me to see this dream take flight and actually do a little bit of good in the world.
I'll be seein' ya here soon... but next time, as a civilian!
Phil
Since then, across all our sites we've logged 3 million forum posts, registered 153,000 users, and shipped 156,000 orders. That's a pretty good run for a small business and I am beyond happy that it's well-positioned for another successful 25 years.
However, SBO's future will unfold without me, as the time has come to step down.
A bout with Covid, cancer treatments, and age have made it difficult to write code and it's put a dent in my writing, too. Those have been my primary contributions to the site for the past 5 years and the SBO team deserves better support than I can now provide. I also think I might have one more start-up left in me, something a little slower and simpler.
SBO is in good hands; hands that I trust. Al has owned the organization for 5 years now and has brought many positive changes to the site. With the business in Florida, he has lots of potential employees with sailboat building experience at Hunter, Catalina, et al, and lots of manufacturers who work in the marine business. That's good news for the site and for sailboat owners everywhere.
I've met so many amazing people through SBO: Peggie, Jim Bohart, Rodd Collins, Brian D, Don Guillette, Jim Seamans, Rick Dinon, Gary Wyngarden, John Hadley, and a hundred others. I will definitely be back now and then to check in on things.
Thank you to everyone who has supported this site, some of you from its first days. I don't have the words to describe how much it has meant to me to see this dream take flight and actually do a little bit of good in the world.
I'll be seein' ya here soon... but next time, as a civilian!
Phil
