Lunch with a killer - The Friday Finance Break
The Friday Finance Break
(For anyone just tuning in, every Friday we take a break from the CFO content and talk about mental health. If you're just here for the CFO stuff, we'll see you Monday!)
I was having lunch with an amazing founder yesterday -
A 2X-exited founder who's working on his 3rd unicorn,
And his story has really got me thinking today.
To give you a picture of this guy:
He is a killer.
He started in banking.
He founded multiple companies.
(And succeeded impressively in nearly all of them.)
He outperformed everyone in his prestigious accelerator class
While a W2, he convinced his company's famous CEO to be his mentor.
He's a ruthlessly competitive person who seems to win at almost everything he does.
He's distilled founding companies down to a thesis that he uses to make it work every time.
And he's currently working on an opportunity that is incredibly exciting with tremendous upside.
So, what's the catch?
...He's probably going to bow out of it.
And here's why:
Family and lifestyle.
This opportunity would force him to spend tons of time overseas
And as exciting as that would be,
It would also be exhausting
And heartbreaking.
Okay, now I know what you might be thinking:
"Lauren, c'mon. This is not a ground-breaking story. This guy chose work-life balance... I've heard this one before. What's the big deal?"
Here's what's the big deal:
This guy is not just any guy.
He's THIS guy.
This guy is every VC's dream founder.
This guy has won the startup founder game.
This guy has proven his grit, his determination, and his resilience.
If you dream of building a multi-billion dollar unicorn someday, this is the guy you want to be.
This is that guy who lays it all on the table
Who you probably push yourself to emulate
Who has "it".
And even this guy -
He puts his life first when it matters.
If this guy can do it,
You can too.
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