Early Computer Sparks Passion

Sam Parr shares a story about his formative experience in San Francisco's early tech scene around 2012-2013.

"I had just sold something - didn't make a lot of money, maybe $100k - and was looking to start something else. I found this guy named Dave who had something called Founders Dojo. He had a business doing about half a million in sales, profiting around $400k. He rented an office and let me and 8 other people work out of it. We heard about it through friends of friends.

Down the street was the same concept but fancier called Monkey Inferno, run by Michael Birch who had sold his company for close to a billion dollars. Their space had hundreds of thousands in interior decorating, but it was the same idea - nerds, weirdos, and misfits coming together.

We did all these weird projects. Dave loved Meerkat, this live streaming app, and would do 24-hour Meerkat marathons from the office. One time we created something called Coffee Rush where you could click a button and get coffee delivered anywhere in San Francisco within 20 minutes.

It was the best time of my life and one of the most formative experiences I had in business and becoming a man. We were tinkering with new things, keeping an open mind. These spaces, run by wealthy adults willing to bet their money on these seemingly silly things - it sounds outrageous, like a movie, but I'm so fortunate to have been part of it. It made such a huge difference in my life."