Underdogs Don’t Stop

Most VC firms have extensive knowledge and experience reserved for their highest-performing portfolio companies. An untapped opportunity is expanding the reach of these and similar resources beyond my highest-performing portfolio companies to those who might benefit most. It's worth exploring... I left my first clinical career as a physician to commit my time and experience to venture capital, and through many falls, I have risen many times and seen how VC can be much more. Here’s to learning, building, being creative, and seeing what we care about to reach the peak that it deserves. 

At the booth of SmileMD at the American Society of Anesthesiologists® annual meeting - come visit if you are around! Fun but true buzzwords for anesthesiologists: 🗣️No nights, no calls, no weekends or holidays. 🗣️Full time or 1099 🗣️A simple morning start and done by early afternoon 🗣️Team to work with, not on an island. The future of a physician's career is to work on our terms. OFFOR Health

I'm proud to highlight underdogs you may not know, sharing real stories from people who could be your friends or even the person sitting next to you. My monthly newsletter includes: 🗣️ Community sourced stories  🗣️ Leadership 🗣️ Personal Development I’ve learned from many how fear and a lack of belief in ourselves hold us back, but we always find ways to overcome them. I hope this brings you inspiration, motivation, and steps to act on to help you grow. Thank you to all 75,000 subscribers for being part of this journey and today brings the 20th edition. If you have a story to share, feel free to DM me. I will highlight it in posts, podcast interviews, and the newsletter. #leadership #entrepreneurship #personaldevelopment #mentalhealth

I'm proud to highlight underdogs you may not know, sharing real stories from people who could be your friends or even the person sitting next to you. 🗣️ Community sourced stories I’ve learned from many how fears hold us back, but we always find ways to overcome them. I hope they bring you wisdom, inspiration, and motivation too. Thank you to all 75,000 subscribers for being part of this journey and today brings the 19th edition. If you have a story to share, feel free to DM me. I will be highlighting them in posts, podcast interviews, and the newsletter.

Don’t let a contract stop you… ❌ When my attorney informed me that my work contract didn’t allow me to practice medicine outside of my private practice, I felt so angry. We had just launched an anesthesia services company, only to discover that 2 out of the 3 founding anesthesiologists, including myself, were unable to work due to the restrictions in our contracts. After initially feeling upset but determined to move forward, we found other anesthesiologists to cover the work shifts. ✅ We found another way… there is always a way! In time, we successfully built the company, allowing others to join and provide care for patients. Today that company OFFOR Health is in 4 states and takes care of 11,000 kids a year. Moral of the story? The obstacles may not make sense at the moment, but they can lead us to move faster and achieve more in the long run. What causes us the most pain can often be the very thing that redirects us toward greater growth.

I practiced anesthesiology for many years. I was fulfilled until I wasn’t. I was burned out. I wasn’t showing up for my colleagues the way I should have. I wasn’t showing up for my patients the way they deserved. I wasn’t showing up for my family the way they deserved. I wasn’t myself and I had to make changes. I started investing and building and found a new level of energy. It was exciting and new and it pushed me to learn again. Over several years I built a foundation to move from medicine to entrepreneurship and venture capital. Moral of the story? If you aren’t energized about what you are doing, you probably aren’t showing up the best for the world that needs you. Remember, self-love is selfless 🙏🏽

We don’t have to reinvent the wheel to make progress or grow. ▪️I reread books that I have learned from and enjoyed ▪️I eat a wide variety of things and consistently workout - I try not to follow the latest fads or trends ▪️I surround myself with ambitious and kind people… and that never goes out of style Leave a comment on what doesn’t change for you as we adapt to the changes ahead. Let’s keep moving forward and help others along the way!

My worst-performing posts usually lead to the most qualitative conversations or DMs. Keep posting to bring value, not to go viral, and WE will be ok. Cheers to not being too hard on ourselves and knowing that showing up is half the battle.

My first angel investment went to zero in a few years. It was a company in an industry I didn’t know, a country I didn’t live in, one person I knew but not the rest of the team, didn’t comprehend the plan, the execution, and most importantly, not aware of when things weren’t going well. But it didn’t stop me from continuing to invest. It started my curiosity and discovery of ways to be better, build a structure and a team, and how to build a firm that took those unknowns into opportunities. It's one of my “whys” of being in venture capital. Don’t let a bad experience stop you, but it may be a reason to dig deeper 🙏🏽 #venturecapital #investing #leadership

If we share our falls we can authentically enjoy and share our success with others. It is good for our health, builds a habit of vulnerability and courage, and will attract the people we want around us. Following this incredible quote’s message then here goes… the many times I fell: 1. I didn’t show up to soccer tryouts one year because I was too scared to try… my dad didn’t say anything but I know he was disappointed. I grew my confidence and tried out and played the next year. 2. I almost failed gross anatomy in medical school because I didn’t like it at all… I couldn’t even get myself to study for it. I passed and learned not to ignore any topic and eventually got into my choice of becoming an anesthesiologist. 3. We almost quit OFFOR Health multiple times because it was so hard to get it going, now 10 years later it’s a profitable and growing company taking care of 11,000 kids a year in 4 states. 4. Fundraising has never been easy for VC, especially when we started as new fund managers and it was tempting to quit. 9 years later we have a proven track record and are having discussions with large investors at LOUD Capital. 5. I never liked writing and was horrible at writing essays for school and applications. I started writing when I got into entrepreneurship and now rely on writing to process my thoughts and bring value. I have a book, wrote a foreword for another book, and enjoy writing content daily. I have much more but please judge me by how many times I get back up. That’s my success 🙏🏽 ➡️ Can you share one of yours? #entrepreneurship #leadership #mentalhealth