Leaving a Comfortable Seat

A year along life’s journey.

I walked down to John’s office.

I had no choice.

I was about to leave Paulson & Co. to join Artivest.

But even though I knew I was making the right decision, my heart was pounding in my chest.

Was I making a mistake leaving what some told me was “one of the best seats on Wall Street?”

Would I regret the financial tradeoff?

Would John be supportive or write me off forever?

I knocked on his door…

“Do you have a second?”

Since I can remember…I’ve dreamed up start-up ideas.

It began when I was 8 years old, when my friend Nathan and I came up with an idea for a floating science laboratory named NASDAL (our initials), where we would build all of our inventions including a stretch limo that had robotics and machine guns built into it.

In junior high school a friend and I created a business selling bracelets. High school featured the typical lawn mowing business, etc.

Since then, besides entering a few business plan competitions in business school and a small stint spent advising a non-profit startup, my career had not been very start-up driven.

Investment banking. Private equity. JD-MBA. Hedge fund.

Yet, I’ve also blogged. And tweeted. A lot.

I’ve always been an early adopter, and I go to SXSW every year.

Day-to-day I went to an office to work at companies built by other people.

But in my free time, I still dreamed up start-up ideas.

A friend and I even started a blog about all of our ideas called Not Stealth.

In July 2011, almost 2 years earlier I wrote:

This is an idea I might actually start someday, but I haven’t yet, so I figured why not air it here to see what people think.

The fundamental assumption behind this idea is simple: “normal” (i.e. not rich) people have bad access to investment advice.

I would like to create a company that solves this problem.

There are three basic approaches I have considered:

1: Provide access to sophisticated asset managers in a way that allows “normal” people to benefit from the services wealthy people and institutions benefit from today. The simple description of this would be something like: hedge funds for the masses.

In late 2012, the JOBS Act was passed and made this concept a real possibility.

Almost magically, I was introduced to my future business partner a few weeks later.

He’d recently pivoted his thinking to a very similar direction as my own.

We immediately hit it off.

I read the notes from my notebook. He repeated back ideas that completed the thoughts I’d already scribbled furiously on the next page.

When I made a short list of people I would want to back my startup, it turned out they were already backing Artivest.

I thought about my strengths and weaknesses — the biggest being actually getting the entities and organizations and such established. I’d need to recruit an amazing tech guy. I’d have to get an office.

Check. Check. Check.

The stars seemed to be aligning.

Meanwhile, after 4 years working for Paulson & Co., the organization was starting to get more structured.

Sure, it was an amazing job, but I can’t stand structure.

I thrived in my early days at the firm, when it was fluid, entrepreneurial and flat.

I spoke to my wife.

And I leapt.

John was surprisingly awesome about my decision.

He asked if I was sure. I told him that I was.

We chatted about how so many entrepreneurs have been successful, and he hoped I’d do the same. He was genuinely supportive and happy for me.

He sent a classy and congratulatory memo to the entire firm.

Three days later was my last day at Paulson & Co.

Saturday marked one year since I joined Artivest, where I’m now CIO.

In the last year, we’ve grown to 11 employees.

We’re in the midst of a private launch, where we’ve been working with one of the top private equity firms in the world.

We have our first customers.

We’ve developed a beautiful web-application from scratch that fully-modernizes what has always been an old-fashioned and arduous process of investing in private funds.

And we’re well on our way to accomplishing our mission of “empowering you with access to exceptional investing.”

In the last year, I’ve worked harder than in any year since maybe during my years as an Analyst at Lehman well over a decade ago.

I’ve assembled desks.

I’ve manually edited minutia of HTML within our CMS.

I’ve learned about product management, project management, human-being management.

I’ve fielded customer service chats on my iPhone. I’ve analyzed legal documents, built financial models, written, scheduled, edited blog posts.

I’ve done detailed research and diligence on funds. Developed processes and procedures and an institutional approach to doing business every day.

I’ve sometimes been too serious. I’ve learned to lighten up. Kind of.

I’ve learned regulatory details and legal frameworks to the point where I could bore lawyers and regulatory experts.

I’ve designed web pages. I’ve nitpicked fonts and spacing and buttons.

I’ve painstakingly honed in on specific words within a mission statement with our team over weeks. Developed company values we truly believe in.

I’ve recruited, hired and on-boarded amazing employees.

I’ve managed freelancers and fired underperformers.

I’ve learned that not everyone has an A-type personality.

And that doesn’t mean they are idiots. I can’t just interrupt when someone doesn’t immediately have the answer. Actually listening matters.

People have feelings. Heck, even I have feelings.

Shockingly, EQ is just as important — maybe more important — than IQ.

It has been So. Damn. Hard.

I’ve stretched myself in so many ways.

And I’ve grown.

My wife wrote me this note the other day:

I see you more at peace and happier over time.

And it’s true.

By taking a leap and following the dream of making Artivest a reality with this team of people, I’ve found more of myself.

Sure, I have insomnia and work too much.

But I’m also more fulfilled.

I’m finding my inner voice and compass more everyday.

In this past year, I’ve learned that I absolutely love building.

I don’t know where things will go from here with Artivest, but this experience has already been life-changing.

The meaning that comes from creating something new in the world is so intrinsically rewarding. I wouldn’t give it up for anything.

Are there things I miss about working for John?

Of course. Being in such close proximity with one of the greatest investors of all time was an incredible experience. I learned so much from the way he thinks about investing. I learned to speak simply. And to listen.

And I love investing…sometimes I miss fully dedicating my mind to tackling the challenges of the markets.

But at the same time, I’m now dabbling in angel investing and advising startups, which is a whole new part of the investing world and one that resonates with my passion for entrepreneurship and creativity.

Looking back, I can see now that every step until today has been building upon the previous ones to enable me to be where I am on this journey.

Somehow, I’ve finally started hitting my stride.

I’m finding my peace, and this journey of building Artivest has been the most exciting step along the way, even if it began with a bit of trepidation.

At the end of my last day at Paulson & Co., I walked down to John’s office and shook his hand.

I said: “Thank you for this experience. It has been truly incredible.”

I rode the elevator down from the 50th floor and walked out into the street and looked up.

And I smiled.