Random & Personal

Hidden Commitments Hampering Personal Growth

Thu, 21 Feb 2013 22:47:00 -0500

Today I had a great opportunity and experience. I received “therapy-like” personal growth advice from Andy Fleming. I reached out to him with a dilemma around picking startup co-founders and some of the situations I have run into in prior partnerships. I needed some guidance to identify if my behaviors were the cause or if the prior situations were more technical in nature. I have enjoyed working with every partner I have had, but in some occasions our goals and priorities were not well aligned from the specific opportunities. Some of the startup ideas also had limited potential.

Andy ran through a process developed by Robert Kegan, author of Immunity to change, where we discussed the “personal” situation in the following categories and order:

1) List an improvement goal

2) What am I doing and not doing to undermine the goal?

3) What worries and fears do I have if I change the behavior in step 2?

4) What hidden commitments do I have as they relate to step 2?

5) What big assumptions do I have regarding the worries and hidden commitments?

The exercise took about an hour, it was very insightful, and helped me clarify a lot of internal worries. With Andy’s help, I was able to identify deeply engrained behaviors I have been doing for many years that are preventing me from achieving the goal.

So what was the goal in step 1? To create stronger more lasting reciprocal relationships.

Thanks Andy!

From Physical to Digital Clutter

Fri, 04 Jan 2013 10:32:00 -0500

Technology has enabled people to shift from owning stuff in a physical form to now everything you can read or listen being available in digital form. A recent tweet stated people’s coolness is being measured by what they do not own versus what they own. This is a growing trend to live more lean and nimble life.

While cleaning and organizing my garage and home office right after the new year, I kept thinking about this mature trend towards digital. I was clearly annoyed by all the physical books I own in 4 different book cases around the house. I wish I would have purchased kindle versions of the 30 or so books I have bought in the last few years. Any music CD and their bulky cases were also annoying me, but this is mainly my wife getting a lot of free marketing music CDs through her job at AT&T. All this music was loaded in our home iMac and I have been hesitant to throw away the disks and cases. I was on an aggressive cleaning mindset, so the cases with CDs went into the trash bag quickly.

I did a quick google search and found a great blog post where someone wanted to convert their paper library to digital. An Amazon Book Exchange program is a great idea.

I also found a startup (1DollarScan) that offers a service to scan your paper books and sends them to Evernote or Dropbox if you want. The cost is $1 / 100 pages. This could add up quickly with the 250 or so books that I have at home.

So, no more physical books for me. Maybe I will gradually become cool :)

Lincoln & Entrepreneurship

Tue, 01 Jan 2013 23:30:00 -0500

We just left the movies and we liked the Spielberg “Lincoln” movie with Daniel Day Lewis. Lincoln had the vision and guts to pass the 13th amendment to abolish slavery. I was comparing Lincoln to entrepreneurship.

After some thoughts, I decided to personally define a successful entrepreneur as someone:
- Crazy enough to dream big,
- Ballsie enough to try it,
- With the know how to pull it off

Change in vibe for ATL Tech Startup Community

Sat, 22 Dec 2012 00:40:06 -0500

David Cummings just purchased a 100,000 sq. ft. building in the heart of Buckhead to create the Atlanta Technology Village. Recent startup events and meetups have seen a lot more people than usual and more energy than normal. Startups (lean and well funded ones) are sponsoring more events and there is a sense of greater collaboration in town. I think Kevin and Heath started Hypepotamus right around the time I started to notice this shift in momentum. Demo day for the first cohort of FlashpointGT accelerator was a big success with over 300 people in attendance. These are just a few recent events that are helping to spark a bigger flame in the ATL tech startup scene.

I have only been around the Atlanta tech startup community for 2 years, but there is certainly something in the air recently. There might be a series A crunch going on, but Atlanta is certainly hot.

Anyone else noticing this change in vibe?

Thoughts on wasting your 20s

Sun, 04 Nov 2012 22:27:08 -0500

I recently read a post by Rob May on his blog called Coconut Headsets about wasting your 20s. I have never heard of Rob or his company Backupify, but man was I able to relate to Rob’s point of view and life lessons.

I agree with everything Rob said. I had similar lessons with very different experiences. This is my stab at lessons learned during my life in a chronological order.

Significant hardship: I have read in the past that people who experience significant hardship before the age of 16 develop an inner drive that can’t be taught. My father died when I was 10 years old while we lived in Peru. This event disrupted things for a very long time. I think his death fuels me to create a financial safety net for my family and a family life at home that is harmonious and positive. My mother did everything she could to raise us well while struggling financially. I think I turned out well, but my sister did not. I was almost shot by terrorist in Peru when I was 14, so my mother sold our stuff and we moved to Miami 30 days later to start a new life.

Get busy learning: Working full time while studying (HS and college) is critical to gain real life lessons. While in HS, I worked from 4am to 7pm each Saturday and Sunday setting up 5 stores in a flea market and selling used jeans in one of these stores. I would then go out with my girlfriend and get 3 hours of sleep Saturday nights. During the week I played soccer after school. Make sure the jobs you have are teaching you skills that you can apply to many jobs later on. I was lucky enough to work for a small export company in MIami after I left the flea market gig. I helped the export company grow from 2 employees to 6 in 4 years. I was the Export Manager responsible for many tasks like sales, customer service, warehouse management, shipping and logistics, letters of credit, procurement, accounting, and more before the age of 21. I was not allowed to be an authorized signature on the company check book because I was not 21. I was running everything else from 9 to 5 while studying Engineering at night.

Don’t get stuck - Aim high: I was making money and very happy with my life in Miami. But it took my best friend Benjamin Vera-Tudela who was also working with me at the export company to realize Miami and that well paying job was not everything. He quit one day and told me he was leaving to Kansas to play on a soccer scholarship. I responded: “Are you nuts man! We are learning and making money while living in the best city in the world”. Weeks after he left, I realized there was more to life and I had to aim high. I was stuck in a job without a true career path while studying at night and Engineering was not my focus. I had to get out and re-evaluate my goals. I applied to the University of Florida without having the funds to pay for school. I got in and 6 months later I moved to Gainesville, FL to start a new chapter. I did party a lot, but had 2 or at times 3 jobs to pay for school. I still ended with a boat load of credit card debt, but I paid it less than 4 years after graduating. I could not get student loans because I was not a US resident.

Learn by trying and failing (not just reading theory): After getting my Industrial Engineering degree from UF, I accepted a consulting job with PricewaterhouseCoopers. I felt I had just taken a huge leap forward when compared to my Miami days. I focused on learning a lot about estate planning, investing, technology, and many other random topics. I got an MBA at one point as well. The real learning came from failing to make any money with stocks and other business ventures. I learned that I had to have a backup plan to my normal W2 paying job. I have started over 6 companies and little business ventures in the last 10 years. I have learned something with every failure. I have also started purchasing rental real estate properties for investment purposes and this is creating a nice second income for us while working on a tech venture / startup. My lessons from the sstash failure are in an earlier post in this blog.

Happiness is the state of mind you create: I am not sure if this makes too much sense. I believe that the way someone responds to the challenges in life makes all the difference. If you choose to be negative and self pity your situation, then you will see things with a dark cloud. I always try to focus on the positive and look for a solution when shit hits the fan. If you don’t like something about your life or yourself, then you have the power to change it. If you don’t, that is your choice! My wife Natalia and I work hard at making our life a happy one. We have two great kids (Sebastian 4 and Sophia 8 months).

Praise vs. Encouragement: I discovered the power of praise vs. encouragement late in my life and primarily after my son Sebastian was born in 2008. Andy Fleming from Core Growth Partners was an advisor of mine whom I met at Flashpoint, and he was the first to clearly explain this simple and very important method of communication with kids.

Growth vs. Fixed Mindset: The book by Carol Dweck has been great at putting all of these lessons from the past 4 years into a nicely summarized book explaining praise vs. encouragement and how people react differently to challenges and criticism. I strongly recommend you guys read the book.

People around you: One of the late lessons I have learned, is that we should really work hard at networking with people we admire and we want to be around. Don’t just let friends, advisors, influencers, and colleagues come and go randomly. Make coffee appointments, reach out to people, and stay in touch with people who can help you achieve the goals you set for yourself. I should have started to work much harder at this many years ago.

So, I certainly did not waste my 20s. Hardships also were huge influencers in my life. My latest lessons around Growth Mindsets and Praises will help me raise Sebastian and Sophia to be good hard working and self driven individuals without experiencing a tragic hardship if life permits.

Rapid iterative learning or your die!

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 23:21:23 -0500

Starting a new tech startup is very difficult. I have been recently analyzing (more than I usually do) all the key aspects that need to be in place in order to improve the probability of success. Traditionally you evaluate the viability of a startup by looking at the following factors: market, technology, people, and what I describe as: “Is your target market spending a lot of money to ease that pain today”.

Usually, the business idea is not worth much, but it directly relates to Market and the Pain factors. Lets assume you have a decent idea in a big market where customers are spending money to solve a pain.

The question wether you can actually build a peg for the hole (pain) is the technology factor. For most web startups this factor is not a risk, therefore I am not going to ellaborate on this one.

This leaves me with PEOPLE. Most VCs and Angels I have met, state people is at the top of the list. The more time I spend in startups, the more critical I find this factor to be.

The ability for a startup to get off the ground lies in its ability to learn as much as possible in the shortest amount of time. This means being able to execute at lightning speed developing MVPs, putting the MVPs in front of potential customers, and incorporating their feedback into the next iteration of the product. I believe most startups fail due to their people limitations in iterating rapidly.

Most incubators and startup assistance centers like the ATDC in Atlanta provide a wealth of knowledge and information, but this does not add much value when you cannot apply that into your own startup efficiently and effectively. Why don’t we stop providing advice and learning, and facilitate the ability for ideas to be brought to life, marketed, and evaluated by customers at lightning speeds.

Startup infused cab ride in San Francisco

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 01:44:00 -0400

I just took a very interesting 20min ride from the Parc 55 hotel to the San Francisco airport with Abraham by driver. I get in and he says “I have WIFI in my car if you need it sir”. I was like what??? I can’t even get free WIFI at the busiest airport in the US (ATL) and this guy is offering me free unlimited WIFI?

How do you do that? Well, I had to sir. You see, I am constantly taking very smart young entrepreneurs around and they were giving me suggestions to improve my service. I jail broke one of my two phones and I offer free WIFI using my unlimited data plan. He then took me through an amazing list of stories of who he has driven around:

I really like the guys who invented Uber. It makes it very easy to find a town car / taxi. You don’t have to pay me, and you don’t even have to speak with me. He explained the service and showed me the iPhone app. I was blown away. He was one of the first 8 drivers or early adopters helping them improve the application less than 2 years ago.
I also really like Marissa Mayer from Google. She is so down to earth. I started driving her before she was a millionaire and what is great is that even after her millions she is still the same person.
I also drove a lady 60 minutes to work every morning. She was able to be 100% productive with her email and laptop while I drove. By the time she arrived to work at 8am, she was way ahead of others with email and tasks.

Abraham told me at least 3 more great stories of smart, young, driven entrepreneurs riding the electrifying roads of San Francisco and Silicon Valley. There is a special energy in the air that is very difficult to replicate and explain.

I got out at SFO after telling him about sstash. He took about 10 business cards from me and said that in about 3 days he should be done passing them out to key potential advisors and influencers. I was flabbergasted. A cab driver in San Francisco has a lot more influence than many startup catalysts in other cities.

I got out of the Lincoln Town Car and prepared to ride a brutal red eye flight back to Atlanta. I wonder what would be of sstash or any other startup idea if it was incubating in an electrifying city like San Francisco.

Were you influenced by entrepreneurs before you were 18?

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 21:48:00 -0400

I was born into a family with great moral values, lots of love, who gave me a great education, and a close extended family and support network.

I studied in 3 countries by the time I graduated from High School which allowed me to be fully bilingual. After H.S., I worked full time for a small export company while studying at a community college at night. It was great work experience in the “real” world. I later transferred to the University of Florida to finish my studies and get a B.S. in Industrial Engineer. Upon graduation, I took a consulting job with PricewaterhouseCoopers. I thought I was on top of the world.

Most of my friends followed a similar track. None were born with a trust fund, 90% of them graduated from top public universities, they all work for fortune 500 companies with a 401(k) that provides a false sense of hope for retirement.

Over the past few years, I have met a lot of successful entrepreneurs. They are a different breed of human. They poses the right balance between the left and right side of the brain. They are self motivated and don’t shy away from calculated risk. They can sell their ideas and passions to interns, employees, advisers, investors, and most importantly customers.

The start-up ecosystem is addictive, energizing, challenging, and lots of fun. Where would I be today if I would have been influenced by some of these leaders 20 years ago?

Where you influenced by successful entrepreneurs prior to graduating from High School?

Interesting speech by Mel Robbins on accomplishing what you want in life

Wed, 29 Jun 2011 13:38:00 -0400

I just spent 20 minutes watching a simple motivational speech by Mel Robbins. She is not related to Tony, but her message was straight forward. Changing your life to do what you want is simple (but not easy). Getting off your auto pilot is not easy, but you need to break from your habits to change your auto pilot course and truly achieve what you want.

So, get off your ass. Put a list together of things you want to achieve and make it happen without thinking our following your feelings. Forget feelings and do what you want or what you desire.

http://youtu.be/Lp7E973zozc