How I Got Into Tech
Wow... the reasons on how I got into tech really changed my life to a whole nother level. Yes, I said nother, lol. Let's dive in
3rd Eye Invest: Founder Intro Story Pt 2
From left to right, we have Jim Cossler, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, and Kevin Systrom. Many other people have influenced me, including SC Moatti, Sheryl Sandberg, Shawn Carter, Reid Hoffman, and more. But let’s start with Steve Jobs.
Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, Inc., came to mind during my freshman year of high school when I encountered my first Apple computer. As someone who loves music, I was captivated by how intuitive the iPod was compared to my old MP3 player. When the iPod Touch was released, it was a game-changer for me. The ability to listen to music and play mobile games became a highlight of that year. I fell in love with the ease of use and design of Apple products.
This love for Apple products led me to study Steve Jobs’ life and eagerly await the release of movies about him. When my mom asked what phone I wanted, I immediately requested the iPhone 4. Getting that iPhone 4 was a pivotal moment in my life. I spent countless hours at home, in my room, reading everything I could about investing.
The simplicity of the iPhone allowed me to dive deep into investing during the summer after my sophomore year. I consumed hundreds of annual reports, books and articles on investing, which helped me develop a solid understanding and eventually outperform the market over time.
My first official job was at Ms. Brenelda Golf Company, where I taught kids who looked like me how to play golf. If it weren’t for my brother Dez (Dez Mac) asking me to work with him, I wouldn’t have been able to save up for the iPhone 5c. This iPhone gave me even greater access to research and learn about corporate management, product management, scaling startups from idea to IPO, UI/UX design, and more between 2013 and 2017.
Watching The Social Network movie was another life-changing experience. I think I first saw it on FX in the spring of 2014, back when cable was still a thing, haha. I must have watched that movie at least 30 times. Even though it is not completely accurate, seeing Mark Zuckerberg and his friends build Facebook from their dorm, scale it at Harvard, and work in Silicon Valley inspired me to learn tech, pursue my ideas and eventually move to San Francisco.
James Cossler, who was the CEO of the Youngstown Business Incubator, also had a significant influence on me. I took my two younger brothers to his Startup 101 event in December 2015 or January 2016. I didn’t expect to learn much, but then I heard him say, “Think of industries you can disrupt and solve a real problem.” He also mentioned challenging one of his associates to have 500+ connections on LinkedIn as soon as possible.
I connected with him on LinkedIn, and no joke—I read almost every article Jim posted from 2015-2018 to learn as much as I could about startups, Y Combinator, marketing, product management, corporate management, networking, user feedback, and more. I took hella notes on investing and tech at a young age—it’s crazy but in a good way.
Kevin Systrom, the co-founder of Instagram, also influenced me deeply. I admired how successful Instagram was and felt motivated to create a product that millions of people would use. Like Benjamin Graham, Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger, James Cossler, Steve Jobs, Apple, Mark Zuckerberg, and many other companies I looked up to Kevin Systrom, studied his work, and took notes on everything related to him and Instagram.