On Endurance.
A musing on 14 years at Boost VC.
I’ve been building Boost VC, a firm focused on translating “Making Sci-Fi a Reality” into an asset class that rewards predictability, for 14 years. A piece of wisdom I have earned over the past decade is that “This is a game of endurance.”
Let me digress for a second though.
My family (my wife and three kids) recently participated in a local “Fun Run” for the local school, hundreds of people run in the race. There were two distances, 1 mile and 3.1 miles (5k).
So the race began!! My 6 year old son started running ahead with some friends, but slowly some friends tapered off and slowed down. He kept on running — He eventually missed the 1 mile turn off that was the original goal - complete accident - and kept running. He caught up with some more friends and eventually some of them stopped running, and so he kept going.
In the last 100 meters he sprinted to the finish line and made it the whole 5k.
My wife and I were bewildered that he made it the whole way. To our knowledge he hadn’t ever run more than 100 meters. He had full blinders on, and was committed to finishing the race - he had no idea how long one mile was, or three miles - so he just kept on going.
This event had a big celebration with bounce houses and crepes and Hawaiian ice for everyone who made the run. At some point while waiting in line for a Hawaiian ice, my friend came up to me, and said “Didn’t they just say Luke’s name?” they had announced my 6 year old as a winner for his age group, and we weren’t even paying attention.
I think the thing about endurance is that it won’t feel like endurance if you are committed to a mission, it will just feel like forward progress and not knowing how far you need to go helps rather than hurts the mission.
To endure, you need to enjoy the game you are playing, put your blinders on, and continue.
14 years - Mission is still the same. Boost VC is 14 and the jobs not finished. I only see larger opportunities ahead.
Thanks to my Co-Founder Brayton Williams for being resilient in our endurance. It’s always easier to go a long distance when you have the right partners and team.