Snooj told me yesterday, he just sold Points South to GWI.
It’s not unexpected, he told me a while back that it wasn’t a job he enjoyed anymore, and that he was looking to sell. But even so, it still caught me off guard.
I haven’t had much connection to Points South in a while, other than hosting things there and stopping in once or twice a year, but it was one of my first jobs – and a home of sorts, too, I was actually living in the back room when I was working there. It didn’t work out, the business was new and struggling, and the few web sites I built weren’t enough to pay my position.
I moved on to other jobs, while still doing projects for Points South as a freelancer. After a while, my main job paid well enough that I didn’t need the freelance work anymore.
Points South kept on going though – doing well, picking up smaller ISPs, expanding to cover most of Maine. Jeremy moved on, and then Austin, and a new generation of Points South crew came on.
The thing with a small business, a good small business, is that the employees form a family. That’s probably why Snooj kept it going as long as he did, even after the point where it stopped being enjoyable, was to keep a place for these people for as long as possible.
In the end, though, the demands of running the place wore on him and you really shouldn’t keep doing a job that makes you miserable. It was time to move on.
Points South was an amazing achievement, a tiny business that grew to service most of Maine, with award-winning customer support. I look back at my time there fondly.
So, raise a glass to Points South, the little ISP that could!