RL80: Why I Become an Entrepreneur

No idea how I haven't written about this yet

I can’t believe I’ve never written about why I became an entrepreneur.

It’s core to my identity and I get asked the question all the time.

In this week’s post, I’ll explain a bit of the logic and rationale behind declining a giant paycheck to go work at Goldman Sachs - why I instead decided to pursue entrepreneurship.

The Day My Father Died

In 2018, I transitioned out of the Marine Corps and into an internship in finance at Goldman Sachs.

I was getting ready to head to Wharton in the fall, and I remember the conversations I had with my dad in the first weeks on the job at Goldman.

He was so excited about me being in finance and at a prestigious firm like Goldman.

At that stage of his life, he was extremely poor. He had struggled with alcoholism, relapsing after >25 years of sobriety.

He was a fantastic person, friend, mentor, and father despite hi…