I shared my excitement about where Atlanta is headed in this post over the weekend. I’m excited to see numerous founders complete eight- and nine-figure liquidity events. I’m even more excited that they want to give back and help emerging founders. And I keep thinking about this founder group.

From a race perspective, Atlanta is unique, and I love that. A group of diverse (non-white) founders have sold their companies or raised funding rounds of eight or nine figures. That’s huge and a testament to what makes the city special. I personally know some of these founders, and it’s an amazing thing to see up close. They’re inspirations to so many other founders of color not only in Atlanta but around the country. In Atlanta, they help provide much-needed proximity to success for diverse founders. I have no doubt that their success will lead to many others being successful.

It struck me, though, that I know of only one female founder who’s exited or raised eight or nine figures. I can name a few men who’ve done it in the last eight months, but women? One in the last 5 years. I reached out to an investor and founder to find out if I’m missing something or just out of the loop. They both confirmed this is likely accurate (although a few women have raised seven figures—I commend them!). Atlanta is full of amazing female founders, so this realization is extremely disappointing.

People way smarter than me have put in years’ worth of groundwork in Atlanta to address this problem, and I salute them for those efforts. I’m looking forward to being part of the solution as well and can’t wait until Atlanta’s female founders are experiencing eight- and nine-figure acquisitions or capital raises!

I met with a founder who’s building an interesting product in the real estate space. Toward the end of our chat, I asked a few questions about his big vision. The conversation took another direction. He opened a document he’d created for internal use. It highlighted where he thinks the industry is going and a comprehensive platform that would support the industry’s new direction and change the landscape. The product we had discussed at the beginning of our meeting was a small piece of this comprehensive platform.

This founder has a big vision and strong opinions about where he thinks this market is headed and the problems he sees holding the industry up. But he didn’t lead with his big vision or the big problem —he just mentioned them in passing toward the end of his pitch. Understanding his big vision was a game changer for me. It got the wheels in my head turning —I realized he could fundamentally change real estate if he’s right.

Sometimes founders are gun-shy and don’t want to share their big dream or vision for fear of scaring investors off. So, they share only the first step. I’m not a fan of that approach. I think founders should be open and share their big visions and the first steps to making it a reality. Sure, some people won’t agree, but that’s OK. You’ll likely get interesting perspectives that will be helpful, and you may even find someone who buys in and wants to support your big dream.

If you’re an early founder, dream big—and don’t be afraid to share those grand dreams with others!

When I’m facing a challenge, I’ve learned to ask credible people to tell me about their experiences and give me feedback. I’ve left some of these conversations, though, feeling like I didn’t get what I was looking for. I was talking with a founder yesterday and this topic came up. He shared a great insight with me. When asking for input, he aims to leave the conversation with a single golden nugget. No to-do list or pages of takeaways. He’s looking for one insightful thing that he hadn’t considered before.

This clicked with me. It made perfect sense. We chatted about how he landed on this approach. He made some great points. One was that most people are likely to act on only one thing from a conversation (for a variety of reasons). I agree. And if you’re going to act on only one thing, why look for ten?

I began replaying conversations in my head that I had deemed somewhat unproductive. I was able to identify a single golden nugget in most of them. Some of those nuggets had already proved helpful in navigating challenging situations, but I hadn’t given those conversations the credit they deserved because my expectations for them hadn’t been realistic.

I love this founder’s approach to getting feedback. Early founders have a never-ending to-do list and they often talk with lots of people. How beneficial would it be to learn one thing or get one idea from most if not all these conversations? When you leave a conversation, ask yourself: what’s the golden nugget?

Over the past eight months there have been a number of sizable (eight- and nine-figure) liquidity events for Atlanta startups. Companies have been acquired by larger companies or private equity firms or have raised a round of funding from venture capital firms. Many of the recent transactions have provided cash to founders and other early employees.

I was catching up with one of these founders yesterday. His company completed a nine-figure transaction. He told me all the ways he wants to help emerging founders. He has some great ideas about how to prepare founders for the ups and downs of the journey. He had his own early challenges obtaining capital and now wants to start investing in emerging founders so they don’t have to experience what he did. I’ve heard four or five other founders express similar thoughts over the past few months. It seems to me that Atlanta’s ecosystem is about to skyrocket.

One year ago, almost to the day, I shared my thoughts on what was missing for Atlanta entrepreneurs: more large liquidity events. Now, one year later, the city has experienced such events and they’re having the effect I predicted. Founders and other beneficiaries of these transactions are investing cash in early startups. And they’re sharing the knowledge they amassed during their journeys. Both are huge pluses for early founders and will do wonders for them, including helping to accelerate their success. As more startups are successful, more investors and talented people will be attracted to the city.

We’re in the very early stages of the impact these liquidity events will have on Atlanta’s startup ecosystem. I see big things on the horizon. The startup scene in Atlanta is about to reach a level we’ve never seen before. Buckle up! It’s going to be a fun ride!

Today marks the end of my fifty-eighth week of working from home (mostly). Here are my takeaways from week fifty-eight:

• Unfocused start – This week was productive, but I don’t feel like I got the month off to the start I’d planned. I’m behind on some things and need to refocus next week.
• Deadlines – Sometimes a hard deadline helps me get through a large amount of work in a short amount of time. It’s stressful, yes, but my brain clicks into another mode when it’s facing a hard deadline. I had an unexpected one this week and was able to meet it.
• Helping founders – I enjoy helping founders fill gaps and overcome obstacles. Sometimes, to reach their full potential, people just need a lucky break. I had a chance to give someone a lucky break this week, and it felt great! I’m looking forward to watching the founder’s journey.

Week fifty-eight was super busy. Next week I plan to be more focused and intentional to get back on track for the month.

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I’ve always been a fan of nice shoes. There’s an old saying: when you look good, you feel good. I think shoes are a big part of that. Shoes have transcended their purpose as foot coverings and become an asset class. And marketplaces like GOAT and StockX have helped illuminate just how much enthusiasts value shoes.

This got me thinking more about alternative asset classes. I’d imagine there are other tangible items that are prime to be turned into an alternative asset class. Their intended purpose at creation was X, but people now place more value on them—to the point that they don’t plan to use them as X. Instead, they’ll prize them for their monetary value or put them on display, or both.

Lots of items have been turned into alternative asset classes already (think art and wine), but I believe there’s a second-wave opportunity. Somebody with vision just needs to recognize a category of items that’s never been thought of as an asset class but that now resonates more with the masses or perhaps with younger generations and that owners value immensely. When they do, they’ll have a big opportunity to help owners legitimize the category as an alternative asset class.

If you’re a founder and passionate about something you own, consider solving this problem for yourself and others. It could be a huge market.

I remember spending tons of time when I started my company trying to understand my company formation options and completing lots of paperwork. Should I be an LLC, S corp, or C corp? Funnily enough, I did a lot of it incorrectly and needed a startup lawyer to fix it years later. There was so much I didn’t know or understand. It was a real pain.

A founder recently shared his experience of forming his company. It was the polar opposite of mine. Using Stripe Atlas, he answered a few questions online and had his company formed in a few days. It was painless. The service even allowed him to establish a banking relationship in a few clicks. (I tip my hat to Stripe—this service is a great way for them to snag new customers for their other products.)

I love how friction is being removed for founders. It’s easier than ever to get the administrative tasks of starting a company done. Founders can now spend more of their time on what matters most instead of learning about things they’ll do only once in their life.

If you’re considering starting a company, focus on building a great solution for your customers, not admin stuff. There are apps for that!

I met with a founder with a bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate in engineering. He’s worked at a variety of prestigious organizations building amazing things. Speaking with him, it’s obvious he’s passionate about his work. He said that his life’s work is the result of a single robotics engineer visiting his school when he was ten years old. He had no idea that robotics existed before that day, but from that point on, that’s all he wanted to do.

Exposure is important and can be a game changer. This founder’s journey is a testament to that. Mine is too. Until you know a field of knowledge exists, it won’t affect your life—you won’t be fired up with the desire to do something wonderful because of it. This founder is now on a mission to help expose as many children as possible to STEM, and he has some great early traction.

I’m excited for this founder and look forward to watching his journey. I suspect he will have a positive impact on the lives of many children!

Meeting mainly over Zoom this last year has been a big adjustment for me. I used Zoom before the pandemic, but never daily. I’m feeling the effects of these video meetings on my eyes. After a full day of calls with minimal breaks, my eyes are tired. I’ve purchased blue-light glasses, which have helped, but I know this isn’t good for my eyes long-term.

Working from home will be a normal part of people’s life going forward. That means meeting over video will continue to be more common too. The eyestrain problem will likely only get worse. I think there’s a huge entrepreneurial opportunity to solve this problem for consumers.

I’m excited to see what types of solutions are created to solve this problem!

In my twenties, I made an investment that I learned a ton from. It was the very beginning of the financial crisis. I saw an opportunity, made up my mind, and pulled the trigger. A few months later, the world was in free fall. The value of my investment plummeted, and my startup was struggling to get customers. It felt like nothing was going right for me (or anyone else). I recently reflected on that time with a close friend:

• Experience – I didn’t have experience with the type of investment I was making. In hindsight, I wish I’d connected with someone more seasoned in the space so I could have factored their wisdom into my decision-making. My lack of experience handicapped my decision-making and execution.
• Timing – The impact of timing can’t be underestimated. It’s not something one can usually control, but it can have an outsize impact on returns. In this situation, I was too early.
• Conviction – I didn’t have strong conviction about the investment I was making, so when things began to go differently than I had anticipated, I was ready to sell. I sold way too early for a small profit. Had I held on, my profit would have been huge. If I don’t have a strong conviction about something, I shouldn’t invest in it. Conviction is key to weathering the ups and downs of the journey.
• Horizon – I didn’t have much of an idea how long I planned to hold the investment. That and lack of conviction resulted in a premature sale. I now try to think about how long something might take to reach its full potential and use that as my time horizon.

In the end, this investment turned out fine and I learned a ton from it. I’m glad I did it. Because of it, I gained valuable knowledge that’s been useful over the years.