To my dear family, friends, staff and peers, (and SW visitors)
I write you this letter to set the expectation of our relationship for the next 3 to 5 years. After many years of attempting dozens of ventures, I have decided to focus on just one. That will be Brax.io.
Over the next few months I will be raising a round of funding for the business and using that money to grow the business to profitability and beyond. I estimate this will take at least 3 years and could take much more.
To the young this seems like a long time, to the older, a period of this length is aggressively short for my goal. Let me say I am aware of the rate of failure for start-ups and like my goals to be extreme so I am aiming for 3 years.
If you are getting this letter, it is because we share a connection and love (or reading SW blog). As someone I hold dear, I feel it is important to explicitly state the nature in how I will manage my personal relationships with you and everyone else moving forward.
Is this letter necessary? Probably not. I could have just done this and not said anything as most extreme entrepreneurs do yet I do think that my ability to communicate and set expectations has been beneficial to my success and wanted to exercise it here.
I think, what if I died tomorrow, would I regret sending this? Would I regret going down a path with 90% failure rate and not spending more time with the people I love? Maybe
Does that regret out weigh the possibility that I could live a long life with never having attempted to do something great, unfortunately not for me.
I will not be out hustled! The goal here is to do something great (3-5 years), take a break (up to 6 month sabbatical) and then do something greater!
Here is the order of my priorities:
- Professional Goals
- Personal Health and Well Being
- Family
- Friends
- Staff
- Peers
I do not imagine I will fully disappear like a mad scientist but my priorities will be shifted drastically. I am no super human and I am sure I will need to take breaks, time off, and still see some, if not most, of everyone I send this to.
However I will be missing out on memories made and conversations had. Events will be missed and discussions will be cut short. I will be tardy in responding if responding at all to invites, texts, calls, or other communication that does not push forward my agenda for this goal.
Please do not be offended, you did nothing wrong. Note that this letter is probably for me more than you. I do have a fear of coming out on the other side of this succeeding (or failing) and alone. Hopefully this will remedy that and give the people I love some insights into my prospective and logic. Please be patient with me.
How we define happiness evolves and right now I feel this will make me happy when I look back on my life. Our existence is too short not to try to do it big. For me its time to build another piece of the empire I am meant to build.
Thank you for taking the time, stay healthy, and hustle hard!
See you on the other side!