THE DREAM IN ACTION

Quick background on the last 10 years of my life…

At the end of high school in 2001 I wanted to stay in Southern CA and attend USC. I didn’t get in. That turned out to be the best thing that would happen to me. I headed out to the midwest to go to Miami OH & had the time of my life. I partied my ass off, learned the basics of business, and specifically Economics, but more than anything, I learned TONS about myself. I learned what I needed to do to be personally successful and feel fulfilled. Then at the very end of college I met someone “more awesomer” than anyone else, @mollstar.

Because of Moll, I decided to move back out to Chicago after a short stint at home and see if the relationship would work. It did and 5 yrs later we married, and it’s awesome. Now for the purpose of this post, the start of the next chapter.

We’re moving to San Francisco

At the end of June, Molly and I are packing up and heading west. It is a move that I always knew would come, but a huge change none the less. We couldn’t be more excited to blaze a path of our own and quite frankly pull ourselves out of a very comfortable situation in Chicago to a brand new life with new friends, jobs, and experiences. But that’s what I love so much about life, the ability to put yourself in new situations and have new experiences with new people. That’s the gold.

The toughest part for both of us will be moving away from Molly’s family who are beyond amazing. They have not become ‘in-laws’ but truly my family that will be painful to leave. The excitement of being on our own is just one side of the coin. The proximity to such an amazing support system will be tough to go without.

But, both professionally and personally this is a step in the right direction. You all have followed our progress with UberCab and the exciting ride (no pun intended) it has become. We’re breaking ground on a space that is ripe for disruption and yearning for innovation. It’s ready for people like us who may not know the market as well as others, but that naivety may be our strongest asset to our ability to change how things work.

The startup community in SF is particularly exciting. The opportunity to meet, literally every week, with some of the smartest business and technical minds on the planet is not something I’ll take for granted. Through my Uber relationships and the many startup meetups in the Valley, my opportunity to learn from the SF startup community is almost unbelievable. Not to mention the guys I’m going to have an opportunity to work along side. The team we’re building at UberCab is already shaping up to be of extremely high caliber and the quality and experience of our advisors & board may be second to none.

I probably don’t need to even speak to this next topic, but I’m pretty damn stoked to leave the winters. I’ve been through now 9 full winters in the midwest and the ability to hang my snow coat up and away is a welcomed change. Next time I pull that coat out will be for a vacation back to our cabin in WI or a weekend trip to Tahoe…which both sound pretty nice.

Lastly, to our friends. We’re going to miss each of you dearly. As Moll & I moved from Miami to Chicago it was the most natural extension of college. In fact when we first got here it basically was college, except we got paid for it. Then as we (believe it or not) matured, we found out that we are actually making legit contributions to the world. I couldn’t be more proud as I look around at each of my friends and what they’re now accomplishing personally and professionally. Somehow I feel that I chose some of the best people back in college and those guys (and gals) have become the creme of the crop. Got lucky I guess. Please know that even though we’re sort of far away, we’ll always work hard to stay close, stay in touch and keep what we started back at Miami very strong.