Top 3 Tips That Changed My Life Forever
Summary
TLDRIn this inspiring narrative, the speaker shares their journey from a financially challenging post-graduation period to becoming a successful entrepreneur. After their mother stopped financial support, they were motivated to stand on their own. Upon achieving wealth, they established a trust for their children with a unique condition to avoid entitlement. The story highlights the importance of experience and intuition in business, as well as the transformative impact of a tough-love lesson passed down from one generation to the next.
Takeaways
- 🎓 The speaker's mother stopped financial support after college, teaching the importance of self-reliance.
- 💼 The speaker faced financial struggles post-graduation but eventually found motivation and success.
- 💰 After a significant financial gain, the speaker established a trust fund for his children with conditions to avoid entitlement.
- 📚 The trust fund's conditions inspired the speaker's son to improve academically and pursue a career in electrical engineering.
- 🏆 The son's hard work and innovation led to a victory over MIT in a Formula car competition, attracting the attention of Tesla.
- 👨👧 The speaker emphasized the importance of not providing a 'free ride' to children to ensure they develop resilience and ambition.
- 🤔 The speaker's experience in business has led to the development of strong intuition, which he uses to assess entrepreneurs and business plans.
- 📈 The speaker believes that experience, not just education, is crucial for developing a successful business acumen.
- 📚 Initially wanting to be a photographer, the speaker took his father's advice to get a business education before pursuing his passion.
- 🏆 The speaker's first company was in sports media, which was eventually sold, leading to the foundation of another successful software company.
- 🔄 The speaker's journey involved multiple business ventures and sales, culminating in the sale of The Learning Company for 4.2 billion.
Q & A
What significant event occurred when the speaker was graduating college?
-The speaker's mother informed him that she would no longer be providing financial support, including paying for his college and rent.
What did the speaker's mother mean by 'the dead bird under the nest never learns how to fly'?
-This metaphor implies that if someone is always taken care of, they will never learn to be independent and self-sufficient.
How did the speaker's financial situation change after the sale of The Learning Company?
-The Learning Company was sold for about 4.2 billion, making the speaker and the other founders very wealthy.
What was the speaker's strategy for setting up a trust for his children?
-The trust was designed to provide for his children's needs until they finished college, after which they would receive nothing, following the same philosophy his mother used with him.
How did the speaker's son initially react to the trust fund arrangement?
-Initially, the son didn't fully understand or appreciate the trust fund, as he was only four or six years old at the time.
What impact did the speaker's conversation about the trust fund have on his son's academic performance?
-The conversation motivated the son to improve his academic performance, leading him to eventually become an electrical engineer.
What was the significance of the speaker's son's success in the Formula car competition?
-His success in the competition led to a job offer from Tesla, highlighting the importance of taking risks and working hard.
What advice did the speaker's father give him regarding his career aspirations?
-The speaker's father advised him to finish university and get a master's of business, providing him with a versatile skill set to pursue any entrepreneurial direction.
What was the speaker's first company, and what did it do?
-The speaker's first company produced short segments for the original six hockey teams for television networks, showcasing hockey players, coaches, and teams.
How did the speaker's experience in his first company lead to the creation of Softkey Software?
-After selling his first company, the speaker met John Freeman and together they founded Softkey Software, which grew into The Learning Company.
What was the speaker's perspective on the importance of experience and intuition in business?
-The speaker believes that experience is crucial in developing intuition about businesses and people, and that this intuition is a powerful tool in entrepreneurship and investing.
Outlines
💼 Learning to Fly: The Impact of Financial Independence
The speaker reflects on a pivotal moment in their life when their mother announced she would no longer financially support them after college graduation. This unexpected news, metaphorically described as 'the dead bird under the nest never learns how to fly,' forced the speaker to become self-reliant. Despite initial struggles, this challenge ultimately motivated them to succeed, leading to a significant liquidity event when their company was sold for $4.2 billion. Inspired by their mother's approach, the speaker set up a trust for their children that would only support them until college, instilling a similar sense of responsibility and self-sufficiency. This strategy was tested when their son, initially underperforming in high school, was confronted with the reality of the trust's limitations. This conversation sparked a turnaround in his academic performance, eventually leading him to become an electrical engineer and a top student at college, even leading a team to victory in a Formula car competition and securing a job at Tesla.
🎓 The Value of Experience: From MBA Classroom to Real World Challenges
In this paragraph, the speaker recounts a memorable encounter during their MBA program where a guest lecturer challenged their overconfidence, predicting that only a third of the class would achieve significant success, while the rest would either fail or struggle. The speaker initially dismissed this as nonsense but later embraced the truth in the lecturer's words. Over time, the speaker has come to understand the importance of experience in developing intuition, especially in business and investments. They now use this intuition to quickly assess the potential of entrepreneurs and their ventures. The speaker's journey began with aspirations to be a photographer or cinematographer, but advice from their father led them to pursue a business education. This foundation allowed them to start a successful company producing hockey-related content, which they later sold. This experience, along with the sale of their educational software company, The Learning Company, for $4.2 billion, has shaped their understanding of the value of experience and its role in business success.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Graduation
💡Financial Independence
💡Liquidity Event
💡Trust Fund
💡Entitlement
💡High School
💡Electrical Engineering
💡Intuition
💡Entrepreneurship
💡Master of Business Administration (MBA)
💡Investment
Highlights
Graduation surprise: Mother announces no more financial support post-graduation.
Life lesson: 'The dead bird under the nest never learns to fly' - a metaphor for self-reliance.
Financial struggle post-graduation leads to motivation and eventual success.
First liquidity event: The Learning Company sold for $4.2 billion.
Wealth realization: Founders continue working despite sudden wealth.
Establishing a trust for children with conditions to avoid entitlement.
Children's reaction to the trust conditions at a young age.
Son's academic turnaround after understanding the trust's implications.
Son's success as an electrical engineer and achievement in a Formula car competition.
Lesson on not making life too easy for children to avoid ruining their drive.
Experience and intuition's role in evaluating business and people.
Speaker's transformation from skeptical MBA student to a respected guest lecturer.
Importance of 30 years of experience in developing business intuition.
Initial career aspiration to be a photographer or cinematographer.
Father's advice to get a business education before pursuing creative passions.
Starting a company producing hockey-related content for networks.
Evolution of Softkey Software Products into The Learning Company.
The impact of selling The Learning Company and returning to work.
Transcripts
[Music]
when I was graduating college my mother
came to the graduation she said I've got
great news I'm coming to the graduation
um but um I also have some other news no
more checks and I said what do you mean
because she'd been paying for college
and my rent and everything and she said
the dead bird under the nest never
learns how to fly I said what the hell
does that mean she said no more checks
I'm not writing any more checks you're
going to to figure this out on your own
you know we I paid for your education
from I paid for you from birth the last
day of college we're done and I thought
I mean because I really had no job
or anything and I had a tough couple of
years I mean I couldn't even pay the
rent but it worked out and I got
motivated and you know obviously I'm I'm
pretty happy about the outcome so when I
had my first big liquidity event when
The Learning Company got sold it got
sold for about 4.2 billion and there was
10 of us that were Founders so we woke
up the next morning said we're rich
like we didn't think about it we came
back to work and kept going but when I
went over that was in in Cambridge and I
went over to Boston saw the lawyers and
said look I want to set up a trust um
that basically provides for my kids
because they were like four and six at
the time and um it pays for everything
for them um until they finish college
and then they get nothing and he said
what the hell is that I said well it's
it's it's a way that I can provide for
them to set them up in life but not
entitle them I was taking a queue from
my mother's strategy same idea and I
went home that day and I I told my wife
I was going to do this and I sat down
with my two kids and I said here's how
this trust works and everything's good
until even if I get run over by a truck
you're good till you finished college
and they went yeah that's great that you
know didn't give a about it they
were four and six
so I can't believe you sat your four and
six-year-old but I had to disclose what
I done years later years later we're
still in Boston and my son is doing
really poorly in high school he is
sucking and just not applying himself
and you know his his marks are terrible
and the way to look at high school is
it's just like a test to get into
college you got to you got to pass a few
things and I so one day he says to me um
I'll never forget this conversation Lyn
and I were going out to a movie that
night and he says Hey Dad one of my
friends was telling me about his trust
fund and um
what does my trust fund look like and I
said well I don't know about your
friends fund but here's how yours works
if Mom and I get run over by a truck
you're good until you finish high school
because it doesn't look like you're
going to college he said what do you
mean I said well the trust only pays
till you finish college then it's it's
done he says what do you mean it's done
I said it means no more checks and I
said to him the dead bird under the nest
never learns how to fly and he said what
the does that mean I said what it
means is you should start thinking about
taking advantage of this now CU you're
not and you're you're not I don't know
what's going to happen to you you you're
you're not even to finish high school
here and I think at that moment that
that the lesson of life you know given
to me by my mother must he saw the abyss
he saw the darkness he saw the situation
he was in and went this is bad and
so he he knuckled down and he started
getting into uh in what he was into and
and he he eventually became an
electrical engineer and he he he was at
the top of his class all through you
know college and right into engineering
and in in all these electrical
engineering uh cohorts they all build a
combustion F1 race car and an electric
one and they brace them all around the
world against each other because that's
how they're learning if they're
interested in electrical engineering or
building that F1 Formula car and every
year MIT would win and cuz they always
built the best car well in Trevor's case
he became the captain of the team and he
worked on the software that released the
energy out of the battery in a different
way and he beat MIT and so the Tesla
guys came over and said who are you guys
and he he went to college in McGill he
said we're the McGill team and he said
you're all hired at Tesla all of you the
whole team wow that's where he works
that's where he lives in San Francisco
wow that's the lesson of the dead bird
right there yeah yeah applicable advice
too I'm going to do that yeah yeah
because you can take care of them in
health issues but if you guarantee them
a free ride and they never have to take
any risk they won't and you'll destroy
their lives it's the worst curse you
could do everybody knows people that
have really screwed up rich kids it's
and they made that mistake they just
made it too easy for them it's not going
to happen in my family and my trust goes
you know in multi-generations when he
has kids even if they're not married it
takes care of them till right the end of
college when I was in my final months of
of getting my business Masters my MBA in
that class of maybe 160 cohort you know
that was at that size we thought we were
such hot I mean you know you're
finishing and you know everything and
you're ready to go and just take on the
world and in comes this guy and he says
he looks up he was a guest lecturer but
usually guest lecturer you know gets
some slides up or starts talking about a
presentation about the company they're
work for he was different he walked in
no slides no PowerPoint nothing he just
walked around and looked at all of us
and he said
you guys think you're so damn good don't
you well when you walk out of here the
real world is going to kick the living
out of you and you won't know what
hit you it'll be brutal about a third of
you will be a complete failure another
third will be spinning their wheels a
decade from now and the other third will
be phenomenal successes too too bad
about the other twoth thirds but I'm
just telling you the truth and I look
down at him and I thought what an
what he claimed in that
presentation was that
experience is very important in life and
that in fact intuition is just
experience distilled the longer you're
at something the better your intuition
is about businesses and people and I
thought what a load of crap today I'm
that guy I'm that guy walking in those
MBA classes at Harvard and MIT looking
at them and saying you know nothing and
the real world's going to kick the
living out of you and I can't
believe this has happened to me but but
he was absolutely right and so today
with all of the experiences I've had all
The Good the Bad and the Ugly and all of
the horrible things that have happened
in the businesses I've invested in and
all the euphoric ones and the amazing
outcomes that experience is distilled to
intuition I can sit in a room with
somebody for 15 minutes and know if I've
got a winner or not and 99% of the time
I'm right so I listen to the gut and I
listen to the person I listen to the
plan I know know it's going to work or
it isn't I just know I'm that good but
he was right the only way to get to
where I am today is having spent 30
years doing it it's the only way you can
do it you can't you can't buy it and so
I really really believe that about
entrepreneurs and investing in them and
supporting them you need the experience
that the road traveled gives you that
turns into in intuition and that becomes
a very powerful tool my journey started
this way I wanted to be a photographer
or a
cinematographer and I was doing a lot of
Photography in school and I said to my
father I'm going to make this my my life
he said you'll starve to death there's
so many good photographers you're going
to have to compete with so many good
cinematographers so many great editors
it's very hard to break out and I said
well GE you're not being very supportive
he said what I'd like you to think about
doing is because you don't know yet why
don't you go and get finished school go
into University finish that and then get
a master's of business so that you have
the tool set as an entrepreneur to
choose any direction you wish and that
was very good advice because it gave me
time to mature a bit and learn the
things I needed to know about running a
business and then soon as I got out I
went back to what I wanted to do I
started a company that made shorts for
the original six hockey teams for the
networks so you know we we would run
around all week shooting hockey players
and coaches and teams in Detroit and
Toronto and New York and and then we
send it I'd edit it and and we send it
up to the satellite and it would appear
on Saturday hockey games and that was my
first company and we we started
producing uh Don Cherry's grape vine
which is a format we owned I didn't even
know what a format was but a format is
ownership it's IP and television and
then another program called the original
six well in a couple of years the
network started knocking in the door
saying we want to buy the company and I
said this is how it works this is pretty
good so we sold that and I started
softkey software prod prod us cuz I'd
met a a guy named John Freeman who did
plotter technology with Osborne
computers very way back CPM and we
founded that together and I sold the
software to Giant plotter manufacturers
because back in those days you want to
do graphs they did it on a multi-axis
plotter and we had the controlling
software and softkey grew Into The
Learning Company which was the world's
largest educational reference software
company and we sold that one for 4.2
billion and then I woke up with the you
know founding team in Boston we were in
Cambridge and I said
wow we're rich how'd that happen we
didn't even notice it we just I'm not
kidding we just woke up one day said
okay what do we all do next we went we
went right back to work that's what
happened so we didn't stop we just kept
going and that was many deals ago I've
had many many deals since then
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