Yes, I’m Doing My Annual Thanksgiving Post but this time from 35,000 feet

For those who have been reading my blog for years you know that every year I tend to write a relatively long Thanksgiving post. I do this because I feel incredibly lucky in this life and I think that luck has a lot to do with the incredible and inspirational people in my life. Right now I’m on a plane flying from Austin to San Francisco to spend Thanksgiving with my family and since I don’t want to take-up family time blogging, I thought I’d do it here.

This October marked the 8 year anniversary of MorganLinton.com and I wanted to kick this off with thanking all of you, my readers. I’m still blown away by how many people have been reading my blog for more than 5 years along with the new readers who join every year. So “Thank You” because without all of you I’d just be writing to myself.

Now for a list of people I’m thankful to this year:

Daina (my wife) – I am so lucky to have married my best friend in the entire world. Daina and I had a dream to spend every single day together and start a software company that fundamentally changed the way people doing things. I’ve heard people say, “I could never spend every day with my life, I’d go crazy” – and while I appreciate everyone’s own relationships I can tell you that after spending all day every day together for three years I want to do it for another 100 years. Daina is my soulmate, the love of my life, and an incredibly inspiring CEO and I am so thankful to have her in my life.

My parents – I have some really incredible parents, they have supported me unconditionally throughout my entire life. I can still remember when I finished grad school at Carnegie Mellon and told them I was going to take an unpaid internship at Dreamworks, sure it shocked them, but they still supported me. My parents taught me a lot of lessons but there are two that will always stick with me: 1 – you can do anything you want to do in your life, and 2 – treat other people the way you would like to be treated.

My sister and nieces – my sister is four years younger than me and if you see a picture of us together let’s just say you can tell we’re brother and sister. She’s an amazing person and seeing her as a Mom over the last couple of years has showed me even more about what an incredible person she is. She has two amazing daughters and I can’t wait to see them in a few hours!

My friends – I am truly blessed to have some great friends in my life. From my Berkeley High crew to my friends from CMU, to all my new friends in Austin I feel so fortunate to have so many amazing friends that I know I’ll have for my entire life.

Jason Seats – Jason is the co-founder of SliceHost (acquired by Rackspace), a very active Angel Investor, and was the MD of Techstars in Austin. He believe in Fashion Metric at a critical time for us and we wouldn’t be where we are today without him. I consider Jason a true friend and a true believer in what we are doing.

Brett Hurt – Brett is the co-founder of Austin-based BazaarVoice (IPO’ed in 2012) and is an incredibly inspiring leader in the community. He is also one of our biggest supporters and most helpful advisors. Brett has really gone above-and-beyond for us and given how busy he is I am so thankful for the time he spends with us. While I do feel a bit old to have a hero, I’d have to say when I grow up (not making any promises) I’d like to be like Brett.

Josh Kerr – Josh is an incredibly successful entrepreneur and has been a good friend and major supporter of ours. I consider Josh one of my closest friends in Austin and we have a blast every time we get together. We met Josh early-on in Techstars and have been friends ever since.

Joshua Baer – The Austin startup community wouldn’t be what it is today without Josh. While he’s an very successful entrepreneur who I’m sure could have retired years ago, he spends his days helping to put Austin on the startup map and he’s been doing a damn good job of it.

Our investors – We have a truly amazing set of investors. I’ve heard horror stories of startups that have bad investors and I couldn’t be more thankful to have such a supportive and inspiring group of investors. I also have to give special thanks to John Ives (Tahoma Ventures) our lead investor who has really gone far above-and-beyond for us, he knows his stuff, makes sure we know ours, and really feels like part of the team.

Sahar Sarid – I wouldn’t have started this blog, nor would I have started investing in domain names if it wasn’t for Sahar. His blog, was what first exposed me to the world of domain investing, and then I met him at TRAFFIC Vegas and he was so welcoming that it really made me feel like I could be a part of this community. Sahar continues to be someone that I look-up to not just in the domain investing world but in life, thanks Sahar!

Ron Jackson – Ron might just be one of the nicest most gracious people I have ever met in my life. Not only has he consistently delivered for the domain industry but he’s just a great person, proud father, amazing husband, and if I can be in half as good of shape as he is when I’m his age I’ll be doing well.

The Neu Family – Barbara, Howard, and Ray welcomed me into the industry at my first conference and have been some of the warmest, caring people I’ve had the pleasure to meet in my life. I am so thankful to have met them and I’m also very thankful that I get to see them in Florida every year now.

I hope all have a great Thanksgiving, thanks for reading, now step away from your computer and get back to your family!

Morgan Linton

Morgan Linton