Hi all, I am overjoyed to announce that DeLano Scientific has grown, at last! *We* are now two people full-time: myself and Joni Lam (mailto:j...@delsci.com), who started today. Over coming weeks, Joni, as the Business Operations Manager ('da bom'), will be assuming responsibility for most business functions at DELSCI, meaning that I will once again able to devote the bulk of my energy to development and support of PyMOL. If time permits (and I expect it will), Joni will also help us complete that long-overdue PyMOL documentation and participate in regular PyMOL-related events held at our new South San Francisco office.
Joni is a former colleague of mine from Sunesis, with 4.5 yrs drug-discovery experience in biology. Having done her time at the bench, Joni now looks forward to a business career in biotechnology or a related field. Joining DELSCI was a natural choice for her as a way to gain direct experience growing a small company for a few years before (likely) heading off to business school. Having worked with Joni before, I have complete confidence that she will do well here. My hope and expectation is that over the next 2-3 years, we will together grow DeLano Scientific to that 5 person "critical mass" that a package like PyMOL needs in order to be fully supported in a commercial sense. That means having at least one FTE dedicated to each critical function: development, support, training & documentation, business, and consulting services. We may well grow beyond that, but only if demand warrants it. And of course, just in case you are wondering: DELSCI is not about to abandon its open-source roots in order to achieve business success. Though it is clear that we must solidify the "value-proposition" for PyMOL sponsors (subscribers) in order to continue building a stable revenue base, DELSCI remains committed to growing the business in synergy with the open-source project and the vibrant community that has formed around it. I thank everyone who currently sponsors PyMOL through maintenance and/or support subscriptions -- you yourself made this day possible! Thank you, thank you, thank you. For those who aren't currently sponsoring the effort, I hope you will consider becoming a subscriber over this next year, and especially once you observe an increased rate of progress. Your modest investment today will pay perpetual dividends in the form of improved scientific tools for everyone. Have a great weekend! Cheers, Warren PS. We will be out of town for much of the next week, but will be glad to process new subscriptions or renewals after February 23rd (http://www.pymol.org/funding.html). -- Warren L. DeLano, Ph.D. Principal Scientist . DeLano Scientific LLC . 400 Oyster Point Blvd., Suite 213 . South San Francisco, CA 94080 . Biz:(650)-872-0942 Tech:(650)-872-0834 . Fax:(650)-872-0273 Cell:(650)-346-1154 . mailto:war...@delsci.com
