2015: Six Things I Remember The Most
January 1st. Everyone is reflecting on 2015 and planning for 2016. As I look back at 2015 these are the six things that I remember most.
1. The Most Important Deal
On March 13th, I closed the most important deal ever.
Not in a boardroom but on a stone balcony atop a corner cliff on Necker Island with the sun setting over the Caribbean Sea as the backdrop in place of the usual PowerPoint on a projection screen.
2. Recognition
I usually like to be behind the cameras rather than in front of them but this year there was one bit of recognition that was incredibly special to me.
Athletes dream of Super Bowl rings, actors dream of Oscars…Morehouse Men dream of the Bennie Award.
I remain humbled that Morehouse College saw fit to present me with this recognition. Thanks Chairman Davidson, President Wilson and the entire Morehouse family.
In May, I was awarded “Atlanta Entrepreneur of the Year” by the MIT Enterprise Forum. Thanks to the MITEF and the entire Atlanta technology ecosystem.
3. Build Something
Build something from nothing. I say it all the time and I had a great time this year doing exactly that. I often refer to my companies as “my kids”. Well this year some of the kids matured a ton and I had a couple new kids.
Pindrop
In February 2015, Pindrop announced a $35 million round led by IVP with participation from Andreessen Horowitz, Felicis Ventures, and Citi Ventures. Somesh Dash joined the board. It has been five years since Vijay and I met and I still enjoy his undying passion for solving the problem of phone fraud and trust for voice communications. There is nothing like the impact of an entrepreneur that has a personal passion to make the world better by solving a certain problem.
REscour
In March, REscour raised $1.3 million from Jason Calacanis’ LAUNCH Fund, Tom Cousins, Mosley Ventures and others and later in December announced $1.5 million funding from Social+Capital, Michael Neril’s Spider Capital and existing investors. Similar to Vijay’s passion for voice technologies, Jake has a personal mission to solve commercial real estate problems sparked from his time as a real estate analyst.
Monsieur
In May, Monsieur was deployed at the Kentucky Derby as the bartender in every owner’s suite. It has been 2.5 years since I met Barry with the original prototype that he built in his parents’ garage. The team has conquered difficult hardware engineering challenges and this year installed Monsieur at several hotels, sports arenas and movie theaters.
TechSquare Labs
On November 4th, Allen Nance and I opened the doors to TechSquare Labs starting with a fireside chat with Jeff Arnold. We also continue to incubate companies like Stackfolio. That same month Rodney Sampson founder of Opportunity Hub joined TechSquare Labs to lead diversity and inclusion Initiatives.
Luma
On November 5th we launched Luma and announced a $2.5 million funding. This company is special to me because we get to use all the skills from 15 years of building networking and security for large businesses and put it in a product that our friends and families will use. (And that is more stressful than running the networks of the Fortune 100.) Mike Van Bruinisse and I cofounded Luma marking our third time working together (CipherTrust and Purewire). We were privileged to have investment and support from Felicis Ventures; Base Ventures, BIP Capital; Relay Ventures; Webb Investment Network; Chad Byers; Omar Johnson, CMO of Beats By Dre; Erik Norlander; Tom Noonan, co-founder of Internet Security Systems; Kirk Posmantur, CEO of Axcess; Hans Robertson, co-founder of Meraki and Jed York, CEO of the 49ers.
Curateurs
In December we started beta for the newest ‘kid’: Curateurs. My Curateurs partner Greg Selkoe previously founded KarmaLoop and grew it into a $100 million e-commerce business and a cultural icon. I met Greg this summer at one of Ben and Felicia Horowitz’s legendary events. This is another testament to the Horowitzs’ impact as not only inspiration but also connectors of good people.
And More
Beyond this I was able to continue working with many other great entrepreneurs and companies as an advisor and investor and those companies had strong years. For example, Adam Ghetti and the team at Ionic closed a $40 million round in January 2015 as they continue to help companies achieve data protection.
I was also fortunate to invest in about 20 great startups this year most of which I can’t mention yet.
4. Give back
Culture and technology are definitely colliding. I can’t simply participate in the business side of that without doing my part to make sure our community gains exposure to the world of technology and entrepreneurship. The core reason that Opportunity Hub became part of TechSquare Labs was so that I can work with Rodney on diversity and inclusion efforts.
In November, hundreds of African Americans participated in the Kingonomics hackathon and conference at TechSquare Labs and at Cascade Skating Rink (yes the one from the ATL movie). We visited Atlanta high schools to teach about technology and entrepreneurship. In December, TechSquare Labs announced a partnership with the Atlanta Workforce Development Agency to launch a one-year coding and curriculum school for inner-city youth. The program will help underserved Atlanta youth between 18–24 years old develop skills to gain employment in the high-tech industry.
5. Legends
Along the way this year I met a few living legends that are inspiring. “My motto was always to keep swinging” -Hank Aaron
I also have some friends that are legends in the making and just as inspiring. I stopped by to support a couple of them on their TV shows.
6. Keep Striving
Some things did not go as planned. For example, I thought that I would be able to say that this year I became part owner of the Atlanta Hawks. I was fortunate to be part of an impressive group that bid on purchasing the Hawks but ultimately was not the winning bid. So that remains on the to-do list and I remain a fan.
Everyday I continue to learn and strive for greatness.
I am thankful for the chance to wake up each morning, dream something up and go try to build it. Thanks to everyone that is part of making it happen and everyone that has ever supported us. We are working harder than ever to be better than ever. 2016 here we come.
