Hello Fastlane Forum,
My name is Sean. Born and raised in central NJ (yes its a place). I was dissuaded about business by my father who had trouble with money. He was a trial attorney, specializing in DUI, drug, and juvenile cases, and with drug war raging in the 80s and 90s and greater crackdown of drunk driving he was able to carve out an upper middle class lifestyle with three kids.
His advice was to "find a profession, don't think about business, that never works unless you know the right people". We had a view of Manhattan from our home (about a 50 minute ferry ride), the 9/11 attacks were real, about 150 people from my county were killed. A career in the military seemed obvious - especially in the way the eldest of three knows how to create peace in a disharmonious home.
I joined the Air Force, and stuck it out for 8 years, moved all over, spent a year in AFG (which was the best time in my career), but the culture, the bureaucracy, the institutionalization drained my spirit. I separated and I joined a fintech startup in the UK (my mother is Irish and I have EU citizenship now).
The experience was totally awesome and terrible for different reasons, and instructive. I saw the founder raise 3M GBP without a single customer. After about 2 years I left the startup to try to develop my own effort, a different product but in the same space. After 18 months, my partner and I called it quits.
We were able to secure a partnership deal with a large IT-services company, but it didn't come with any money. My biggest learns: (1) never sell to companies older than you, unless they come to you, this includes the government (2) accounts payable automation & supply chain finance will change world, but it will take 50 years of education and another 50 years of market consolidation (3) I love startups and product development, but need better focus, and have a few gaps (biggest ones: marketing & marketing automation, distribution / automation at scale).
I returned to NJ after a researcher I respect suggested I join at a regional polytechnic - thinking the role was R&D management, I took it. Role is NOT R&D management, its basically staging proposals for researchers too lazy to read solicitation requirements. But it pays the bills, and I have a habit of focusing on being grateful (I developed poor drinking habits in my early and mid-20s which I have since fixed with CBT, mindfulness and gratitude), but I have a desire to grind, the notion of "never be satisfied" is a reigning personal mantra. I also have a fairly flexible boss who has allowed me to do outside work so long as it doesn't take time from primary duties. Considering I can get most of my work done fairly quickly I've been devoting my time to various side projects. I also teach e-commerce to undergraduate IT students.
I bought UNSCRIPTED based on a recommendation by vlogger Joshua Fluke. He's not right about everything, but he was 100% right about this book. So happy to have this in my library, I'm three quarters finished, and finally making my first post here in the forum because I'd like to make connections before attending Fastlane Summit in Feb, and start to get feedback on my ideas, and happy to help others if they are working products or services within my domain of expertise.
Thanks to MJ for articulating our agnst, and fostering a community to help accelerate things. Glad to be here.
Kind regards,
Sean
My name is Sean. Born and raised in central NJ (yes its a place). I was dissuaded about business by my father who had trouble with money. He was a trial attorney, specializing in DUI, drug, and juvenile cases, and with drug war raging in the 80s and 90s and greater crackdown of drunk driving he was able to carve out an upper middle class lifestyle with three kids.
His advice was to "find a profession, don't think about business, that never works unless you know the right people". We had a view of Manhattan from our home (about a 50 minute ferry ride), the 9/11 attacks were real, about 150 people from my county were killed. A career in the military seemed obvious - especially in the way the eldest of three knows how to create peace in a disharmonious home.
I joined the Air Force, and stuck it out for 8 years, moved all over, spent a year in AFG (which was the best time in my career), but the culture, the bureaucracy, the institutionalization drained my spirit. I separated and I joined a fintech startup in the UK (my mother is Irish and I have EU citizenship now).
The experience was totally awesome and terrible for different reasons, and instructive. I saw the founder raise 3M GBP without a single customer. After about 2 years I left the startup to try to develop my own effort, a different product but in the same space. After 18 months, my partner and I called it quits.
We were able to secure a partnership deal with a large IT-services company, but it didn't come with any money. My biggest learns: (1) never sell to companies older than you, unless they come to you, this includes the government (2) accounts payable automation & supply chain finance will change world, but it will take 50 years of education and another 50 years of market consolidation (3) I love startups and product development, but need better focus, and have a few gaps (biggest ones: marketing & marketing automation, distribution / automation at scale).
I returned to NJ after a researcher I respect suggested I join at a regional polytechnic - thinking the role was R&D management, I took it. Role is NOT R&D management, its basically staging proposals for researchers too lazy to read solicitation requirements. But it pays the bills, and I have a habit of focusing on being grateful (I developed poor drinking habits in my early and mid-20s which I have since fixed with CBT, mindfulness and gratitude), but I have a desire to grind, the notion of "never be satisfied" is a reigning personal mantra. I also have a fairly flexible boss who has allowed me to do outside work so long as it doesn't take time from primary duties. Considering I can get most of my work done fairly quickly I've been devoting my time to various side projects. I also teach e-commerce to undergraduate IT students.
I bought UNSCRIPTED based on a recommendation by vlogger Joshua Fluke. He's not right about everything, but he was 100% right about this book. So happy to have this in my library, I'm three quarters finished, and finally making my first post here in the forum because I'd like to make connections before attending Fastlane Summit in Feb, and start to get feedback on my ideas, and happy to help others if they are working products or services within my domain of expertise.
Thanks to MJ for articulating our agnst, and fostering a community to help accelerate things. Glad to be here.
Kind regards,
Sean
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