In April we sold Zango to blinkx, a video search company in San Francisco. It was a great strategic deal bringing together our strengths in consumer marketing and monetization with their strengths in technology and video content. Though it was probably the hardest time in the last 75 years to do a deal, somehow our CEO Keith Smith made it happen.

As part of the deal I was able to exit: three of our eight execs joined their management team, which is normal in these deals. I considered taking some time off, but quickly figured out that I like working and am happier when busy. So in May when Clay McDaniel, a Wallingford neighbor and graduate school classmate asked if I wanted to join his rapidly growing social media marketing agency, I jumped in.

Spring Creek Group is a great fit. Social media is hot right now, and it's fun to be part of a growing company with a strong value proposition (more on that later). Not to mention that I love my 15 minute commute through Fremont to our Westlake office overlooking Lake Union. On behalf of our clients we spend a lot of time doing research and interacting with consumers online, so ironically our "social media" office often feels more like a library than a party. But it's a talented and fun group of people and I look forward to work each day.

I worked at Microsoft with Steve Rider for about 18 months in 2005-2006. We built and launched live.com, which was an innovative customizable homepage (the technology was subsequently consolidated in mymsn). He was a truly talented developer, the kind that delivers more value than 10 average developers. Plus he was really nice, calm, soothing guy. I enjoyed working with him.

Last year he was diagnosed with Leukemia. He found me on Facebook and I followed his story, posting occasional words of encouragement in the comments. I remember how comforting it was to my family to receive similar notes when our daughter Amelia was in the hospital, and I was glad Steve reached out so I could do something similar for him. I drew strength and perspective from his story, marveling at his courage during the difficult treatments and ability to still find joy in short walks and small meals.

After a year of tough challenges, another surfaced last week: he caught pneumonia and went into the hospital again. Many of us sent him positive wishes, mostly expecting him to overcome them as he had done so far.

So I was not expecting, two days later, to log into Facebook and discover this:

Boom. I was standing at my home desk to quickly check status updates and the next thing I knew I was sitting on the floor. It was a surreal experience. Facebook has always been the voice of my friends, and suddenly here was one of them telling me he had died the day before. It just didn't make sense.

Of course, the post was submitted by Johanna, Steve's wife. I mourned him all weekend, and felt particularly moved while at church on Sunday, praying for his family and friends to find the strength to keep going. The funny thing is, before Facebook, I would have simply lost touch with Steve. We had good relations while working together, but our social worlds did not overlap. And now, thanks to the kind of technology that Steve built, I had a very real experience mourning his passing.

Steve, thank you for inviting me into your circle. You are missed terribly. Godspeed.