In My Blood

I’m a tech guy - It’s in my blood.

I was born the son of a farmer, but not just any farmer. My father, Erick, introduced personal computing to his workplace back in 1986.

This workplace, mind you, was a farming & cattle ranching operation in the middle of nowhere. (Nearest to Fresno, in California’s Central Valley).

They were already a technically progressive place, as 1980’s agriculture operations went – they had a mainframe computer in the farm office!

The winds of change were blowing though, and my dad, a freshly-minted MBA & Stanford grad, put IBM PCs on his coworkers desks (much to the chagrin of the guys operating the mainframe). Bringing “power to the people” (as he put it) was a solid hit.

He only told me this story about a thousand times over the course of my childhood. It was a point of pride for him, & one of the few tales I didn’t mind hearing again & again.

His endless stories about tech & business kindled a fire in my heart – not just interest in technology but a strong desire to achieve, to enable people, to do things well.

Is it really any wonder that 30-some years later, his son started building a dairy management software startup?

I didn’t get very far on that attempt. My limited technical expertise & lack of business knowledge at the time destined it for failure, but the fire was there.

It’s still there.

It’s been there for 20+ years.

It’s what lead me to study hard & become a great engineer.

It’s what kept me moving forward when my computer died with a month of work not backed up.

It’s what got me into the world of NYC finance with no college degree & no connections.

It’s what will help me keep fighting to make my mark on tech, finance, and the world.