There are fewer moments in life that have given me as much pleasure as writing the first story on TechDigest. Not that the post was groundbreaking journalism, a contender for the Pulitzer prize or even completely free of typos (ouhc!). It was just that after years of wrestling with HTML codes and invariably giving up, I'd found a foolproof way of realising one of my big ambitions - to launch a gadgets website.

That was almost five years ago, and although Shiny Media didn't really follow for a few years later, the blog that kicked off one of the the UK's leading commercial blogging networks was born.

So half a decade after it all began now seems like a very good time for me to go and do something, well, at least a little different.

I am immensely proud of what Shiny has achieved - there aren't many content based start ups in the UK that have gone from zero to over four million readers/viewers in a few years are there?

And although I am no longer on the pay roll I remain a significant shareholder in Shiny Media, so I'll still be keenly tracking the growth of Catwalk Queen, TechDigest and all the other sites.

If I had to pick one highlight it would be the day that Anton Newcombe, the creative genius behind my favourite band The Brian Jonestown Massacre, actually commented on a post on TechDigest. I spent the next couple of weeks waiting for someone to own up to the spoof, but no one ever admitted to it, so I can only assume it was the real A Newcombe after all.

** update I will probaly be taking him up on his job offer - see comments

As for my future, well I will be mainly working as a consultant for Shiny Red. I will however also be developing a few of my own web projects and hopefully leaving a few hours a week for working with some other start ups. Always keen to hear about new projects. Hell, I might even try to crack HTML again - a guy has got to have ambition after all.