Happy 20th Anniversary to Gold Systems

Me, Terry, Jim, and Kevin Obenchain

Twenty years ago I was the third employee and part-owner in a startup company named Gold Systems, in Boulder, Colorado. Terry Gold, who I worked with when I was a project manager at AT&T, and Jim Fudge founded it, and some months later I moved to Boulder to join them. It was just three of us in three rooms trying to figure out how to generate income, and we had a lot of fun too. I spent most of the year designing and writing the software for a voice mail system, with a timeout many afternoons for juggling sessions on the grass outside the office, hoping for the phone to ring. Then I went to Arkansas to install the hardware and get the system running. I learned I wasn't very good with hardware, and also found my interest in writing growing. I left the company after a year, and started on a very crooked path to becoming a science writer. But I still have some shares in the company and remember my time there fondly.

Gold Systems just celebrated their 20th Anniversary. They now have several dozen employees building voice and text communications systems. Terry Gold, their CEO, is a great guy who wanted to make a company that did things the right way, and that truly respected its employees and its customers. And he has. I'm very glad his dream came true--he's worked really hard for it--and hope they continue on their successful path. While having more fun along the way.