Three years ago last month, I quit my job to build TopSDRs full-time. It's a day I will never forget. At the time, TopSDRs was not the placement firm we are today. Rather, we were an outbound consultancy for seed-stage startups. I'd grown the business to about $15k/month in revenue, which was enough to replace my W2 income, but the month-to-month contracts combined with the nascent stage of our customer base made success anything but certain. Nonetheless, in early August 2023, I decided that it was now or never. As I thought about quitting, I imagined triumphantly walking out of the office, never looking back, confident and ready to tackle whatever lay ahead. In reality, though, it was anything BUT that. As soon as the adrenaline settled, only one emotion lingered: doubt. "What if it doesn't work?" "I'm already behind my peers who stayed in banking/consulting, what if this just sets me further back?" "What if all my customers leave?" "How will I structure my days with nobody telling me what to do?" It was incredibly scary. In fact, a few days post-resignation, I remember drafting an email to my old boss asking for my job back. But something stopped me from pressing send. In that moment, I recognized that I had felt the emotions I was experiencing several times before. First, when I started swimming at 12, then again when I took up rowing at 18, and again when I started work at 21, and finally when I left my job at a bank to become an SDR at 26. In short, these were the emotions of someone at the beginning. As I realized this, I was met with a sudden burst of confidence. I knew how to be a beginner. These feelings were not a sign that I was destined to fail, but rather a sign that I was embarking on something big. Something that, if I put the work in, could change the trajectory of my life. So I deleted the draft. 3 years later, that little consulting firm has evolved into something I never could have imagined. But that's the point. The biggest things in life often feel uncomfortable at the start. It's always easier to avoid them and to stay put, but typically that's the more dangerous path...we just don't realize it until it's too late.

An interview question I'm loving right now: what's something you've read or listened to recently that's had you fired up, nodding along, saying "fuck yeah"?

I’m on day 71/90 of no drinking. I’ve had pretty much every non-alcoholic beer out there. The ONLY one I have gotten another round of is @SierraNevada I genuinely enjoyed it. I’m excited to get back to the regular brews in 19 days, but this is a great alternative!

Waymo ad spotted in NYC. I've seen the cars everywhere but this was the first ad I've seen. Couldn't be more psyched. My regular commute via the 4/5 hates to see it coming.

For the past 6 months we have sent this video to SDR candidates to help them prep for mock cold calls. It's definitely not perfect, but it's proven to be pretty effective for getting folks from 0-1.

saw Derek Jeter, A-Rod, and Big Papi on TV at the gym just now. My first thought: what are they doing on the MNF broadcast? Is it just me or is the World Series/Baseball in serious trouble? I grew up loving baseball, but it feels like it's totally lost it's luster.

Some people have an energy and innate curiosity about them where you just know they’re going to succeed. @MaxHirsch13 is one of those people. The guy EXUDES positivity and hunger. Honestly I wish I had more of his mindset when I was in my early twenties. I of course made sure to give him an open invitation to work out of our office any time he wants.

The best sellers I know are not the smoothest talkers. Instead they 1. Listen more than they talk. 2. Know how the power of asking the right question at the right time. 3. Get rejected as much as everyone else, but never take it personally.

Two months ago I would have shaken my head at this...now I couldn't be a bigger believer. Being present online is >>

one of my pet-peeves is when people complain about rent/the size of apartments in NYC. Nobody lives in NYC because they want a big house, with a yard, and lots of space. Everybody knows that if you're purely thinking about housing from a square footage/outdoor access/affordability perspective NYC sucks. But that's the wrong way to measure it. You measure it based on proximity to insanely high caliber people. For example, on Saturday I ran into a very popular X creator (millions of followers) on the UES and we have been emailing back and forth the past 24 hours. THAT is why you live in NYC.

Picking up the phone and calling is almost always better than sending a text.

S2 of The Wire, when the East and West sides each get a slice of the towers, is a great example of why you always hire multiple salespeople! Creates competition and pushes everyone to work harder!

Just had a very mediocre dining experience in NYC. Food was good, but everything else was off. For example didn’t get water until we were done with our food 😂 What’s protocol here? Do you give feedback? Just leave it? What do people do?

So underrated but so spot on. Every major endeavor in my life has resulted in life long friends

The benefit of asking lots of smart people for advice is usually not that any one person gives groundbreaking guidance. It’s that you get enough datapoints to start to noticing patterns and THAT is where the real $$ lies.

amazing question for all sellers from the @AriEmanuel biography: "Are you happy?"

there is still nothing like a thoughtful, handwritten note.