Most days I stitch together two worlds that rarely speak plainly to each other. Founders living inside the mess of building, and limited partners who need a position they can defend when the cycle turns.

I try to stay humble about what I don’t know, even if I’m convinced humility is mostly a vice with excellent PR. I still keep the nerve to call a bluff when I see one. I’m realistically a pessimist, but I choose to live as an optimist.

Helen Keller put it better than I ever could: “No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new doorway for the human spirit.”

I grew up sailing, skiing, and climbing trees that were too tall for my mother’s liking. I did my Master’s at CBS, plus a very ambitious “study abroad” stint at LUSEM, all the way over the Sound in Sweden.

I spent some time doing mountain unicycling and years on the national team in canoe polo, travelling across Europe chasing championships. Find your niche, then exploit it.