Building a Future

“At some point, your memories, your stories, your adventures, will be the only things you’ll have left.
”

— Chuck Palahniuk

As I'm writing this piece, I'm sitting in a two-floor house on the beautiful island of Bermuda. I flew here on a Friday evening, made sure there were no emergencies at work and I'll be going straight back to work on Monday. 

This weekend is not very different than many of the weekends from the past year. 

A few weeks ago, I was sitting in my office and I decided to book a trip of a lifetime. Flying the world’s first apartment in the sky, spending a few weeks traveling through Dubai, Hong Kong, Bangkok and Sydney to get to the South Island of New Zealand. I'll be renting a car and camping along the way until I get to Milford Sound. After that, it’s time to drive back and find more adventures along the way. The trip is booked entirely in first class and a lot of it is being left up to day of planning. 

The reason I booked the New Zealand trip for June and the way I booked the trip coincides with something important in my life. I started working very early on in my career and was consulting for companies like Adobe by the time I was 17. I've worked really hard in my life but apart from the strange work stories, I don’t have anything to show for it. 

A few years ago, I walked away from a very lucrative career in broadcast production only to end up in advertising 3 days later. I worked in advertising for a few years and I left that industry to pursue my dreams. First, via a company called PaLaCart and then to start, join and advise many other amazing companies. 

Over my time building startups, I realized that despite being extremely stressed and overworked about professional aspects, startup founders are the happiest and most driven people in the world. Their passion to be themselves and to pursue their dreams is amazingly powerful. 

I would love to be paid my former salary today, but only if it didn't come with just 2 weeks off or limit me to a certain bubble. 

Some of the greatest things in my life happened because I decided to jump off the cliff. There is no way I would have ever been able to spend a week in Maui celebrating a friends birthday or been able to go to family weddings in the middle of a work week. Or realize that someone I’ve worked with in my periphery is going to be a huge part of my life. Those things are far more important than sitting in an office and indispensable when leaving behind a legacy. 

From cliff diving in Maui to buying a last minute plane ticket for the FIFA World Cup and spending a week exploring the Great Barrier Reef are all stories from the past 12 months. Those memories will last a lifetime. 

And only because I walked away from a paycheck 400 days ago. Whether temporarily or permanently is yet to be seen. But life, despite its uncertainty, has never been better. 

The Pursuit

As I’m writing this, I’ve spent the past 24 hours between airports on both coasts of the United States and en-route to Bermuda for some much needed thawing out. 

Most people dislike the thought of traveling for long hours. I, on the other hand, love it. 

I love flying from California to New York overnight and arriving at my office in time for the first meeting of the day. And despite all my whining, I love working hard and long hours to ensure that the things that we do mean something to someone. It doesn’t matter if all I’m doing is helping someone find a cheap flight or planning a social get together or building out applications for clients. 

And the reason it doesn’t matter is because I care. 

Over the past 3 years, I’ve slowly called it quits on my previous life. No more corporate credit cards. No more counting paid vacation days. No more people, clients and projects that were just a way to the end (aka: bottle service). 

It’s been scary along the way. But, it’s been rewarding beyond my wildest expectations. Because today I’m fueled by the the very core of things I care about: good people with a side of crazy. 

I stress every single day about finances. I stress about what might happen if all of this goes away. And I’m terrified beyond belief if the people I care about the most stop believing in the future. Because if there is one thing I’ve learned is this - the people closest to you never let you quit. They inspire you to work harder than you ever have before. They inspire you to go beyond your wildest threshold.  

And that’s what makes this incredibly fun. 

There isn’t enough money in the world for me to work an all-nighter for someone else. Or to even live a life where every single day is guaranteed. But that’s what makes this worth it. It’s all about being crazy enough to believe that things that you care about will care about you when it matters the most. 

To those on the edge - don’t fret. Do it. Perhaps one small step. Perhaps a huge leap. Either way, the freedom is exhilarating. 

New Zealand 2015: Trip of a Lifetime

I've been traveling a lot for the past few years - often times for fun and sometimes for work. It's been a blast. 

As a photographer, I've been itching to go to New Zealand for a few years. Looking at my frequent flyer balances, I finally decided to pull the trigger and just do it. 

Here are some highlights of the planning thus far:

• Flying Etihad's First Apartment 
• Flying Thai Airways First Class
• Flying Emirates Business Class

Follow the journey here. I'll be posting photos + planning missteps along the way. 

Book Review: Uncommon Stock

I've been slacking on my reading lately. With work and travel, I haven't had much time to catch-up on new books in a while. Over the past year, I only had a chance to read under two-dozen books. This year, I hope to at-least increase that number to around 35 books. 

One of the best new book series from last year has been Uncommon Stock by Eliot Peper. I'm not going to go through the story in this post, but if you're a startup founder, you need to read the 3 book series (the third one will be released this year).  

It's term-sheets mixed in with murder. It's start-up stress blended in with relationships. And it's a thrilling combination of survival skills - personal and professional. 

What also makes this book unique is that it is backed by FG Press - a new publishing arm from Foundry Group. Overall, their selection of books and authors is truly unique and I'm looking forward to more publishers following suit of good books without the bureaucracies. 

Travel Startup Need: Visa and Immigration

I just booked a ticket to Bermuda for our executive retreat. Being the traveler in the group, it was my idea to get away from New York for a few days to plan for what the year has ahead of us. 

Unfortunately, as an Indian passport holder, I have to often apply for visas. Not ideal and definitely expensive over time, but I deal with it. 

However, finding the information for Bermuda immigration has been challenging to say the least. It is nearly impossible to find the right information. I asked my assistant, travel agency, the Consulate, the Bermuda Government, American Airlines, United Airlines and even American Express. 

Each time, I got a different answer. And each time I tried to call the agencies (commercial and government), it was nearly impossible to get to a person, let alone the right person.  

As someone who likes to travel a lot internationally, this is something I have gotten used to. But, it is also something that I strongly despise. Why isn't there one reliable database that is frequently updated and provides customer service and a built-in community for this information? I would pay an annual fee for such a service. 

And, if you're curious who provided the best information? It was the Bermuda Government and American Express. AMEX provided the exact same document that was provided by the immigration team at Bermuda, which is very impressive.