My dad passed away.
We were blessed to get a very long goodbye. He had the privilege to go out in a way I wish for everyone - surrounded by friends and family, leaving no stone unturned. The man told jokes until the very end. It was one of the most beautiful experiences of my life and it will forever bring me happiness.
The night before he died I told my wife that not only do I love him with my whole heart and then some, but I really like my dad, too. I feel lucky to say that. He was one of the funniest people I have ever known. He was brilliant, resilient, exceptional, a joy to be around, and filled to the brim with love.
This was a tumultuously emotional adventure for him. On his final day he proclaimed:
"At this moment I don’t feel sad.”
"Then what do you feel, dad?”
“Horny!”
That was Harvey.
One night this past week I wrote down some of the most important things I learned from him. I will uncover more over the years I’m sure, but this is what was top of mind:
When you are staring at a closet full of shirts, always pick the most colorful and patterned one. Life’s too short to be dull. Starting in his 60s, my dad's fashion sense blossomed. At first I was almost embarrassed by it. But it brought him such pride, and over time I came to absolutely love it. The man had style, and he was fearless about it. If it makes you happy, just do it.
Pursue your interests and passions unapologetically. A joy for stacking sticks and stones may one day lead you to a beautiful sculpture garden and happiness. My parents bought a lake house in upstate NY over a decade ago. There, my dad started a hobby of balancing pieces of wood and rocks. He'd spend full days outside stacking, and over time, these became freestanding sculptures that decorated their entire property. It is incredible and brought him great pride. His friends are making a book of his work. He had a pair of gloves he wore to do his work. He wore holes through them everywhere and patched them together with duct tape. May we all be so lucky to burn holes in our gloves and care about something enough to duct tape it so it lasts.
Don’t be afraid to pioneer uncharted waters and do what others won’t, especially when it means you can help people. My dad has saved countless lives because he did things unconventionally. He is a legend in the field of cardiology and helped to bring CT and CTA scans for heart disease mainstream. For years, his ideas were believed to be radical by the establishment. He was laughed at and antagonized by many. But he knew deep in his gut and in his marvelous brain that he was right and he persevered. Every cardiologist that I talk to worth their salt knows his name because he was as bold as they come. Because of him and some of his peers, you don't have to die of heart disease.
Even when life feels downtrodden, this too shall pass. Don’t jump on the tracks, just wait to board the next train because there’s always hope and love and happiness ahead. When I was in high school my dad spiraled into a bout of severe clinical depression, and he was very open about his experience with it. He shared with me that there were moments where he was suicidal and wondered if he should jump in front of the subway. But he sought help and he was extraordinarily resilient. He fought that battle and won, and without a doubt the best years of his life came thereafter. I think he liked to talk about this because not only was he proud of overcoming it, but he wanted people to know that there can be light ahead. That if he could do it, so could you.
Marry up. My dad would always say that he wasn't the "best person" or a very emotionally attuned guy for a chunk of his life, but that over time he became a better person. His only explanation for his progress was that my mom brought out the best in him. He was right. She put all of herself into their relationship and loved and cared for him infinitely. Through the very end, she made him a better person with each passing day. He was the best of him. I took his advice and I married up, too.
At the end of the day, family and meaningful relationships are everything. Nothing else matters. In these final months, I never once heard him talk about possessions, his professional accomplishments, or even the lives he saved. The only thing he cared to talk about were the people he loved and cherished. He emphatically pronounced this the day before he died: family and friends are everything. We all know this - it’s the cliche we always hear. But sometimes we don’t understand it until we see it. I saw it and it’s real. And that’s how I plan to honor his legacy, and I hope you do the same: by building a life filled with meaningful relationships and family.
And last but not least, during trying times it’s okay to feel sad. And like my dad at the end, it’s also okay to be at peace and not feel sad. Just don’t forget to be horny.
I love you dad and miss you terribly. But I know for certain you will always be with me.
A couple months ago I started working on a new product with my friend, colleague, and head of engineering from my last company, Avi.
We are building something we want to use.
We need to go as fast as possible, and I want you to help us.
Here’s what I am looking for:
Potential
Insane work ethic and grit
Obsession with consumer products and AI
A love of building things
There is no job title. But here is what’s going to happen:
At first, I am going to tell you what to do. That might mean setting up data and analytics infrastructure. Researching pricing plans. Building a notifications system. Prototyping a new feature. Assembling desks in an office. You are going to help me get more done and do things I don’t want to do. No room for ego about this.
Then I will start asking you to solve open-ended problems and pursue ambiguous opportunities. How do we figure out a certain acquisition channel? What else should we test to really “wow” our customers?
Then, because you have a track record of getting things done, you will come to me with those open-ended opportunities, and you’ll be responsible for making them happen. That might mean ownership over a certain function(s) or product surface area.
After all is said and done, this should be the steepest part of your learning curve in your career. You will get more responsibility than you thought you could handle, and you will be able to draw a direct line between the things you did and our collective success.
I have seen a lot of young first-time founders play it fast and loose in their fundraising processes the past several years. It’s been frothy times, so I think it brings out a lot of strange behavior. It got me thinking of when I was a young founder and the things I’d do, particularly one specific story that I tell people when I get asked “what not to do” when fundraising.
Back in 2010 Steve and I launched GroupMe to much fanfare. It got a lot of attention out the gate because we built it at the first TechCrunch Disrupt Hackathon in NYC and the press thought it was neat that something could be built in a night and actually work. It was a good story. We raised a round of financing really quickly ($850k on a $2.5m pre-money - those were the days!), and then immediately got more inbound interest from VCs as the service began to take off.
We were invited to demo some new features at TechCrunch Disrupt SF (here's some video footage I found) so we flew out to the west coast and took some investor meetings before our presentation. We thought our next round was going to be preempted by a16z or Sequoia. We had met with Alfred Lin several times and loved him (as most entrepreneurs do) and we took a meeting with Roelof Botha at Starbucks across from the convention center. Vinod Khosla walked in while we were pitching and we felt like royalty being showered in attention. We certainly thought we were hot shit. I was 23 years old.
We walked out of that meeting absolutely certain Sequoia was going to be our lead. We were a small team so everyone knew what was going on, and after the meeting they asked us how it went in our GroupMe group. “Sequoia wants it hard” was our response.
Fast forward two hours - Steve and I are onstage presenting some new groupme features. We pride ourselves on live demos. Our teammate Pat is driving the presentation and on the screen in front of the entire conference he opens up our team group chat for everyone to see: “Sequoia wants it hard.”
My dad passed away.
We were blessed to get a very long goodbye. He had the privilege to go out in a way I wish for everyone - surrounded by friends and family, leaving no stone unturned. The man told jokes until the very end. It was one of the most beautiful experiences of my life and it will forever bring me happiness.
The night before he died I told my wife that not only do I love him with my whole heart and then some, but I really like my dad, too. I feel lucky to say that. He was one of the funniest people I have ever known. He was brilliant, resilient, exceptional, a joy to be around, and filled to the brim with love.
This was a tumultuously emotional adventure for him. On his final day he proclaimed:
"At this moment I don’t feel sad.”
"Then what do you feel, dad?”
“Horny!”
That was Harvey.
One night this past week I wrote down some of the most important things I learned from him. I will uncover more over the years I’m sure, but this is what was top of mind:
When you are staring at a closet full of shirts, always pick the most colorful and patterned one. Life’s too short to be dull. Starting in his 60s, my dad's fashion sense blossomed. At first I was almost embarrassed by it. But it brought him such pride, and over time I came to absolutely love it. The man had style, and he was fearless about it. If it makes you happy, just do it.
Pursue your interests and passions unapologetically. A joy for stacking sticks and stones may one day lead you to a beautiful sculpture garden and happiness. My parents bought a lake house in upstate NY over a decade ago. There, my dad started a hobby of balancing pieces of wood and rocks. He'd spend full days outside stacking, and over time, these became freestanding sculptures that decorated their entire property. It is incredible and brought him great pride. His friends are making a book of his work. He had a pair of gloves he wore to do his work. He wore holes through them everywhere and patched them together with duct tape. May we all be so lucky to burn holes in our gloves and care about something enough to duct tape it so it lasts.
Don’t be afraid to pioneer uncharted waters and do what others won’t, especially when it means you can help people. My dad has saved countless lives because he did things unconventionally. He is a legend in the field of cardiology and helped to bring CT and CTA scans for heart disease mainstream. For years, his ideas were believed to be radical by the establishment. He was laughed at and antagonized by many. But he knew deep in his gut and in his marvelous brain that he was right and he persevered. Every cardiologist that I talk to worth their salt knows his name because he was as bold as they come. Because of him and some of his peers, you don't have to die of heart disease.
Even when life feels downtrodden, this too shall pass. Don’t jump on the tracks, just wait to board the next train because there’s always hope and love and happiness ahead. When I was in high school my dad spiraled into a bout of severe clinical depression, and he was very open about his experience with it. He shared with me that there were moments where he was suicidal and wondered if he should jump in front of the subway. But he sought help and he was extraordinarily resilient. He fought that battle and won, and without a doubt the best years of his life came thereafter. I think he liked to talk about this because not only was he proud of overcoming it, but he wanted people to know that there can be light ahead. That if he could do it, so could you.
Marry up. My dad would always say that he wasn't the "best person" or a very emotionally attuned guy for a chunk of his life, but that over time he became a better person. His only explanation for his progress was that my mom brought out the best in him. He was right. She put all of herself into their relationship and loved and cared for him infinitely. Through the very end, she made him a better person with each passing day. He was the best of him. I took his advice and I married up, too.
At the end of the day, family and meaningful relationships are everything. Nothing else matters. In these final months, I never once heard him talk about possessions, his professional accomplishments, or even the lives he saved. The only thing he cared to talk about were the people he loved and cherished. He emphatically pronounced this the day before he died: family and friends are everything. We all know this - it’s the cliche we always hear. But sometimes we don’t understand it until we see it. I saw it and it’s real. And that’s how I plan to honor his legacy, and I hope you do the same: by building a life filled with meaningful relationships and family.
And last but not least, during trying times it’s okay to feel sad. And like my dad at the end, it’s also okay to be at peace and not feel sad. Just don’t forget to be horny.
I love you dad and miss you terribly. But I know for certain you will always be with me.
A couple months ago I started working on a new product with my friend, colleague, and head of engineering from my last company, Avi.
We are building something we want to use.
We need to go as fast as possible, and I want you to help us.
Here’s what I am looking for:
Potential
Insane work ethic and grit
Obsession with consumer products and AI
A love of building things
There is no job title. But here is what’s going to happen:
At first, I am going to tell you what to do. That might mean setting up data and analytics infrastructure. Researching pricing plans. Building a notifications system. Prototyping a new feature. Assembling desks in an office. You are going to help me get more done and do things I don’t want to do. No room for ego about this.
Then I will start asking you to solve open-ended problems and pursue ambiguous opportunities. How do we figure out a certain acquisition channel? What else should we test to really “wow” our customers?
Then, because you have a track record of getting things done, you will come to me with those open-ended opportunities, and you’ll be responsible for making them happen. That might mean ownership over a certain function(s) or product surface area.
After all is said and done, this should be the steepest part of your learning curve in your career. You will get more responsibility than you thought you could handle, and you will be able to draw a direct line between the things you did and our collective success.
I have seen a lot of young first-time founders play it fast and loose in their fundraising processes the past several years. It’s been frothy times, so I think it brings out a lot of strange behavior. It got me thinking of when I was a young founder and the things I’d do, particularly one specific story that I tell people when I get asked “what not to do” when fundraising.
Back in 2010 Steve and I launched GroupMe to much fanfare. It got a lot of attention out the gate because we built it at the first TechCrunch Disrupt Hackathon in NYC and the press thought it was neat that something could be built in a night and actually work. It was a good story. We raised a round of financing really quickly ($850k on a $2.5m pre-money - those were the days!), and then immediately got more inbound interest from VCs as the service began to take off.
We were invited to demo some new features at TechCrunch Disrupt SF (here's some video footage I found) so we flew out to the west coast and took some investor meetings before our presentation. We thought our next round was going to be preempted by a16z or Sequoia. We had met with Alfred Lin several times and loved him (as most entrepreneurs do) and we took a meeting with Roelof Botha at Starbucks across from the convention center. Vinod Khosla walked in while we were pitching and we felt like royalty being showered in attention. We certainly thought we were hot shit. I was 23 years old.
We walked out of that meeting absolutely certain Sequoia was going to be our lead. We were a small team so everyone knew what was going on, and after the meeting they asked us how it went in our GroupMe group. “Sequoia wants it hard” was our response.
Fast forward two hours - Steve and I are onstage presenting some new groupme features. We pride ourselves on live demos. Our teammate Pat is driving the presentation and on the screen in front of the entire conference he opens up our team group chat for everyone to see: “Sequoia wants it hard.”
You will likely go on to either start your own company or do venture capital (I hope you’ll start your own company and let me invest in it).
The last person I did this with was Kevin Zhang at my last company. He did everything, and he did it damn well. We hired him full-time when he was still in college. He eventually became our first head of product, and then became a GP at Bain Capital Ventures. This was also the same opportunity that was provided to me in 2009 when I graduated college and joined tumblr. Since then I’ve founded and exited two companies, groupme and fundera, and joined my favorite VC firm, Union Square Ventures, as a Venture Partner.
If you’re ready to dive into the deep end and learn to swim, shoot me a note at jaredhecht@gmail.com. Please include a link to your online presence so I can get a sense of who you are, show me anything you’ve built before, and let me know the 2-3 accomplishments you are most proud of.
We had no idea. But the second we walked off stage Pat pulled us aside panicking saying, “Guys, we have a problem.” Our stomachs hit the floor. I am surprised neither of us puked. Our friend Matt in the audience sent us a text that just said, “Holy shit.”
Lucky for us, not many people saw it, and nobody made a fuss about it. We asked TechCrunch to pull the video of the demo and they politely obliged. We saw some Sequoia partners afterwards backstage and nothing was mentioned. I don't think they ever caught wind of it. Crisis narrowly averted.
So I was a young founder who played it fast and loose. We do dumb things. It’s okay, sometimes. And this is an example of something I tell founders not to do when fundraising.
My favorite part about this story is that Sequoia passed on investing in GroupMe and promptly invested in WhatsApp, a move that would net them billions of dollars and go down as one of the greatest investments in VC history. It turns out that Sequoia, in fact, did not want it hard.
You will likely go on to either start your own company or do venture capital (I hope you’ll start your own company and let me invest in it).
The last person I did this with was Kevin Zhang at my last company. He did everything, and he did it damn well. We hired him full-time when he was still in college. He eventually became our first head of product, and then became a GP at Bain Capital Ventures. This was also the same opportunity that was provided to me in 2009 when I graduated college and joined tumblr. Since then I’ve founded and exited two companies, groupme and fundera, and joined my favorite VC firm, Union Square Ventures, as a Venture Partner.
If you’re ready to dive into the deep end and learn to swim, shoot me a note at jaredhecht@gmail.com. Please include a link to your online presence so I can get a sense of who you are, show me anything you’ve built before, and let me know the 2-3 accomplishments you are most proud of.
We had no idea. But the second we walked off stage Pat pulled us aside panicking saying, “Guys, we have a problem.” Our stomachs hit the floor. I am surprised neither of us puked. Our friend Matt in the audience sent us a text that just said, “Holy shit.”
Lucky for us, not many people saw it, and nobody made a fuss about it. We asked TechCrunch to pull the video of the demo and they politely obliged. We saw some Sequoia partners afterwards backstage and nothing was mentioned. I don't think they ever caught wind of it. Crisis narrowly averted.
So I was a young founder who played it fast and loose. We do dumb things. It’s okay, sometimes. And this is an example of something I tell founders not to do when fundraising.
My favorite part about this story is that Sequoia passed on investing in GroupMe and promptly invested in WhatsApp, a move that would net them billions of dollars and go down as one of the greatest investments in VC history. It turns out that Sequoia, in fact, did not want it hard.
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