When I graduated from college, my mentors, my co-workers, my friends, and family told, “Go find your passion”, and commit to one to two years of exploration. I was told I could always come back to the 9-to-5er, but I may not always be able to go back to a time free of commitments and responsibilities. Borrowing from essentialism, between the two options, which one would I sacrifice more to obtain if I didn’t have it?
And so I chose the unknown because it scared me. I did odd jobs here and there at various startups I had build relationships with, to keep myself afloat in the expensive San Francisco Bay Area. And while I decided to spend that year pursuing my life goal of meeting and learning from the most interesting, most creative, most inspiring and craziest people in the world (and one day outside of it), I also spent time learning about the world of venture through sourcing brilliant, passionate (or better yet, obsessive, to a degree) founders to investors.
I met with the rich or the poor, world-renowned CEO or small town expert, artisans, founders, hustlers, people with purpose, with passion, and with esoteric stories to share about their life, the world, and the people they lived with.
From entrepreneurs to seasoned investors.
From PhDs to high school dropouts.
From farmers to street artists.
From yo-yo to yoga to bartending champions.
Just like the inception of this blog’s name. A name that happened with my mentor after a fancy dinner that left us hungry for more. In looking for a spot for round 2 to fill our bellies, he said, “Let’s just grab a cup o’ Joe instead.”
I had gone through a million names and a half, yet none clicked like it did then. Similarly, this blog isn’t designed to be prescriptive and tell you what to do and when in your life’s journey. But hopefully, empower you with a repertoire of tools in your toolkit. And when you do need it, you will be well-equipped. So, this blog is merely a GoPro to my life – the stories and insights I learn from my own curious endeavors and others’. Others who are either passionately curious or curiously passionate. Or both.
Welcome to the tenaciously and idiosyncratically curious, chronically eccentric life of David Zhou.
If you’re looking for a place to start, I highly recommend the below.
For founders: 99 pieces of unsolicited, “non-googleable” advice for founders
For investors: 99 pieces of unsolicited, “non-googleable” advice for investors
If you like the above two, here’s where you can find all the other 99 series blogposts.
For the experimenter: What I learned about communities and people by hosting social experiments
For the timeless explorer:
If you’re looking to take a deep dive into the world of LPs, I produce a weekly podcast on that. Catch me on:
- YouTube
- Spotify
- Apple Podcasts
- And the show notes here.
You can also find me in these other corners: