We bet on the jockey, not the horse. We look for “woodpeckers” – the people who get up at 3 AM, bang away 20,000 times a day and don’t give up. These people are relentless; their refuse-to-quit mindset is essential to what we look for in entrepreneurs.

We built a business as a last resort – we were passionate about our mission, and we couldn’t figure out another way to meet it. Organizing around a purpose – building stuff that matters – is what compels me. For people that are thinking about building a business, make sure you love what you’re doing enough that you’re ready to fail for it.

I think advice for people who are thinking about starting is the only barrier to entry is yourself. You could be working on something right after this call. Anything that you think is less than ideal with significant space and is 2/3 of either better, faster, or cheaper and you’re probably going to be wrong but that’s okay. It’s more or less getting over your own self doubt which is the biggest barrier to entry for most folks.

You have to be all in. I was puttering around on this idea for 6 months working on it solo while also working on it at the family business. We decided we’re either going to go all in on this or we’re not. We saw the biggest gains when we decided to go all in.

There is no work/life balance for us – it’s insanity! It’s non-stop, and there are so many ups and downs, but I always try to go back to my military service and time at West Point to get perspective. Mentally, I think the ups and downs are the hardest part of entrepreneurship.

Our generation doesn’t go to the VFW, we found startups and shape the corporate sector. Reach out to other veterans and veterans’ organizations – there’s a huge network to tap into.

Figure out what you don’t want to do – the world is your oyster, so it’s helpful to eliminate options up-front. 

Believe in yourself and think big – you can achieve anything if you’re willing to sacrifice for it. Don’t let your mind be a limiting factor when you’re trying to achieve something.

If you’re interested in a career in crypto, but unsure of the security: in my mind, there’s no going back – you’re not putting this genie [crypto] back in the bottle. There’s enough adoption, interest and proven use cases, and I’ve never felt better about career prospects in this industry. It’s all about getting started, finding your skills and interests, and building your network as you apply them. A lot of companies are hiring as fast as they can to keep up with demand!