Introducing Learn Your Keep
Reboot Motion is a chance at a lot of firsts for me- my first time working in sports, my first time interacting with true customers (my previous experience is in the finance/investing world) and my first time acting as COO to name a few.
It will also be my first time “creating content”. I thought about the best way to do this for a while and decided starting a blog was the best path forward. Doing so would allow me to 1) learn in public 2) organize my thoughts and 3) build an audience.
Yes, these are somewhat selfish goals. But they are my goals.
In late February/early March I sat down to think about ideas for the first time. I wanted answers to questions like:
What should I write about?
Will anyone read it?
What is best platform?
Before I ever hit publish, news began breaking: a state of emergency in California, a cruise ship in limbo outside of San Francisco, the NBA postponing its season.
As the coronavirus news got worse and worse, I got less and less excited about this new project. I am not sure if it was a lack of motivation or a belief that no one needs yet another blog during a medical and economic crisis.
So I delayed….and delayed…and delayed…
Today I decided to move forward on a new normal, while hoping we eventually get back to our old normal. I want to thank anyone who made it through the first hundred words and welcome you to a new blog called “Learn Your Keep”:
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In November 2019, I launched Reboot Motion with my friend, partner, and co-founder Jimmy Buffi. Our goal was simple- build the world’s best movement analysis platform.
How did we get here?
His story is clear: PhD in Biomechanics turns into pitching analyst for the Dodgers turns into launching your own sports biomechanics company (well, somewhat clear).
Mine is a bit murkier. While Jimmy describes me as the “business guy”, I don’t have startup experience. In reality, I’ve never really worked anywhere with a product, as I’ve split my career at 1) derivative trading firms and 2) small real estate companies.
Now, the point of my inaugural post is not to tell my co-founder he is making a big mistake- I hope he isn’t. Nor is it to say I do not have a useful past- I do and eventually I will touch on previous experiences and character traits that will aid me in this endeavor. Finally, it is not to say I am not up for the task- I am.
However, I do need to learn. My success, and more importantly Reboot Motion’s success, depends on it.
This has already started as we’ve:
Sold to pro baseball teams (sales)
Negotiated contracts with those teams (law)
Filed 2019 taxes and 2020 Q1 estimates (accounting)
Offered a qualified small employer health reimbursement arrangement, or QSEHRA, to our one full time employee/my co-founder (HR)
Procured general liability insurance (bus ops)
Most of the above list is not complicated. But this list will grow in number and complexity. And as it does, I’d love to be able to share it with others.
I will not be offering “5 keys lessons from a successful startup CEO” nor will I give the “3 mistakes I made when launching my first company” (while actually bragging about later success). Instead, I hope to put people in the passenger seat on a journey I at least believe will be successful…and guarantee will be interesting.
So, if you’d like to join me, I’d love to have you. We’ll share some successes. We’ll share some failures. And we’ll definitely learn some cool stuff along the way.
For anyone who even made it this far, thank you!