I wanted to tell you about a frustrating misstep I had in my journey as an Investor, Entrepreneur, “Venture Builder”, and Founder. We had just exited our first venture after working ~4 years with the PE firm who acquired us in 2012. I rec’d a call to acquire a business in a similar space as the first venture – Oil & Gas. The problem was 
I found myself relying on the same “playbook” or “framework” that worked in 2007 (date we founded venture #1), but we were one decade (10 years) further in the future.
I had taken my eye off the ball.
I was no longer a student of the game.
This made launching this venture harder than it should have been. We ended up exiting that business in 2020 and with the help of a great team (we were able to 2.5X the revenue), but here is the lesson and the CHANGE I MADE in 2019.
In whatever you’re passionate about, go after it with a child like curiosity to learn everything you can about it – like there is no tomorrow.
Here are some blacksmith tips & tricks:
– Find those you admire and study them like crazy
– Read books about the topic you love
– Listen to podcasts on the subject any chance you can
– Reach out the experts who can help you get clear, think bigger, and push faster.
Never give up, fellow Founder… Sometimes it just takes a small mindset tweak to launch. 