Spelling Bee Fainting Perseverance
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Shaan tells a story about the founder of Traba, who showed incredible determination during the ESPN Spelling Bee championship.
"I should have invested in this company. Before I even heard the pitch, I said I'm in because the guy who started the company went to Duke and I know his brother. They both were on the ESPN spelling bee. The guy who started Traba is the guy who fainted mid-word. Do you remember that clip of the guy who starts spelling the word, passes out, stands up, and finishes the word? It's the most incredible clip in ESPN history. Forget LeBron, forget Michael Jordan - this kid starting to spell a word, passes out, gets up, says nothing about passing out, and just finishes spelling flawlessly. Was absolutely incredible. He's the founder of Traba.
When I heard that I'm like 'I'm in, just send me, tell me where to wire the money.' Unfortunately, I got too smart, asked my partner who knows a lot about staffing. He's like 'well it could be hard for all these reasons' and I was like 'I guess you know more than I do, I'm just basing this off the spelling bee performance.' Probably turns out I should've just trusted my gut."
Shaan Puri
Host of MFM
Shaan Puri is the Chairman and Co-Founder of The Milk Road. He previously worked at Twitch as a Senior Director of Product, Mobile Gaming, and Emerging Markets. He also attended Duke University.