I was “brought up” in the environment of “work work work”. Maybe it’s because of the blue-collar family I was raised in. When you’re poor, you aren’t paid a salary, you’re paid hourly or by the job. The harder you work, the more you get paid. It made sense. Then…

Few people know how many random jobs I’ve had throughout my life, but one of them was working at Best Buy. I was in 11th grade and quickly realized that I was a shy geek who loved coding and extremely afraid of talking to people. I also knew at an…

Almost every company I meet says they have “the best team”; So a couple years ago, I started asking myself: “Can they prove it?” A few high level indicators may be: (a) overall business growth (revenue/sales/profitability) (b) ability to find, hire, and retain employees with incredible backgrounds (c) Top tier…

If an investor says “no” to you, it doesn’t mean they hate you, think you’re idea is dumb, or that you can’t make money, although all of these may also be true. I can think of five specific companies I’ve met over the last 30–60 days that all: Have product…

I try to save interview notes of every interview or candidate screen in my “notes” app on my iphone/mac from every company I’ve been a part of throughout my career, and every so often I review old notes to get better at becoming a solid evaluator of talent — or…

“In the central highlands in Africa where I work, when people meet each other walking…on the trails, and one person says, “Hello, how are you, good morning,” the answer is not: “I’m fine, how are you?” The answer translated into English is this: “I see you.” Think of that. “I…

Over the years I’ve accumulated lots of data points for myself to build a framework for how I evaluate opportunities in the business world. Recently, I’ve decided to share this framework with others given the number of conversations I have with entrepreneurs, friends, and family members seeking material changes in…

First it came for my classmates at Virginia Tech, And I did not speak out - Because I thought that day was an anomaly. Then it came for the kids at Sandy Hook, And I did not speak out - Because I thought our leaders would take immediate and decisive action…