From SBA Loan to High 8-Figure Exit

I get in and next thing I know I'm enrolling there in the, in the, you know, in the upcoming fall. That did create a little bit of tension within the investment firm I was at because some of the partners thought that I was leaving a little too early, but I opted to do it anyways and so that's how I found myself at hbs. And, and so when you get into Harvard to hbs, is that how, how's that feel?

I mean, I'm sure anybody who gets in is exciting. Is, it is exciting. Well, you know, but particularly from somebody like you, like, you know, from your background and you said that you had, it wasn't even really on your radar.

Yeah, no, I remember getting the acceptance letter and posting a picture of it on my social media account and you know, I didn't really know what to expect when I, when I got to Harvard. Right, but you're in what's called sections, which are kind of like a mini fraternity and you're with a great group of folks, right, that have, a number of them are still really good friends of mine today.

And you're with a variety of backgrounds, some folks that come from very wealthy families, wealthier than I had ever been associated with, and then other folks that are not the same background as me, but, but less fortunate upbringings, if you will. And so that was another instance of my life where I'm interacting with people from all different economic backgrounds and, and, and learning how to…

But it was, it was, it was different, but it was, it was a lot of fun. And while I was there is. When I took and first learned about entrepreneurship through acquisition after taking a couple of courses with Rick and Royce, did.

You feel like you, when you got to hbs, that, that you, that you belonged? You know, these, these really prestigious places, oftentimes there's imposter syndrome. You know, in, in some ways, no, but in some ways, yes.

I mean you find, you find other like minded people naturally. I mean the, the class is pretty big.

There's, there's 900 kids in a class and within a section there's 90. And so you will find people that you belong with and then there's other groups of people that you don't really interact with much because you don't you. I, I didn't feel like we could have a great relationship.

And I also, what's different with me is I tend to have my best friends have been my best friends since we've been friends. So when I, even though I went to I was at hbs, my best friends from undergraduate or high school, I still spend a lot of time with them.

There are some kids that come into like a business school environment and I've never quite understood this, that it's like all of a sudden there's these big groups of friends and they're like, we're best friends. And I'm like, you guys have only known each other for a couple of months. I don't understand how you can have this great relationship relative to like, where were all your friends before?

And so for me, that I have a couple of really good friends from business school, but I don't have this broad friendship group and have a bunch of new best friends from business school. So I was there to do what I had to do. Played intramural sports, did some fun stuff and established a couple of good relationships and you know, was back in Seattle.