Vinnie Mirchandani will be out of action for a while

Regular readers will know that Vinnie Mirchandani is one of my sparring partners, confidante and close friend. Yesterday I learned that he was taken ill while on a speaking engagement. He's OK, he's in very good hands, but he needs a good amount of TLC and rest.

Curiously it is less than a fortnight ago as we strolled down Market Street San Francisco that we both talked about our punishing travel schedules and how we are getting too old for it. Illness has a way of telling you it's time to slow down.

In the age of the Internet you'd think Vinnie would be signed up for every service imaginable. TripIt, Plancast whatever. But despite his love for innovation, he, like me in some things is a bit 'old skool.' That means most of his 'stuff' is locked away on his cellphone which his wife has yet to figure how to unlock.

But being enterprisey and irregular, we don't let a minor detail like that get in the way of taking care of immediate business. That's why this post is going out in the expectation that people who read this and know Vinnie will know others who know where he's meant to be in the coming weeks and pass the word along. (Excuse the mangled English.)

Our own Brian Sommer has offered to take up any consulting slack. Brian and Vinnie were partners in the past so this is a no brainer.

Elsewhere, Ray Wang, another mutual friend is on call to assist in fielding other calls. Steve Mann is taking care of a speaking arrangement and Craig Cmehil has dealt with another. Others are making calls with known mutual contacts.

The net net is Vinnie will be off the grid for at least a month and that all engagements for that period are cancelled.

When the Irregulars were formed, one of the founders provided a tagline that didn't always sound inviting: "We may not always be nice to one another but if you come on in you'll go away smarter than when you arrived." The Irregulars can add to that: "And we look after our own as best we can."

Get well soon my friend - our work is not yet done. And of course all our best wishes go to his family.

If anyone needs to make contact please use this special email address: dealarchitect@enterpriseirregulars.com which will route messages to Brian and myself.