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As founders, we’re constantly asked what we’re doing or building next— but there isn’t enough emphasis on how we’re doing, and our why.
Over the past few months, I have been hosting The Quest podcast. My goal is to bring the human stories and journeys behind every trailblazer to the world. We have been told that we are the ‘Zen’ version of How I Built This, and I think this is a pretty apt description.
I have learned a lot of lessons throughout my life about happiness and the illusions of success. They have…
Let’s do podcasts differently
Closed doors
I saw this tweet the other day.
It got me to think a bit deeper about what we are trying to accomplish at The Quest.
The Quest is a podcast I made to bring the world stories of the people who have struggled and fought and finally made it, and how they have actually found happiness and deeper meaning beyond success.
East, West, One Nation under God
This piece is written by Felix Wong, a Quest Minutes contributor. Get future Quest Minutes article delivered to your inbox here and join our episode discussion here.
Introducing: Jaeson Ma
Jaeson Ma is a media executive, artist and serial entrepreneur. He is hailed as a revolutionary pioneer in bridging talent between Asian and Western cultural markets.
Jaeson has been credited as:
- The founder of East West Ventures
- Co-founder of 88rising
- Co-founder of Stampede Ventures
- Principal of Triller
Growing Roses from Concrete
This piece is written by Zachary Will Sy, a Quest Minutes contributor. We are always looking for individuals with great stories. You can apply to become a Quest Fellow here or sign up for our Weekly Digest here.
Introducing: Prophet Walker
At the age of 16, Prophet Walker was sentenced to six years in jail. There, he helped introduce a two-year college degree program to give the incarcerated an opportunity to move forward. He was one of the first graduates of the program.
Today, a quick Google search of Walker returns a link to the White House archives. He was a guest…
Life After Farmville
This piece is written by Benjamin Laufer, a Quest Minutes contributor. We are always looking for great storytellers. You can apply to have your writings featured here or sign up for our Quest Minutes Newsletter here.
Introducing: Amitt Mahajan
Ammit Mahajan is a serial entrepreneur and the creator of Farmville, a grow-you-own-farm game that took the world by storm. He:
- Graduated early from UIUC to work at Epic Games
- Co-founded MyMiniLife (virtual world game acquired by Zynga)
- Co-created Farmville (most popular FaceBook game)
- Co-founded RareBits (blockchain company)
Upbringing
Amitt grew up in suburban Chicago in a middle-class immigrant household. He got into computers…
The Kan Bro with a Billion-Dollar Exit
This piece is written by Jimmy Hsu, a Quest Minutes contributor. We are always looking for great storytellers. You can apply to have your writings featured here.
Introducing: Dan Kan.
Dan Kan, the brother of Justin Kan, started off his career with 30+ rejections for jobs, he then went on to:
- Work at UserVoice (helping companies gather user feedback)
- Found Appetizely (app for every restaurant)
- Run Exec (personal assistants on-demand) with Justin
- Become co-founder & Chief Product Officer of Cruise — a self-driving car company that sold to General Motors for more than $1B.
The Kan elements
Entrepreneurship ran strong in the Kan household. Dan…
Building a unicorn digital pharmacy
Co-founders, Alto Pharmacy
Who’s Matt?
Matt Gamache-Asselin is one of the scrappiest entrepreneurs I’ve ever met. Five years ago, he was a junior engineer at Facebook, dreaming about startups. Today, he’s the founder of Alto, a digital pharmacy startup that serves tens of thousands of patients and has raised $350M in investment funding. I’ve watched him struggle, survive, and thrive on his journey, and am lucky to consider him a close personal friend.
My notes:
I met Matt & Jamie in 2015 when they were engineers at Facebook. They wanted to start a co, but wanted the assurance of raising $ before quitting their day jobs. I…
You will work with Robin and Justin on all investments. This is the opportunity to see the entire process of investing, from sourcing to diligence to winning the deal. You will learn how to become a great investor from founders who have been investing here for a decade in some of the fastest growing companies.
Primary responsibilities:
- Assist in all areas of the investment process, including sourcing, diligence, modeling and research, and closing.
- Ideate and vet areas to build new startups in
- Manage back office vendors for fund operations
Qualifications:
- Finance experience (experience in venture is great, but not required)
- Strong work ethic
- Strong analytical and written communication skillset
Interested? Get in touch with us and start a conversation.
You will work with us on mocking up ideas for new startups. We have a lot of them, and they span the gamut from new consumer apps to healthcare. You should enjoy learning about new ideas and new industries.
Primary responsibilities:
- Be the first designer for half a dozen startups. You get to come up with the first concepts on visual identity, user experience and workflows, and be part of the process on deciding if these ideas should come to life.
Qualifications:
- Experience working at an early stage startup
- Experience with all the parts of the design process, including visual design, user experience, rapid prototyping, and branding
- Experience designing both web and mobile apps
Interested in learning more? Get in touch with us.
Our real passion at Goat is starting companies. We have spent our whole careers in startups, and survived every part of the startup journey, from four founders crammed in a two bedroom apartment that doubled as our office to billion dollar exits. We know that startups are a very painful but very accelerated learning process.
We are recruiting cofounders to start companies with us as CEO (and other cofounding positions).
What we bring:
- Presence. We will only build a handful of startups and will put the work in to do with together with you
- Experience. We have built companies that…
Justin Kan
Be kind to yourself. If you won’t, who will?
