Time Capsule: SKMurphy Profile at UnderTheOak

Another time capsule post: this one is an archive of a profile I had on the UnderTheOak wiki in the early 2000’s that was maintained by Matt Simpson (wiki now offline).

Remembering 2003

undertheoakI had taken a leave of absence from Cisco in April 2003 and started to explore next steps, formally separating in August of 2003. It was nuclear winter in Silicon Valley, the DotCom boom had given way to the DotCom bust and Web 2.o had yet to arrive. To say that I consulting to bootstrapping startups was considered foolhardy by many I met. I can remember being on a panel and one of the other panelists told me privately I was a lunatic and would never be able to make a living.  I thought I would give it a try for a year; if I could live through the winter of the DotCom crash (total employment in Silicon Valley had dropped by about 25% from 1999)  spring would come at some point.

  1. What’s changed: I am no longer a member of any of the organizations listed below. CPSquare has shut down; SDForum and SVASE merged into SVForum.
  2. What continues: I continue to subscribe to the INSNA mailing list and remain interested in communities of practice as a way of creating, sharing, and managing knowledge. I still like all of the quotes. Still a lunatic consulting to bootstrapping startups

Archive Page for Sean Murphy at UnderTheOak wiki

Sean Murphy
408-252-9676
[obsolete email address at megapathsdl.net]

I have worked on communities of practice in the form of best practice teams, industry organizations, and user groups since the mid 80’s. I have worked in a variety of engineering, marketing, and operations capacities for Cisco Systems, 3Com, Advanced Micro Devices, and VLSI Technology. I consult to bootstrapping startups who have a working technology and need help building a community of practice to create a whole product.

I also do volunteer work for a dyslexia education effort at http://www.dys-add.com.

I am a member of

I am an active contributor to

Some Quotes on Tools

“Men have become the tools of their tools.”
Henry David Thoreau

“We shape our buildings and afterwards our buildings shape us.”
Sir Winston Churchill

“We become what we behold. We shape our tools and then our tools shape us.”
Marshall McLuhan

“Spoon feeding in the long run teaches us nothing but the shape of the spoon.”
E. M. Forster

“Inventor: A person who makes an ingenious arrangement of wheels, levers and springs, and believes it civilization.”
Ambrose Bierce “The Devil’s Dictionary”

“It’s a poor workman who blames his tools”
English Proverb

“If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.”
Abraham H. Maslow

“Man is a tool-using Animal…. Nowhere do you find him without tools; without tools he is nothing, with tools he is all.”
Thomas Carlyle

“Technology today is the campfire around which we tell our stories. There’s this attraction to light and to this kind of power, which is both warm and destructive. We’re especially drawn to the power. Many of the images of technology are about making us more powerful, extending what we can do. Unfortunately, 95 percent of this is hype, because I think we’re powerful without it.”
Laurie Anderson


Last edited July 3, 2003 2:30 am

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Image Credit “Bare Trees” (c) Sven Birkerts (@SvenBirkerts) used with permission

3 thoughts on “Time Capsule: SKMurphy Profile at UnderTheOak”

  1. Pingback: SKMurphy, Inc. Quotes for Entrepreneurs-July 2016 - SKMurphy, Inc.

  2. Pingback: SKMurphy, Inc. Quotes For Entrepreneurs-August 2016 - SKMurphy, Inc.

  3. Pingback: SKMurphy, Inc. Quotes For Entrepreneurs-November 2016 - SKMurphy, Inc.

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