I’ve always had a life goal of meeting, learning, and helping the craziest, most creative, and most inspiring people in the world (and maybe one day, outside of it). So, half a decade ago, I made that dream-like goal my mission. Every week I reached out to one new person I was insanely excited about, which sounded great in theory, but scared the hell out of my introverted self. I would find the person of the week (POTW, as I would abbreviate it in my journal) from anything that would spark my interest: articles, podcasts, books, friends (and our online and offline conversations), memes, or YouTube videos. I then forced myself to find every way possible, and over time, figure out the best way possible, to meet these brilliant folks. It was a trial-and-error game of email, call, warm intro, Instagram or LinkedIn DMs, hand-written letters, and even attempting to show up at their office and ask for a meeting unannounced. Most were in vain, but those that I did succeed in, always had me jumping with joy, which was quickly followed by nervous adrenaline, as if I had overloaded on caffeine.
But that’s what made every single week fun. Every week I had something to look forward to – a mission that I would jump out of the bed every morning to accomplish.
That’s exactly why I didn’t give myself time to blink when I got the chance to jump into venture capital. Venture capitalists have a great track record of finding and investing in brilliant and passionate dreamers. And when I had yet to find my own systematic calculus for finding fascinating humans of the world, the mysterious land of venture capital would help me gain insight and a means to create my own. At the same time, I just couldn’t ignore my former professor’s description of the VC industry:
“A career where you get to see the future from one person’s perspective. And if you piece enough of them together, you’ll be able to help build the future you want you and your children to live in.”
Though I’m still only a meager three years in, and many miles short of having children, I’ve learned VC is a much more complex beast than I initially thought, but it doesn’t change my mission: to meet, learn, and help the craziest, most creative, and most inspiring people in this world. As someone who’s on the more junior side of life, there has been no better industry for me to learn, in breadth and in depth:
- How to start and grow a business,
- The frontiers of technology,
- And the fundamentals of human relationships.