My Backstory

For many years I’ve enjoyed talking to students just embarking on the beginning of their careers. I tell them about a lesson an early influence of mine shared: that every step along the way is an apprenticeship journey that never ends (perhaps that’s why the mid-stage progression is referred to as Journeyman…).

In any apprenticeship, success is a function of hours devoted to the craft and the skill and temperament of the master guiding you. My early apprenticeship under my parents had passed 157,600 hours by the time I went off to college to study biology and business. From humble roots in small towns of Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay and with one high school diploma between them, their success and values still inspire me (Dad, a three-decade career as a Coast Guard captain, after an early stint as a commercial fisherman; Mom, a self-taught accountant for non-profits). With their guidance, I was no longer a greenhorn when it came to devotion to duty, curiosity, compassion, and leadership. These lessons continue.

Summers tending the register, stocking the shelves, and delivering orders at my grandfather’s modest grocery store in my hometown of two thousand (1,650 hours). Humility, patience, how to make change in my head. Arguably still my favorite apprenticeship; there was free ice cream and penny candy. A heart attack and then Parkinson’s disease took my grandfather from us far too early. It was not a battle, which implies a fair fight, because he didn’t have a chance. A profession helping give other people one seemed a worthwhile pursuit. After college and graduate school, the apprenticeship clock re-set, with stints in investment banking (8,230 hours) and healthcare management consulting (15,620 hours). Here, the mentors were peers, bosses and clients, some masters and some still novices themselves. Their lessons were equally valuable regardless of tenure – teamwork, analytical rigor, have fun, love what you do.

Two start-ups later as a co-founder and operator (12,780 hours), I thought I’d made it to Journeyman. But in 2002 I was about to start what is a true apprenticeship business. Now approaching 53,900 hours as an investor and venture capitalist, my team and portfolio company management teams have been my latest mentors. More lessons: challenge assumptions, do the work, and keep patients first. I’m still hopeful to become a Master soon. A few more hours perhaps.

And what exciting hours these promise to be. I’m still driven by the opportunity we have to make a difference for folks brought low by sickness. I feel privileged to work at our four-way intersection of science, medicine, business, and impact. I’m also grateful to share with our entrepreneurs what the hours honing this craft and the ones that came before it have taught me. And fortunately, I meet new mentors and masters every day, as the apprenticeship never stops.