6 years ago when I was writing the first lines of Schedulefly I got into this groundhog day like groove for about 4 or 5 months. I would wake up, roll over and grab my laptop from the floor, flip on the tv and code in bed. Some days I’d still be in pajamas coding and my wife would walk into the room having just gotten home from work. She’d laugh and I’d realize how starving I was – so I’d close the laptop, hop in the shower , get dressed and we’d go out for dinner. Those were the days. I did not talk to anyone for months except my family. I had no distractions. No meetings, no team, no boss. Just me and Zack Morris from Saved by the Bell. Funny – I was getting paid zero dollars per hour and I was getting more done than any previous “real” job I had ever had. It didn’t feel like work at all and that was fun.

So while I often coded right through breakfast with just a pot of coffee to keep me going – I did usually grab some lunch. When I went out, I almost always went to the Village Deli in Cameron Village near downtown Raleigh NC. I usually ate there alone or got something to go. There was no time to break my groove and talk to anyone about anything. I just needed to eat fast and then get back to coding. The Village Deli is really good. I could literally stand in line and throw a dart left-handed (while blindfolded) at the menu and walk out happy with whatever I hit.

I remember back then thinking that it would be so cool if the Village Deli started using Schedulefly one day. They seemed perfect. Like a family. Since it was just me writing Schedulefly I never had any intentions of creating something that I (or anyone else) would put a suit on and go sell to the McDonalds of the world. I had eaten at enough lousy chains to know that running a great independent restaurant like Village Deli took more of an entrepreneurial approach and less of an “operator” approach. Instead of running his business by following a manual – the owner ran his business like he wanted to – most likely by following his gut. He created a unique experience that no one else had and that was a big reason for his success. That’s how I am wired too. That’s how I envisioned running a business and that’s the kind of business I was hoping to create one day with this new software. So one day doing business with a place where I personally liked to do business was a cool thought.

Well this month the Village Deli became a customer! What’s cool too is I never told them about it back then – or ever. In fact I have not eaten there in 3 years (boo) since my family moved to the NC coast. Maybe someone that works there works at one of the other restaurants we serve in downtown Raleigh. Maybe they just Googled restaurant scheduling. Who knows – but we are so glad they are here. Seems like I’ve said this before but it’s so incredibly satisfying when someone you think would like your product, does.

Welcome Village Deli!

Wes