— 2012 —

Smart Patients was the most amazing fun. It felt good to do good.

We started out in an office inside NASA in Mountain View. Our neighbours on one side were designing 3D printers for the International Space Station. On the other side, they were building a real-life version of the Star Trek Tricorder. The rest of the floor was rented by Singularity University who were teaching geniuses to invent a new future. We shared stories, drank beer and talked about the future every Friday afternoon.

Later, we moved into a garage with Chris the Photographer. We worked at our standing desks while Chris took photos of the San Jose Ballet behind us. We played football in the park a couple of times a week.

Smart Patients built online communities for patients and caregivers. In those early days, we knew most of our members by name and many became our friends. Susumu sent me a calendar from Japan every year. Norma Jean baked us a cake!

When I was diagnosed with cancer, Mrs Clown and Robin secretly asked our members to send me a card and they flooded in from all over the world.

Over the years, we’ve had around 100,000 members. One time, we invited a bunch of patients and their families down to California and each told us a story about their diseases and their lives. It was incredibly moving to speak with patients who were dying and it was all the more moving when they died. Moyra, John, Neil, Ron, Shaun, Mike, Gary and too many more — you live on in my heart.

One memorable weekend, Mrs Clown, Gilles and I drove up to visit Stephanie on a farm in Napa Valley. Stephanie was one of our earliest members and she was dying of three cancers at the same time. She wanted to be sure we would take care of her community when she was gone. My memories burn bright.

— 2017 —

I’ve never worked so hard as I did in those early years. There’s something special about building an application from just a whiteboard full of ideas. We hung out every day to discuss every aspect of the business. We hired a few more people later but things soon got bumpy and one of the founders quit. We began to struggle financially and acquired a survey company to try to raise additional revenue.

Building surveys was not my cup of tea though and when my kids finished school, we made plans to come home to England and I’ve worked remotely for the last few years.

We were just about to buy our new house in England when the CEO told me he was quitting too and he left me in charge. I’m a pretty good software developer but I’m not much of a CEO and things continued to go downhill. When COVID happened, our customers stopped paying us and when I got my diagnosis, I decided I couldn’t do it any more and Kathryn took over as CEO. I went back to writing software and took another pay cut. Then another. Kathryn did a brave job keeping us going and we bumped along the bottom for a couple more years.

It was the best of jobs. It was the worst of jobs.

— 2024 —

All good things come to an end though and it’s time to say goodbye to Smart Patients. I doubt I’ll be looking for another job after this one. I’ve been working since I was sixteen with thirty-five of those years writing software. I think I’ll enjoy some tranquillity for a while.

It’s not all bad though. I’m studying for a degree in philosophy and — fingers crossed — I’ll get that degree I should have studied for 40 years ago. I’ll sit in my comfy chair by the window, read my philosophy books and look out at the harbour with my dog. Maybe I’ll write some more too.

Twenty-four years in America has left us with a medley of memories and an abundance of friends. We never intended to come to America — I always dreamed of Australia — but we had some great adventures and we got two grown-up children out of the deal. But it’s good to be home.

Maybe leave me a comment if you remember me. I’d love to hear from you.

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