My Story

This is me in 2023 on my 50th anniversary

with my wife, Kris, in Barcelona

Estimated Reading Time: 10 minutes

NOTE: You can read an abbreviated version of my bio on my website (BIO). That one is for the general public. This one gives much deeper insights into who I am.

What Defines a Person?

There are numerous theories that attempt to explain what makes us who we are. Some say genetics, some say upbringing, others say environment, and then there are those who contend that only we can decide who we want to be. I hold to the belief that all these factors are important, but not necessarily definitive. I grew up in a middle-class neighborhood in southern California in the 1950s. The environment was a post-war boon, where jobs were numerous, most everything was cheap, and attending church was a given every Sunday (As a result, all but essential businesses were required to be closed on Sundays). As a kid, my chief form of entertainment was anything outside the house. My dad’s favorite saying was, “Go play on the freeway.” Although we never did that, we turned almost everything outside into a sporting competition (who could throw a rock the furthest, who could run the fastest, who could build the best skateboard, etc.) We had a TV, but it was black and white only, had only five channels, only had programming from 8 am to 10 pm, and (if you wanted to change the channel), someone had to literally walk to the TV and do it manually. That someone was always either my brother or me. My dad was a post-Depression baby, so he knew what it was like to struggle just to survive. He instilled in my brother and me a work ethic that could be expressed as simply as, “You don’t work, you don’t eat.”   While all my friends got allowances (basically guaranteed income for doing nothing), my dad had a different philosophy: “You want to earn money, you come to me.” We’d tell him how much we wanted to earn, and he’d tell us what we had to do to earn it. His famous quote was, “I don’t care if it takes you 5 minutes, 5 hours, or 5 days to do the work — if it doesn’t pass my inspection, you don’t get paid!” That lesson has stayed with me my entire life and shaped how I approach work. It made me understand the value of doing a job right the first time and accepting the consequences if I didn’t.

He wasn’t a particularly religious man, but he somehow knew having a religious belief was important. Since my mom was deeply religious, he left that part of my education to her. Every Sunday, she’d dress up my brother and me in our Sunday best and take us to Sunday School and church. Frankly, both my brother and I would rather have been “playing on the freeway” than going to church. Until one of those defining moments changed my life.

As a kid, you don’t think too much about dying. That’s something that only happens to the bad guys on TV — until something else happens that makes it real. Like most people, I had two grandmothers — one on my father’s side and one from my mother’s side. My maternal grandmother, Gaba, was a firm believer in Jesus and a devout Christian. My paternal grandmother, “Mike,” was not a believer. The difference was lost on me until both were diagnosed with cancer. You see, attending church had not really changed me much. I liked many of the people, but it was too much like going to school, except that it seemed like anyone and everyone was free to judge what kind of person I was and grade me accordingly (of course, it never occurred to anyone to look inward and grade themselves). As a result, my position with the church could be summed up as, “I had a lot of head knowledge, but very little heart knowledge.” That changed over the course of three years. Gaba got sick first, and she had a long, slow, painful path to her grave. Mike’s path was quick and “easy.” By that, I mean she did not suffer much physically, but she agonized over the prospect of dying. I remember visiting her only once in the hospital, and she cried the whole time. “I don’t want to die, she cried!” As a boy of ~10, I felt her pain, but didn’t know how to comfort her. On the other hand, Gaba took almost three years to die. My parents brought my brother and me to see her just a few days before she died. We did not recognize the person we saw in bed. She was skin and bones (a living skeleton), at least a couple of hundred pounds below what she once was. When we saw her, we could not help but burst into full-scale sobbing — it was that sad a sight. But, in a moment that changed my life, Gaba looked at me and said, “There, there, my little one, don’t you cry for me! I’m going to see Jesus, and He will take care of me. This is not me. My spirit lives on with Jesus even now. When I die, this body will be left behind. I won’t need it anymore because I will be in heaven for eternity!” It was clear that Gaba’s faith would carry her beyond death. Mike had no faith and no hope. I never forgot that lesson — Jesus was the real deal if He could take away the fear of death!

So you see, the person I am today was shaped early on by my father, mother, and maternal grandmother. Yes, other things factored in, but these were the ones I assign most of the credit to.

My Mantra and Its Impact on My Career

So, whether you attribute it to genetics, upbringing, environment, or choices, my mantra has always been:

• Work hard,
• Take pride in what you do,  
• Treat others as you would want to be treated,
• Be honest in all your dealings, and
• Always have faith that God and Jesus will fill in the blanks.

Applying that philosophy has helped me accomplish more than many of my contemporaries. Yet, to say that raises the question: How should anyone value their accomplishments? If I look at my life and judge it the way much of the world would, the score is not too bad:

• I retired with a net worth in the top 1% of the world population.
• I was a serial entrepreneur who started and/or funded numerous companies that had a profoundly positive impact on the world, making it a better place.
• I was an investor who helped found one successful VC fund, helped start two angel investment groups (including the first national angel investment group), and owned my own investment bank. Collectively, we raised and invested millions of dollars in hundreds of companies, and I’d like to believe that many of them made the world a better place.
• I developed a universal process for determining the fundability of early-stage companies that was used by many VCs, angel groups, Entrepreneur Magazine, Forbes Magazine, and Pepperdine University. This process was recognized as one of the best for identifying the most suitable privately owned companies for investment.

To sum up in my own words, “I helped a bunch of confused entrepreneurs find their way and determine how (or if) it was possible to make their dreams come true.” It was an amazing ride and I loved every minute of it!

My REAL Calling!

But that is not how I measure my worth on this planet. There are two paths I took (separate from my working career) that had a much more profound impact on shaping who I am. The first was in the selection of my wife, Kristin, whom I met in 1971 and married in 1973. If you’ve read my blog on marriage, you’ll understand when I say that both of us truly believe that the very God of heaven made us both for each other to be married to each other. That fact has been proven to us many times over our 50+ years of marriage. We survived the anguish of infertility and the greater anguish of failing to have any biological children. We were on the verge of adopting when another infertile couple (who had adopted) informed us they were returning their baby! (It had major health issues.) That news effectively took us out of the market for becoming parents. We say we adjusted and accepted our fate, but the thought never leaves us: “What if?” The truth is, not having children allowed me to be an unfettered entrepreneur, and for Kris and me to travel to places all our friends only hope they can after they retire. It also enabled us to be a lot more active in our church. Because of Gaba’s witness, I developed a thirst for studying the Bible to unlock its secrets. I taught Bible studies and Sunday school for years, and we both served in leadership roles in our church. We also taught classes to Junior High students and couples preparing to get married. We’ve been blessed to serve using the gifts God gave us. And, speaking of gifts, Kris has been my rock throughout our decades of service. She has been the dutiful, long-suffering wife to an incurable entrepreneur who didn’t always get it right. King Solomon expressed it best when he said, “It is hard to find a good wife, because she is worth more than rubies. Her husband trusts her completely. With her, he has everything he needs. She does him good and not harm for as long as she lives.” Proverbs 31:10-11 NCV. It has taken a while, but marriage has helped us to understand what is meant when the Bible says, “The two shall become one flesh.” (Paraphrase of Genesis 2:24). We are a team that works best when working together, and we know what a blessing that is!

The second great blessing in my life came when a dear Christian friend (and exceptionally successful entrepreneur) proposed an exciting idea to me: “What if we started a Bible Study for CEO’s of entrepreneurial companies? They need Jesus more than anyone, but they’ll need something special to get them to listen.” So, we (a group of dedicated Christian men) collectively started a Bible study (CEO John) that was held in the basement of my friend’s multi-million-dollar home. Admission was by invitation only and featured nationally recognized and/or extremely credible local speakers. To top it off, we served a quality dinner and dessert. For years, we attracted as many as 200 people/meeting/month. Many made decisions to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior. And, in the process, we found that many of these executives were hurting from a number of problems they were afraid to share with anyone. We knew we could not ignore their problems, so we would quietly take them aside, decide on what resources they would need, and then assemble around them a carefully chosen “kitchen cabinet” of experts willing to help. The rules were simple: “What’s said here, stays here. We don’t write checks because money won’t solve your problems, and we will unabashedly proclaim our belief in the saving grace of Jesus Christ, who will solve your problems.” Over the next 40+ years, this process evolved into something we called “Men in Transition.” Thousands of executives have been helped, and dozens of MIT groups have popped up around the country. We never kept score, but we knew in our hearts that God had done miracles in both CEO John and MIT. One day, many years ago, I was at an MIT meeting and couldn’t help but notice that one of the men kept staring at me. When the meeting concluded, he came up to introduce himself.  “You don’t remember me, do you?” he asked. “No, I’m sorry, I don’t,” I replied. “About 20 years ago, I was invited to attend a CEO John study. When we broke up into small groups, you were the one who led the Bible study I was in. I was too shy to admit it that night, but the impact your study had on me led me to accept Jesus into my heart later that night. Within the week, my wife and kids also accepted Jesus. For >20 years, my wife and I have taught a Junior High group at our church, and hundreds of kids have had their lives changed by accepting Jesus. I just wanted you to know.” Nothing anyone has ever said to me has had more of an impact than that one moment. I can only imagine how many more stories like this one exist.  And, for those who believe, we know that lives were changed for eternity! I may have done some great things to help entrepreneurs, but none of that work will last. My work as a Christian, trying my best to use my gifts, is the only work that will last for eternity.

My Latest Calling

I wrote my book and I write this blog because God’s Holy Spirit has blessed me with the gift of knowing who the one and only true God is; how He thinks, works, and loves; what His story is, and how we fit into that story. There’s nothing mysterious, exclusive, or special about me that has led me to this gift, except that I didn’t reject this gift when it was presented to me by the Holy Spirit. Instead, I embraced it, cherished it, nourished it, and (over the years) have tried to share it as honestly, humbly, and transparently as I possibly could. As an entrepreneur and investor, I’ve had the privilege of seeing and sharing the dreams and passions of thousands of entrepreneurs. Some have truly changed this world for the better. But nothing I’ve seen is more exciting, life-changing, or valuable than the saving grace of the Gospel message of Jesus and the impact it has on those who accept Him. It’s the only thing that will last.

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