The response from this post has been nothing short of amazing. Hundreds of people have reached out to say “Good luck.”, “Let’s hang out.” and “How can I help?” To all of these people I say thank you. I believe I’ve responded to everyone that’s said hi via Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, email and text but if somehow I missed you, it was not intentional, ping me again.
But this is not why I’m writing this follow-up. I wanted to share a few common themes and conversations that have come up since leaving WeWork only a short time ago. I’m writing this from a much needed trip/break/introduction to family for Holden (my son) in Poland so I’ll start from there.
What’s in my immediate future?
As I wrote in my original post — I have a number of things brewing. The most important, however, which I spoke very little of was that now is a phenomenal time to hang out with my wife and son.
Holden is eleven weeks old. He’s cooing, laughing, kicking, smiling and, of course, eating, pooping and peeing all of the time. It’s an exciting time for him and even more exciting for us. When Holden was born I spent two weeks at home with him and Magda on paternity leave and it was amazing. I vowed from that moment forward that I’d take the time to admire his journey and to study every move his little fingers and toes make. This is something I’m doing a lot of now.
First up was a trip to Poland to meet his family. My wife was born in Poland and almost everyone is still in or around Warsaw (except for her parents and brother). So far Holden has met his Ciocia Gosia and his cousin, Paweł. There are likely a hundred more people to meet while we’re here. We will be busy.
Investing?
About a year and a half ago I decided to invest my own capital (with Matt and Magda) into young technology startups primarily based in New York City. Most of these companies were comprised of one or two founders and no employees (or revenue) when I wrote a check. In addition to the check I wrote them an IOU for my time. I promised every company (15 and counting) that I’d spend a minimum of one hour per week with them if they needed it. All they had to do was ask.
It turns out lots of people want and need help and when it’s offered along with their first check they take you up on the offer. I have loved it and it’s been phenomenal to see these founders and companies grow. Many have grown their revenue and teams in a short period of time while others have struggled to find their footing. That’s okay, it’s all about the journey I hear. Similar to my own child, I feel as though these founders are a part of my family. I want to continue to track their journeys to help them grow.
I now want to find even more awesome founders to support. I realized that I couldn’t do this part time while at WeWork so I had to make a decision. My decision was to focus fulltime on discovering and supporting new companies. The details are still a bit fuzzy but I’ve kicked it up a notch when it comes to meeting with new companies, helping the founders to find their footing and, ultimately, writing that first check and joining them on their journey.
What about Labs?
If you’re reading this you likely know about my history and the founding of WeWork Labs with Adam, Matt and Miguel. It’s a huge part of my life and I plan to continue to be involved as much as humanly possible. Today Labs makes up almost one thousand of WeWork’s members. That’s a big number! And I’m excited to have left Labs in the most capable hands I know to run this program — Daniel O’Duffy.
Daniel, along with the rest of the kick ass Labs team will continue to carry the torch. I plan to see and to help them grow Labs in leaps and bounds and to expand beyond the borders they currently support. Already they’ve launched a formal mentorship program, have recently opened in new markets in the US and have put a renewed focus on helping companies as they grow beyond their first employee or round of financing.
Speaking of financing, one of the best ways to get your company in front of me is through the Labs team and program (Shameless plug: Apply to join at http://wework.com/labs). They have first hand knowledge of how hard their founders work, how dedicated they are to their craft and how helpful these same founders are to the rest of the community. These are all traits I look for when picking winners and companies to back.
For now I’m going to go back to focusing on the building blocks to the next chapter of my life. I’ll continue to share my journey here and, as always, if you’d like to connect feel free to reach out. I’m traveling in Poland and Venice on this trip so if you happen to be near by, say hi.
Thank you again for all of your amazing support. Now back to watching my baby grow.
