Me and My Why
Great minds have purposes, others have wishes. ~ Washington Irving
About two years ago I took a trip with a group of friends to Cambodia right before I started business school. During that trip, I decided to meet with a country director of an international development agency, who ran multiple social enterprise businesses that provide health and agriculture products to rural Cambodians.
I remember thinking to myself that running a social enterprise like that is what I wanted…when I was 24. I was 29 then and my priorities now are much different. My old-self would regret not taking up an opportunity to do something like that but the ‘me’ now has greater ambitions and goals.
However, this time I’m not letting go of pursuing something worthy. And you know what that is? Making a living doing what I love and enjoying the process of doing anything I can to get there. So what do I love to do?
I love living vicariously through the success and achievement of others I have helped. During my time working with small business owners and start-up entrepreneurs, I loved helping them meet their goals. Whether that was the launch of a new business, the development of their business plan, or access to capital, they were all pivotal milestones in their life’s pursuit, and I was happy to play a hand in it.
It’s why I plan to invest in people and their business. Many people complain that it’s too long of wait time to see if businesses pan out in Venture Capital; that it's depressing to say ‘No’ so often for only a few ‘Yes’. These are actually the exact same reasons why I would do venture capital.
Delayed gratification is sweeter; helping minimize failure, and maximizing the probabilities of success is cathartic. It allows you to live moments intensely and use our unique gift of empathy to help people in only ways one can.
Which leads me to why I started to write this post in the first place. I plan to invest in people and businesses that are creating a meaningful impact on others.
By investing in people who are looking to take risks in their life or business, it allows for a ‘leapfrog opportunity multiplier’ for the ecosystem of Do-ers to achieve their goals. It’s contagious.
My Personal Background. I should mention I grew up in the Washington Heights, an uptown Manhattan neighborhood in New York City. I was fortunate enough to have a great education through a scholarship program called A Better Chance.
After living away from home during High School, I got an itch for exploring new places, meeting new people, and feeling uncomfortable. I get deep satisfaction of making something uncomfortable feel comfortable. I like the challenge; I like the emotional and intellectual ambiguity.
It’s why I plan to explore investment opportunities in the future. It’s why I’m making a career change from economic development to investment banking now. So I can merge my experiences of working on Main Street to Wall Street to help connect the dots that others might not see.
This first blog post is my stake in the ground. I will not live in regret about what my old-self would say I should have done. This platform is to write about what I would invest in, state my thesis, back up my claims, admit to my mistakes, and draw interesting connections from things that may seem unrelated.
So along with my good friend, Matt Ross, we will use FutureFunders.vc as place where we’ll bet on what we’ll fund in the [near] future; we’ll help create and mold the future by funding it; and we invite others who want to be future funders or fund the future to join us in the journey of pursuing our goals and passion.
Until Victory Always,
Franklin
