January 06, 2022
As we turn from 2021 into 2022, there is a general feeling that I think we all share — the 2020s got off to a rough start for our world! So far… a global pandemic, disruptions to our children’s educations, mental health issues, fires / hurricanes / tornadoes, widening economic inequality, supply chain shortages, and now… inflation. Most of these are challenges that we as people will continue to grapple with as we head into 2022.
With that being said, one of my favorite things about us humans is that we are incredibly resilient, especially when united together under a common goal. We have seen courageous frontline workers put themselves in harm’s way to keep others safe and keep our economy humming. We have seen healthcare systems survive under immense stress and pharmaceutical companies rise to the occasion to deliver on new vaccines and treatments to combat a raging virus in unthinkably short order. We have seen people learn to work from home, cutting out costly commutes and bringing families closer together. And we have seen the technology industry not just survive, but thrive by delivering us products that enable effective remote work, virtual healthcare, food to our door within an hour, and almost anything else imaginable to our door within a couple days. While much of this was already in motion pre-2020, the pandemic forced a collective human response that is accelerating the inevitable transformation of entire industries to become digital-native and remote-first. It’s truly amazing to think about how much has changed in just two years, and the many more opportunities on the horizon.
I am inherently an optimist. As an early-stage venture capitalist, I have to be or I’d be out of a job. One of my favorite things about this job is being able to identify, partner with, and support great entrepreneurs who aim to solve our world’s most pressing challenges. I love working with bold founders who hold a firm belief that they can defy the odds and take an idea, a small team, and a *relatively* small amount of capital to build the next category-defining businesses. Read rest here.