A Young Immigrant’s Journey to Venture Capital, Startups, and Living The American Dream.
My name is Juan Acosta, and I lead a pre-accelerator for founders and invest in early-stage startups.
Some days I wake up in disbelief that this is my life. All days I wake up in gratitude.
I’m just getting started with what I hope to accomplish in- and contribute to- the world, but I’m proud of- and feel privileged to be- where I am in my journey.
My life has been a constant defiance against the odds (more on that soon), so I’m sharing my story in hopes that it serves as evidence and inspiration for anyone who dreams of better, and anyone who is scared to take unconventional routes.
Part One: Venezuela and The Big Dream
I was born in Acarigua, a rural town in Los LLanos (The Plains) of Venezuela to the two most amazing parents one could ever ask for. Despite both my parents working several jobs, we were poor. Birthdays consisted of celebrations at McDonald’s in which my parents would only be able to afford my Happy Meal after saving for months. This is not meant to say that I had a bad childhood — many people I know have had it worse. It is to demonstrate that no matter the circumstances my parents always put me first. Doctors even told them that I would not be able to walk due to an abnormality at birth, yet my parents ignored them and put me on a treatment that miraculously worked when everyone thought it would be a waste of money. For this and everything they did for me, I am eternally thankful.
Venezuela was also a very dangerous place when I was growing up, it is unimaginably dangerous now. I remember taking the bus with my parents every morning at 5 am to go to school. I was probably 4 years old, but I remember being on mom’s lap when two men boarded the bus and robbed everyone. My dad was held at gunpoint and almost shot because he was physically struggling to take his wedding ring off his finger. These were very common stories to hear.
As a young child in Venezuela, my father would say to me, “one day we will live in the United States, and our house will overlook the water.” When I shared his dream of a United States’ home on the sea with one of my teachers they laughed at me. I actually have a picture of that exact day. After I finished singing for a school celebration, I remember feeling down when my teacher laughed at me when I told her one day I would live in the USA.
My father’s dream was a joke to everyone we knew. But my father was a wise man; knowledgeable and tough due to the adversity he faced as a child. Emigrating as a young man from Colombia to Venezuela, the odds were stacked against him. And one day, he made it happen. He was so incredible at his job that he was selected out of thousands to work in his field for an affluent U.S company. My mother and father packed up what little we owned and flew to Miami, work visas in hand.
Part Two: The United States
Overnight, we gained a new life. My mom became the best preschool teacher in our neighborhood, and my father began his salaried contract. I began attending public school in the United States — a few challenging years after having cataract surgery, having to wear a patch and seeing blurry, and not knowing a word of English. I am thankful that US doctors caught my nine year old cataract, else I would not be able to see today. I remember not being able to tell the difference between a penny and a nickel on a test due to my blurred vision and my 3rd-grade teacher not believing me (kind of funny). But I also had two angels by my side, Mrs. Dieguez and Mrs. Maria Hernandez. They were instrumental in setting me up for success — they pushed me to get into the gifted program and fostered my academic growth by letting me be creative. I’d love to support an entrepreneur who tackles the education problems we face as a society. Just how we put athletes on pedestals, teachers need to be elevated more with proper pay and recognition. They can really make or break someone’s life.
I am lucky to have been surrounded throughout high school by a group of high achievers. It was a small group in a large public school and many of my peers are out there doing great things. Thanks to my mom pushing me to excellence from a very young age (she is the best pre-school teacher in this planet), I took many AP classes and ended with the second highest GPA in the whole school. I am very grateful for having done 3 years of robotics. The robotics club was the first piece of the puzzle in what became my enduring passion for tech.
When I was in middle school, my father got laid off from the company that hired him. With very little money he bootstrapped his own company. Doing the same services as the old company that hired him, but better (he is a great entrepreneur). He built his mini-empire two blocks away from the old job. Many world-class clients came to him for the services. He didn’t know English, yet at times most of his staff were Americans. Very interesting dynamic. I saw this play out as I worked at this company for some time. I coded my first usable software that automated some company processes.
As my senior year of high school began, I was fortunate enough to apply for The Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF), the largest pre-university science fair in the world. I had nothing but love and passion in my heart for robotics, but absolutely no faith that I was meant to apply. But with the urging of my mentors, and my mother and father’s voices ringing in my ears to pursue, pursue, I went for it. I applied to the competition, building a bionic hand controlled by brainwaves (I did it using this startup’s technology. They are still around!). I was shocked when I made it all the way to ISEF after many local and state competitions. To this day, I accredit this moment as my first individual leap of faith — taking a chance and simply seeing where it went, despite consequences and fear. It was instrumental in boosting my confidence and re-igniting my drive. So when I was not able to apply to scholarships do to my non-citizen and non-resident status, I still did — because I knew everything was possible. I ended up being one of 10 students (out of an applicant pool of 16,000) that were awarded the Discover Card Scholarship: $40,000 in tuition money to attend the University of my choosing. Until this day, I do not know how that happened (the fine print said people like me could not get it). So I went on to study Aerospace Engineering at Embry-Riddle.
Life seemed to be unfolding like something out of a fairytale. Here we were: my dreamer father, my doer mother, and me, a kid with his dad’s dream who had somehow development a knack for robotics. We were here: a poor Venezuelan family, who finally had money in our pockets and a dream that seemed to be coming to fruition. My father had moved on from his old workplace and started his own company, which was prosperous and life-affirming. In the pursuit, my father was stressed, working late hours to get everything done and never getting enough rest, but we were all so stuck on cloud nine that this detail seemed innocuous. We were riding the high of the American Dream being proven so perfectly; we felt ecstatic, grateful, it was all perfect.
Until it wasn’t.
Part Three: The Lows
After my first year at college, my father was diagnosed with Myasthenia Gravis, a neuromuscular disease that severely weakens the muscles and motor functions of the body. The doctors had said it had occurred due to stress. His body was no longer capable of maintaining physical stamina. Seemingly overnight, we lost absolutely everything we had gained here. Without him to run daily operations, my father’s business closed its doors. We burned through our savings to pay my father’s medical bills, a hit magnified by the fact that we had invested so much into his startup. Our home was plagued with the sadness and grief of sickness, job loss, and financial instability. I learned a lot about people during this time. No one my dad had ever helped returned the favor. Some people even took advantage of him when he was at his lowest. Despite him trying his best to hide it, I often caught him crying alone in his room — I had never seen my optimistic and dreamer dad cry before.
I dropped out of school as my family was penniless, my scholarship had run out, and without my father’s income, we were in serious debt. My amazing mother was pulling as much as she could from her teacher salary, but it wasn’t enough to keep a family of four afloat.
I took on the role of provider and vowed to get enough funds to keep my family stable by whatever means necessary. I began to take on as much work as physically possible, convincing the largest LATAM Video Game distributor to take me on. In a gesture I’ll forever remain grateful for, the CEO, Thomas, took me under his wing and afforded me the opportunity to work and be creative. I had no tech experience outside of robotics, and, though I was terrified, I took the leap and ran with it.
So I proposed many new initiatives and lead the development of software still used to this day by big video game publishers. This was my first real-world exposure to tech and product management. I had no clue what I was doing most of the times, but I did it. I began a side business to bring in secondary income called Orca Social Media, which developed websites for local business. I started the business after someone offered me $300 to build a website and I said “sure”. In reality, I had no clue. But I said yes and taught myself. That client paid me for over 3 years, until this day they still don’t know that I had no clue how to get a website up and running. The business was generating good cash and managed to lock up some good big name clients like Lil Terrio at his peak. I never had a day off and grabbed a job at a local florist’s on weekend mornings, continuing to make websites in the evenings.
Despite these three jobs, we always struggled to make ends meet since my mom was a pre-school teacher and my dad was not physically able to work. When I turned 21, no longer was I able to be under my parent’s Visa. I have to skip this huge part of my struggle as an immigrant and some of the miracles that happened for a later post. One of the darkest days I’ve had was when my mom, dad, and sister were purchasing tickets to leave the country due to a series of some unfortunate circumstances. We fought hard to stay here united as a family. My beautiful sister, my biggest treasure, had to mature so fast amidst our troubles — as a teenager, she was wise and brought optimism to our home that kept us going. I also had the support of my high school sweetheart; she has been my angel every step of my adult life and career. I love her to death.
Eventually, I convinced Ideal Mobile to give me a job as this startup’s office location saved me two hours of daily commute and paid a bit more (50 cents/hour more to be exact. It made a difference in my family’s economy) I was the first employee at Ideal Mobile and was responsible for building the brand and growing the company from less than 100 monthly paying users to over 5,000 in a very short amount of time with almost no marketing dollars. I had a knack for automating a lot of processes and led the building of products that helped us scale through retail locations. I am very proud of the work I did there and that the startup is still alive and growing.
I wanted to go back to school after a few years of working on product. I am passionate about learning. So I picked up my bags and went to UCF to try and finish my Aerospace Engineering degree. I convinced the startup I was part of to let me work remotely full-time. Engineering studies and a startup was tough to manage, but Lindsey was of course there to support me along the way. I quickly realized that school was not as fun compared to the real world experiences I had lived. I started three things during this time: PrepaidSeeker, Telzek, and Xtreme Play. Both of the former startups, Telzek and PrepaidSeeker, were horrible failures. However, my final initiative, XtremePlay, was a success. This was an initiative I had pitched to my first employer two years prior and one day he called me saying that he finally understood why this was needed. It was the first digital video game marketplace for Latin America. I built the first iteration of it with a developer and established digital rights partnerships for the platform. I let the project go after it was operational, then, almost from one day to the next, I dropped out of school for a second time with less than a year to go and flew to Silicon Valley.
Part Four: A Life Changing Experience
It was at this time that I was accepted into the incredible Draper University, a pre-accelerator or people accelerator (A post on my thoughts about the space soon). I had watched Tim Draper encourage young entrepreneurs on TV to take leaps. His message resonated with my life story. I was gifted a partial scholarship from Heidi Roizen, a partner of DFJ, and completed a five-week program on campus. It was an experience that renewed my enthusiasm, introduced me to lifelong friends and mentors, and made my dream of staying in Silicon Valley a reality. While studying here, I was introduced to the world of startup education and venture capital, and fell in love with what has now become my profession. I wanted to look back at my life one day and be proud of having helped start world-changing companies.
As they say, the rest is history. It was announced one day that Draper U was in need of an entrepreneur-in-residence, and I was selected. I fell in love with helping founders build products and transforming them into better leaders. After running a few sessions and accelerating talent my newfound mentors, Tim Draper and Andy Tang, hired me to help manage the University’s entrepreneurial programs.
A high growth startup offered me a bunch of money to work as a Product Manager, but luckily that did not work out — the money was tempting as I still was still supporting my family financially, but I knew I had found my passion in the accelerator and venture world. One day Tim emailed me out of nowhere saying we should catch up. I had this idea I wanted to pitch to him. I went into our meeting nervous and told him Draper University should fund its entrepreneurs. The thesis being that we would be the only investors that actually live and work with our entrepreneurs before investing in them. This would mitigate our risk since we get to know them as people before writing their first check. If you are in the startup world, you know it is all about the team. It took some time to figure out the structure and vehicle, but Tim said yes. Imagine getting a yes from one of the world’s most renowned startup investors! He believed in the vision of having a fund dedicated to our alumni and trusted the team and me to make the investment decisions. That is how Draper University Ventures was born. A few weeks ago I met up with a friend who told me that many people had pitched this idea to Tim in the past. For some miraculous reason, Tim said yes to us. We fund founders who we work with during our programs and we are usually the first check into resilient entrepreneurs with bold and big ideas.
Fast forward a few years and I have had a world-class education from the best investors on this planet. I have also done some small angel co-investments with jason who let me participate in his first batch of Angel University and also join his great syndicate. I am the COO at Draper University and an early stage investor with Draper U Ventures. More importantly, I am an entrepreneur’s sidekick, helping however I can in the most crucial times. I’ve had the privilege to travel and teach all over the world, learn from some of the most influential entrepreneurs of our generation, and help inspire hundreds of young founders. Lately, I have been very interested in entrepreneurs’ mental health. I am conducting some great studies within our batches to tackle this big problem. I want to help founders, like my dad and the dozens of visionaries I have had a chance to work with, develop great mental health to see their visions come to life.
That’s my story in a nutshell. I skipped some really important parts of my life, both very bad ones and very good ones, as I want to give those their own posts some point in the future. I am grateful for everyone that ever believed in me and for the unconditional love my family gave me. My parents have worked extremely hard to get me to where I am. Thanks to them, I am living my American Dream. I am nowhere close to where I want to be, but I am enjoying the journey and feel blessed to be writing this today.
To anyone out there with a similar dream, to anyone struggling, to anyone wondering where on earth to start to make that dream a reality, I want to end the story with some takeaways. In no way do I plan to sound like some sort of life guru — they have simply helped me in my journey every single step of the way, and I think they’ll help in yours.
- My father shaped me as a dreamer and optimist. My mother molded me into a hard worker and doer. Optimism and work ethics are harder to train than any other job skill. When I hire or build teams, these are the qualities I look for. Everything else can be learned.
- Try not to be a victim of life circumstances. Being the victim is a mental state. It may feel good to play the victim role as you place blame on external factors, but it will not serve you in any way. The same way “life” or “people” did you wrong, what actually makes you think that “they” will be there to take you out of your suffering? Instead, be an opportunist and see challenges as potential achievements. Work hard and rise above any challenge. No one will be able to take that away from you. One of my greatest mentors, Gina Kloes, has a great phrase that you can ask yourself during tough times: “What if this is happening FOR me instead of TO me?”
- Surround yourself with mentors who grow and facilitate your ideas. Let others help you, and allow yourself to receive that help. I would be nothing without the mentors who shaped me: from my parents to my first American teachers who taught me the English language, all the way to Tim Draper, Andy Tang, Gina Kloes, and Roc Ryder, who made both a personal investment in my life and my career. Surround yourself with people you respect and admire, who also respect and admire both you and your work. My friends Kevin, Katie, Daniel, Megan, and Jack have been instrumental to my happiness and wellbeing.
- Always take leaps of faith. My father did it to bring us to America, I did it when I quit school twice, or when I moved to California with less than $150 in me and my family’s bank accounts. I took a huge leap of faith when I pitched to Tim Draper. I will continue to take huge leaps of faith when I say yes to funding founders. When you take leaps, the parachute will follow. And if you ever fail, that failure will make you more equipped for what is next. Continue leaping.
- Don’t take no for an answer. Ask what would need to happen in order for them to say yes.
- And lastly, but definitely not least, always love. Love yourself. Love everyone around you. I am here in the U.S., living my American dream, because of the love my parents had for me and my future. I love those around me and I will do my best to love them, even more, tomorrow — it could change someone else’s life.
I hope this story resonates well with you. The world around us is constantly bombarding us with challenges and obstacles. In reality, every challenge is packed with opportunity.
I hope this story gives you, or someone you know, hope for a better future. I am very lucky and grateful to be here. I have a long way to go, but this journey is definitely awesome. Everything is possible.
Go for it. Always.
PS:
- Thanks for reading. If you liked this story, please share it or send it to a friend who may benefit from reading.
UPDATE 2020: I left my role as COO at Draper U to fulfill my life’s biggest mission. I started a new company and together with my team and investors, we are bringing the world closer to the faith, each other, and God. Tabella is the social network for faith communities.
This post is dedicated to my dad, mom, and sister.
