Jim Willis

So, yesterday was my first day as CTO for Passionato.  After a little over two years or so of doing consulting work (much of which was spent integrating the All Music Guide dataset into a Jazz and Classical CD retailer's website backend), I'll now be responsible for rolling out some very cool (and hopefully revenue-generating) features for Passionato.

I ordered business cards, spent some time learning the names of the people involved in the company and spent a lot of time on the phone/skype to the UK where the company's developers are currently located. We're in the process this week of launching v2 of the website, after which launch I'll take the reins from the current acting CTO. Everyone I've had the opportunity to work  or speak with so far has been very bright and articulate (the British accents don't hurt in that regard.)

I am excited on several fronts, not the least of which is I'm surrounded by people who all have a deep love for music (mostly classical but the breadth of musical knowledge is amazing). It just feels good to be around people who are more like me than not in that sense. The joy of discussing the Miles Davis Quintet and Sibelius over lunch is a perk that I've never had in my previous jobs.

Next week I'll be traveling to London to meet the developers face-to-face. I'm looking forward to that.  Over the next few weeks we'll be looking for beta-testers for some new features. There are some sweet benefits (if you like classical music) to beta-testing, so if you're interested drop me an email.