reecepacheco

Yesterday, I tweeted this:

Apparently, a few people patriotically agreed with me.  (Thanks for the retweets!).

It’s a simple analogy and it’s probably been made before, but as I went for a run yesterday I was thinking about the decisions and actions made by our founding fathers to start this country, and I quickly began imagining the excitement and uncertainty they must have felt at that time.

Nowadays, starting a company is every bit as exciting, but thanks to widespread media and connectivity - the story’s been heard before. There’s no perfect roadmap, but there’s a rough framework: start with an idea, work hard, and go from there. You can even Google it.

But these dudes were starting a whole new country! Think about the leap of faith they had to make to go from everything they’d known to “we’re doing this our way from now on.” They certainly couldn’t Google “how to start a country”. BADASS.

Let’s face it, America is a business. There are all sorts of cool analogies we can draw from its history… in the Civil War the founders almost broke up the band, in the Cold War we got in a feature race to take over the market… but I’ll leave it here for now and just remember that those original starters - the founding fathers - laid down a great framework for free enterprise that lets me and my cofounders work on HomeField today.

Thanks for that, guys. Happy America Day.

Every year on July 4th, I am reminded of where I was on this same day in 2006.  [Original post here. Click through for more/better pictures. All photos are mine.]

 Phnom Penh, Cambodia 
Tuesday, July 4, 2006

Happy 4th of July! this year it sort of snuck up on me, and i guess i “celebrated” by crossing the border from Lao into Cambodia. amazing the freedom with which i can roam around this area, despite the fact that America really hurt these countries during the Vietnam War (i believe Lao is the most bombed country in history). the bus ride was hellish, probably the worst of the trip. started out in a Toyota Camry, then switched to a mini-bus that bombed down mud roads, over massive potholes, and once the monsoon hit in the afternoon, the road became a giant Slip’n’Slide, at one point, requiring a few people to get out and push the bus away from the steep edge of the road, back on to more solid ground so we didn’t continue to slide off through the mud, into the jungle.

as we trucked along through the night (the trip took from about 8AM to midnight), we passed children playing in the street, well after dark, and at one point, saw a young woman laying on the side of the road. Luke and i thought she was asleep or something, but one of the Cambodians said she was probably dead. welcome to Cambodia.

according to Luke, who has been here before, we had to see the Killing Fields and Tuol Sleng, a museum about the Khmer Rouge and their tactics in the 70’s. so Mike, Jimmy, Emmanuel, and i go for a ride. i will mention that most tuk-tuk drivers try to also take you to the “shooting range” while you are at the Killing Fields, where you can fire AK47s ($1/round), throw hand grenades, hell… shoot a bazooka. i’ve also heard you can get in a tank and fire one, and if you’re really twisted, i’ve also heard of people shooting at farm animals and whatnot. we decline. 

get to the Killing Fields, where the Khmer Rouge took captives to be executed and buried in mass graves. there are still pieces of clothing and bones laying around the grounds, and a monument in the center is filled with thousands of human skulls, complete with bullet holes and whatnot. i feel sick, and i want out. 

we leave, and go to Tuol Sleng. what was once a school for children, was turned into a prison and torture center during Pol Pot’s reign of terror. thousands died here, and their photos are all displayed. i force myself to look at as many as i can, despite the fact that i am near tears, and close to vomiting. it is miserable. the methods of torture are sickening, and the displays are graphic. i feel more and more weight on my shoulders with every step, harder and harder to continue looking, but not turning away, because i’d feel worse if i tried to ignore it.

coming out of the museum, we are approached by beggars, a man without arms, another missing a leg, and the one who shocked me the most, a man who looked like napalm had gotten the best of him, his skin melted and scarred. i give him money, despite the recommendations not to by our guidebook and others. it will get him food for a few days maybe, it isn’t miraculous, and it is no repatriation for his scars, if indeed they are from the Vietnam War, and American bombers.  

we eventually relax, reminding ourselves that we didn’t make Cambodia like this, justifying our presence there now, and in time, we are able to crack a smile again, and go out for dinner. [photo at right is a man selling gas for mopeds] as we get out of our cab, we are approached by two boys, begging for money in the street. again, it is better not to give money, so we take them to the restaurant and tell the staff to make them some food and put it on our bill. during the meal though, Mike leaves to make a call, and he sees one of the kids down the street… eating a slice of pizza which, according to the boy, was given to him by his mother. 

we head out to the Heart of Darkness (aptly titled), a bar that has been around for ages, and is a true tourist site ofPhnom Penh, even if it is quite a hole. upon arrival, it is clear that 90% of the girls inside are Cambodian hookers of one sort or another. (indeed, on the way out, we’d been asked by many guys on the street if we wanted girls, “boom boom?” etc.) these girls are the lucky ones. they go out at night, meet whomever they like, do what they like and charge him in the morning. a much larger portion of the prostitution industry in Phnom Penh are girls sold by their families or forced into prostitution by debt, many are under aged (14-16 years old), working out of makeshift brothels in various areas of the city for prices as low as $2 a pop (this information was read in “Off the Rails in Phnom Penh” by Hunter S. Thompson - a disturbing read). 

we spend the night dancing, batting away the hands of the Cambodian girls who try to get close to us (and our wallets), and eventually the scene is old, we leave, catching a tuk-tuk to our guest house. we arrive at our place, and Mike and Jimmy go to pay the driver. there are random Cambodian tuk-tuk drivers and street hustlers all over. after we get out, one of them gets into our tuk-tuk. the others don’t have enough, and i pull out my cash to chip in. i’m holding it in my hand, asking how much they need, when suddenly the guy in the tuk-tuk grabs it and sprints down the alleyway.

i take off after him (later thanking god that i wore sneakers that night as i ran over rock and dirt and debris and avoided giant sewage drains in the middle of the street - 2x2ft squares about 2ft deep). i grab his shirt, but he twists and turns back down the alley toward the others. he must have seen one of my buddies, because he hesitated for a split second and in that moment, i tackle him into the ground, full on leaving my feet and drilling him into the dirt. i get my arms around his neck and he’s flailing about and i have no idea what to do with him, as my money and ID’s have been handed off to another Cambodian. Jimmy and Luke get a hold of that guy, and though the money is gone, they get my ID’s.

someone yells that Emmanuel has been stabbed, and the others saw the guy who did it, giant, rusty machete in hand. i look from my wrestling to see the distinct mark of a blood stain on his back, oozing through his white shirt. 

someone yells to leave. looking around, there are about 20-30 Cambodians in the immediate area, and more are coming out from each dark corner. i don’t remember letting go of the original thief, and i don’t even have a clear image of his face. back at the guest house, we clean our wounds, Emmanuel got it the worst with one bad gash in his back (requiring stitches) and another slight graze that could have been deadly (across his organs) had it cut him deeper. among other scrapes, Luke had a hole in his shin from a large rock that was thrown at him during the melee. i got out with a nasty scrape on my elbow, and a loss of about $45, but looking back on it, we’re all just lucky no one pulled out a gun. (this is a place where it is accepted to shoot into the air to call the fire department just fire into the sky from the vicinity of the fire!).

i feel responsible for the whole incident, as i never should have chased after the guy in the first place. looking back, i like to think that maybe he saw the money in my hand and thought it would help feed his family, but who knows. 

the next morning, we are eager to leave, though it is an eerie feeling walking out of our guest house, into the same alley, seeing all these Cambodians - some who may have been Khmer Rouge mind you - staring at you, looking for ways to make money “tuk tuk? marijuana? girls?” knowing that some, if not, most of them, know exactly what happened the night before. i would be ignorant to believe that all Cambodians are thieves, and i know they aren’t. it is an unfortunate country, and it is unfortunate that this incident happened on my trip; though it is unlikely that i return to Cambodia soon, it is impossible for me to hold any grudges.

July?! What happened to June? Oh yeah, I traveled so much that I literally didn’t stay in one bed for more than 3 days at a time!

Any VC’s reading this are already thinking “cry me a river.”  Trust me, I’m not writing to complain. In fact, I loved it! Sure it messes with my work/sleep/diet/exercise routines, but I got to meet some awesome people - and as I’ve said before, it’s best to make connections early and often.

I’m just going to tell you about the highlights (and the coolest people!):

Hanging with our investor Allen Morgan and his family, our fellow Brown online-video entreprenurs from Wistia, and our former professor in engineering and entrepreneurship at the Brown Campus Dance (Providence, RI) for my 5th reunion!

Meeting Larry Probst - former CEO of EA Sports, current US Olympic Committee Chairman and just an awesome guy!  We had a great discussion about HomeField and he’s made some intros for us already.

Out to Seattle, and more specifically Gig Harbor for Mark and Aubrey’s wedding (click for pics).  Such a fun time and a beautiful area (look at that sunset!)

I made it back to NYC for a meeting with Peter Horan (another great, smart guy) and then took off for LA for a few angel meetings and more importantly - a meeting with the head of Yahoo! Sports, Kyle Laughlin. I like their thoughts for the future and am excited to work with them going forward.  And of course it was great to crash with my study abroad buddies Mike and Rafe! We had dinner at Wurstkurche in Downtown LA - if you like beer and bratwurst, and Belgian fries - you gotta go!

Then it was back to the East coast for a meeting with serial entrepreneur Chris Hassett on… Cape Cod? Yup! Who knew I had a successful veteran entrepreneur in my hometown?!

Took a quick trip to BOS to meet with Todd McCormack - angel investor and super smart exec at IMG - then back to NYC for a bunch of meetings, but particularly productive was catching up with Matt Minoff, CEO of Nabbr, and then Andrew Montgomery at Mesa Global.  Both really sharp young guys navigating this tech/media world well.

I made it back up to Cape Cod for the weekend so I could work a party at my parents’ restaurant in celebration of San Juan’s Day (a popular holiday among the Portuguese). Such a fun night!  (That’s me in my Azorean soccer jersey with my Vavo!).

Another quick trip to BOS after that, this time to meet Dustin Dolginow of Atlas Venture. For a “junior guy” at a VC firm, Dustin already shows lots of promise. He started out as an entrepreneur, so he knows what it’s like being on my side of the table, and he listens well so he can understand the problem, the market and the potential.

Back down to NYC again for meetings with Pat Battle - top brass at Collegiate Licensing Company which later sold to IMG where he now heads up their college division. Even though we met in a busy midtown hotel lobby, we had a great chat about sports media and business.

Then I headed over to RRE to meet with Eric Weisen. I’d seen Eric’s name on AVC.com comment threads and always appreciated his thoughts, but had never met him. Glad I did. Eric is smart, realistic and straightforward without being a know-it-all.

Finally, I got back to Cape Cod - home sweet home - and spent a couple hours at the beach with my sister a.k.a. @OmGal talking about strategies as she builds her personal brand at OmGal.com.  We took some fun pics, too!  

It wouldn’t last long though - before I knew it - Dustin Dolginow hooked me up with tickets to the Red Sox - 7 rows behind home plate, courtesy of Atlas Venture! Along with us was Jameel Khalfan of Globespan Capital and Chase Garbarino, founder of Pinyadda. Afterward, I invited my friends John Gillis (future MIT Sloan student) and Charley Cummings (current HBS student), and we all had a great talk about tech, startups, business. I can’t wait to do it again soon.

There have been countless other people I’ve met with, spoken with, danced with and more - but this post is long enough! It’s been a fun month being on the road, though I’m glad to be settled for a while so I can get some momentum going in my own work.

Finally, I have to say thanks to everyone who’s helped me out - for the intros, the lunches and dinners, events, couches to sleep on, etc. - it’s really nice to be able to travel all over the world and still feel at home.

And a special thanks to @daisyames for hitting the road with me and helping every step of the way!  (I think she’s trying to run away!)

By the numbers: Starting the last weekend in May when we went to RI AND moved Daisy from NYC to New Haven, my schedule has been: NYC, RI, NYC, CT, NYC, SEA, NYC, LA, CC (Cape Cod), BOS, CC, BOS, CT, NYC, CC, BOS, NYC, CC, BOS, CC.  

20 stops in 34 days!

I thank whatever gods may be

For my unconquerable soul.

I am the master of my fate

I am the captain of my soul. 

This is an excerpt from ‘Invictus’ - by William Ernest Henley and it’s used in the film Invictus - the inspiring true story of the South African rugby team that won the World Cup (with Nelson Mandela’s avid support).

I got to see it on a recent cross-country flight. I really loved the story and found honest inspiration from Mandela (at least, Morgan Freeman’s portrayal of him), though I really sympathized with Matt Damon’s character, Francoise Pienaar - the captain of the team - trying to lead the South Africans to victory against seemingly impossible odds [among other things, the finale against the ever-intimidating All Blacks (seriously, watch that clip)].

Be it sports, startups, or life in general - great leadership is crucial to success, and it all starts with a single belief in your own ability, much the way Mandela and Pienaar sparked South Africa to a World Cup victory.

But you don’t have to be the president of your country or the captain of your team. You don’t even need followers. Everyone can be a leader.

You just need to be the captain of your soul.

I recently read God’s Debris and just like the intro suggests, I got together with some friends to discuss it over beers after we all finished it.

I won’t get into the entire thought experiment that is the premise for the story, but one of the main takeaways is around the idea of probability. It struck a chord because Joe and I have been talking about this at length lately and it all reminded me of this article in which “luck” is considered a skill.

My research revealed that lucky people generate good fortune via four basic principles. They are skilled at creating and noticing chance opportunities, make lucky decisions by listening to their intuition, create self-fulfilling prophesies via positive expectations, and adopt a resilient attitude that transforms bad luck into good.

It’s such a simple analysis, but really poignant. Lucky people are just self-aware optimists. Opportunity is all around us, you just have to know it when you see it… and then act on it!

I remember a quote my coach gave us in college. “Luck is when preparation meets opportunity.” - Seneca 

The idea is that you practice your shot thousands of times so that when it really counts, when it’s the championship game, and you catch a pass in front of the goal… you can’t miss.

My other favorite quote on this topic is “Life is the interruptions, not the space in between.”  If you put blinders on your whole life, you’ll never see the chance encounters waiting for you.

So do two things. 1. Read God’s Debris. 2. Put on a smile and seek opportunity.  

joeyevoli:

If I’ve found one secret to living life, and being happy.  It’s to ask yourself this everyday:  ”How can I be better today, than I was yesterday?” 

After that, just take it one day at a time.  

It’s really that simple.  I only wish I realized it earlier.

The other day I talked about Jeff Bussgang’s book Mastering the VC Game. I highly recommend this for anyone who thinks they may want to raise venture capital someday.

In the book, Bussgang includes the stories of some stellar entrepreneurs. In particular, I loved the story about Eric Paley who keenly built and successfully sold his startup to 3M.

There are a few reasons Eric was so successful, but one lesson that stuck out to me was how he developed his network early. He made the connection to Jeff as an MBA student, before even mentioning his startup. When it was time to pitch the idea, he already had a warm connection.

Conversely, when we started building HomeField, we didn’t have any connections to the world of investors. We really didn’t know much about startups at all. We just wanted to create this thing to scratch our own itch and figured we’d learn along the way.

Over time, I slowly started to hear about some of the major players online: Fred Wilson, Brad Feld, Bijan Sabet - but I still didn’t know anyone who knew them!

However, thanks to their life-streaming and my avid reading/commenting habits, I was able to develop a relationship with them through their blogs and eventually met with all of them in person (one in an office, one on a 6am run around the Flatiron District, and one on a football field. Ok, coffee first, then football).  

I’m lucky I was able to do this, but it took time to get there and I’m still playing catch-up. I wish I’d known them sooner. Hell, I wish I’d started this business before I even graduated, but then I wouldn’t have done this, this, or this.

Point is - if you think you may want to work with someone in the future, make the connection as soon as you can… and in general, make as many good quality connections as well. As I’m learning from our ‘sherpa’ Allen Morgan, they’ll pay off in the long run.

[And to be clear, I mean real connections. Facebook, LinkedIn et al. are great for research, but they don’t count.]

A little over a year ago, I started spending time with a girl I’d met just once while we were in school together at Brown. On a whim, I invited her over for “a dinner party I was planning” and when she accepted, I then had to scramble to actually invite other guests, too!  [Cooking was no problem, though]. ;)

Despite the long roundtrip on the subway for her, I leveraged the big TV in my apartment as a reason for her to come over and watch the Celtics in the playoffs.

Apparently, she liked me. [Update: And still does!)

And I her.

Today, marks one year together and I’m still as excited about us now as I was last May 19. It’s been a really fun year, despite the stress of my rollercoaster life as a startup founder and hers as a student living in NYC.

Some of my favorite moments have been on the beach at home on Cape Cod, running races and doing a triathlon together, cooking in our tiny apartment, teaching Daisy to surf and snowboard for the first time (yes, this was actually fun!), seeing the Yeah Yeah Yeahs play ‘Maps’ acoustic at Radio City Music Hall… 

…but still, the most vivid moment was a year ago today, sitting on a bench watching the sunset together from the tip of Manhattan.