The Zuleeg Family Year in Review 1999
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First of all my apologies, I didn't think I'd ever resort to writing a Year In Review letter, but the simple fact of the matter is that with all that has gone on during the last year or so, Iíve found it difficult to keep in touch with you all as much as I would have liked to. I certainly appreciate hearing from all of you, so I hope you'll enjoy hearing from and catching up with us. If not, read no further and simply throw this away!
Things have been so hectic, but here's a synopsis: 1995 was the year of buying our home on Blossom Vista and getting married. 1996 was the year of leaving Apple, joining and leaving Sunís JavaSoft, and starting up Visto. 1997 got quite hectic with the birth of Tanner Avery Zuleeg. See http://www.zuleeg.net/Tanner. The summer of 1998 we went to Hawaii and upon our return I sold the Menk Hou ( http://www.zuleeg.net/YIR/1998/MenkHou) and our home on Blossom Vista, bought a new home in Saratoga. I also left my first internet startup and helped start Lipstream. And that brings us to 1999.
Upon our return from Hawaii in July 1998, where Tanner had his first dip in the Pacific Ocean, Jill and I had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to buy the house across the orchard from her parents in Saratoga. It took a lot of time, effort, and was emotionally draining selling the Menk Hou (my first home), selling Blovis (Jill's and Tanner's first home), buying our new home and moving in December, 1998. The house was in move-in condition, but it's a much bigger house and there were plenty of projects to begin making it a true expression of ourselves: Decorating, painting, rugs, minor repairs, herb garden, vegetable garden, hedge replacement, walkways, additional sprinkler systems, and major outdoor water and gas line upgrades kept us busy most of the year. We love the house and are very fortunate to live in Saratoga. Tanner loves walking across the orchard to visit his grandparents (Papa D and Danny Terri) or just to see the puppies, grabbing a fresh apple along the way.
At the same time as our new home purchase I made the gut-wrenching decision to leave the internet startup I co-founded in August 1996, Visto Corporation (see http://www.visto.com/). Visto is still in my heart and I stay in close touch with the people there. Visto provides ubiquitous access to your private information anywhere on the web or your cell phone. With a free Visto account you can get your email, files, bookmarks, calendar, tasks, can share photos, MP3, and files, and can even keep all of this synchronized with your Phone, Palm Pilot, Outlook, or Lotus Notes. I cherish the times I had at Visto and learned and experienced a tremendous amount. Visto secured a $31 Million round of funding in 99Q1, has surpassed 100 employees, and is anticipating it's IPO this year. Get yourself a free Visto account!
With Visto in such good shape it was easier to take what I had learned and do it again. In late 1998 Ross Eltherington and three other co-founders started a new startup, Lipstream. While helping them get started I decided to become amongst the first employees of the company and do once again what I had done already at Visto as Director of Operations and help build a company and build and manage a world class Data Center. Lipstream provides live, real-time voice over the internet using your PC (see http://www.lipstream.com). We're the voice behind Excite's voice chat, as well as Alta Vista, MyFamily, Kana, Webex, and many more. We're nearing 50 employees (one of whom is Tom D'Arezzo) and just closed a $23 Million third round of financing, including Compaq and American Express. It's a great company with a stellar future and is moving incredibly fast. Try it out at http://voicechat.excite.com.
Unfortunately not all news is good news. After 3 1/2 years of battling colon cancer, my father finally succumbed and passed away on April 8, 1999. This may come as a big surprise to some of you, since my father kept his illness very private. Rainer lived a rich and full life and we will always remember his achievements, contributions to mankind, radis and accordion playing, glider flying and good cheer. We will miss him. My mom is doing well and is starting to settle into her new life. She spent over a month in Germany and is visiting Gina and us as often as time allows.
But life prevails, and Tanner is bursting forth. He's been walking since March, this summer he nearly learned to swim, he's starting to formulate multi-syllabic utterances, and multi-word ideas, can count to 12, we've taken him to Pajaro Dunes, and he visited Jill's grandma Lala in Alabama. He's an absolute joy and Jill is doing a great job with him, being a stay at home mom.
Although Jill is loving being a stay at home mom, she started working very part time (more to keep her sanity, really) teaching some personal fitness classes with existing customers. It gives her a chance to get out and speak adult talk for a change. And in her spare time she's been overcome with her new hidden talent...she's been writing lyrics for country western songs! I'm sure she'll get them sung by some CW star some day, but in the mean time if you have any leads, send them her way!
Something I have gotten involved in and that I imagine I will expand my role in this year is the Silicon Valley Angel Investors. In addition to being an investor and Limited Partner, I also enjoy introducing friend's startup ideas to the General Partners, assisting member companies, and helping find synergies amongst member companies. Both Visto and Lipstream are Angel Investor companies. If you have a company that needs funding or have an idea for a startup company of your own, don't hesitate to contact me and I'll get you an introduction!
The final event of the year was our trip to Hawaii for the Millennium. All the offspring from the family tree of Dave and Terri, or a total of 9 adults and 4 kids, all stayed in condos on the beach at Poipu Beach, Kauai for 12 days. We played, relaxed, swam, snorkeled, surfed, hiked, kayaked, BBQed, golfed, and brought in the Millennium on the beach. It was awesome and we've got a ton of pictures to share with you. In fact, this whole year in review is supported by pictures representing the year, at http://www.zuleeg.net/YIR/1999/
2000 looks to be a big year: Tanner's growing and learning an amazing rate. He may just have a brother or sister on the way by year's end. At least one IPO ought to happen. And we're all healthy and keeping in good shape. I hope that this post-holiday, pre-summer greeting has found you and your families in good health, good cheer, and appreciating it! Treat yourself to something nice! All the best to you in the coming year and feel free to drop a note, a call, or an email!
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