The Waving Cat turns 2

Today my company The Waving Cat turns two. I’m very happy to say it’s been two great years, and so it’s time to take stock for a brief moment before moving on as there’s tons to do… So!

You might notice that the blog extends back waaaaay beyond two years: I’ve been using that domain for my personal blog for over 10 years now. (These days my personal blog lives at thewavingcat.com/category/personal, whereas the company-related blog posts are at thewavingcat.com/blog.)

That said, what happened in those two years? A lot! You can find a full re-hashing of all the projects on the project page as well as in the regular monthnotes.

For now, let me point out just a few projects that stood out for me

  • Co-founded and helped run a number of conferences – most notably ThingsCon, which is turning into a global phenomenon, more on that soon – and co-chaired or curated some more, like Interaction16 and NEXT 14 and 15. No better way to meet super interesting people than running these events.
  • Co-authored/made a number of publications including Connected Mag (discontinued, but archive still up), The Indie Conference Organizer Handbook (ebook), Understanding the Connected Home (ebook).
  • Got to …display some work at the London V&A; …hang out in Casa Jasmina, the open source smart home of the future; …speak at and attend a few kick-ass events; …and much more.
  • Worked with a great line-up of clients on everything from IoT to R&D to business strategy to policy, including Alpine, Bosch, the German government, Google, SinnerSchrader, WoltersKluwer, and many more.

More importantly, I got to work with a bunch of tremendous people on fantastic projects: Special shout outs to Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino, Wolfgang Macht, Michelle Thorne, Marcel Schouwenaar, Sami Niemelä – thanks so much for everything!

What’s next?

  • Dearsouvenir, a travel magazine centered on souvenirs, is the first spin-off for the company, we’re setting it up as an independent entity.
  • The Good Home project, our own independent R&D project around ideas for living in the 21c, is going to Milan for Fuori Salone first, then on to London, New Zealand and other places.
  • ThingsCon is going global through a growing number of local satellites.
  • There’s a few projects around IoT policy in the making that I’m quite excited about.

I’m very grateful and happy that this is what my work life looks like. It’s certainly not going to get boring anytime soon. On that note: There’s lots to do. Onwards!

Related reading: Anniverary: The Waving Cat GmbH turns one!; all blog posts tagged “anniversary”

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