I will do my best to explain the "universe" in which I am currently living in. Otherwise, if I would try to explain every detail, every emotion, everything, I would never finish.
The Place
Imagine yourself living in a college fraternity house, in Boulder Colorado, that does not has the best looks from the outside but is extremely cosy once your are in it.
The People
Imagine sharing your room with four strangers that speak other language and sharing the whole house with other 35-40 people that also speak other language, have different cultures, etc.
Imagine yourself that the first time you enter the house you encounter the following:
- An unknown person opening his arms to give you a welcoming hug.
- A number of people completely happy because you arrived.
- The same people offering to carry your bag, show you around, asking how you feel and how was your trip.
- Incredible food on the table in case you were hungry.
(I must confess that the only places I have experienced the same thing is back at home and in the small villages in La Sierra Tarahumara in Chihuahua when I was a missionary).
And just in case you are wondering, no, they are not using strange things to cook the food - that is the actual energy and the current situation of this place.
Is not enough when you start meeting the other roommates or "Fellows" and find incredible stories such as the life of Tricia Compas who has dedicated her last 5 years to solve the problem of quickly providing safe drinking water following disasters when transport is limited, or the life of Tiago Dalvi who is drastically innovating product design by enabling local brazilian crafters the chance to earn a better living.
Your ability to get emotionally moved and inspired triplicates when every single night we welcome either a mentor, a consulting partner or a capital partner.
The welcoming format is usually carry in an interview format run either by Dan or Teju (Co-founders of this universe). The interview lasts about 45 mins and then they open the discussion for a couple of questions from the fellows. Let me now speak about who this people are.
The Mentors
Do you remember reading stories about people that were incredibly successful both in their entrepreneurial life and in their corporate life but always tried to look for more and more until they found out that helping people and mentoring was the right thing to do and they put all what they´d learn to make things work better? Here´s our mentors.
The most incredible part is that we get to meet with them on a one-on-one basis to discuss whatever you want to chat about. But of course, this happens while you´re wearing shorts, flip flops or going on a hike to the Flatirons every morning at 7 am.
Today we welcomed Karman Elahian. An amazingly inspirational guy who has exited 3 of his 10 startups for between 75 and 700 million USD, and who kept saying during his speech that he has NO talent. Extremely humble and savvy, he shared one thing that I believe every entrepreneur or intrapreneur can use on the topic of hiring the right people. He said to hire people who have the following characteristics:
- Are intelligent - better if they are more smart than you.
- Honest - they will be the ones lifting their hand as soon as they see something is not fine.
- Perseverant - with all the ups and downs in a startup... you get the idea.
- Knows how to work on teams
- Has a good sense of humor - anyone that can crack a joke in a tension situation can help you get rid of some ulcers.
A few days ago we welcomed Rafe Furst. He has built many companies, is a world series of poker champion, and has helped so many people in his life. He is currently trying to find a solution to cure cancer... and if we all help, he´ll definitely reach his goal.
The Partners - Consulting and Capital
This guys you already know what they do. The consulting partners are helping us reshape our business models, create and find amazing ways to solve problems and expand possibilities. The capital partners are trying to understand each one of the ventures to see if there is investment opportunities.
All this could not be possible without the creators of this universe and the staff who also share the same home.
Imagine now all the previous components living together under the same roof for 6 weeks.
I´m telling you, I have seen amazing things happen in this few days.
I believe that www.yoreciclo.com has already benefited from all this.
