“Sometimes, it is important to look back and see who in our lives our, ‘angel investors’ actually are. Acknowledge them. Thank them if you can.”

I’ve read similar words before. I read these exact words one day ago. I’ve heard them before from Andy and others, but now I’m a day too late.

When I was just maybe two years old, a woman showed up at my parent’s house to interview for a live-in housekeeper position.  She didn’t speak a word of English. Only Spanish. Her name was Esperanza Perez.

My mom said I had the biggest smile on my face and that’s when she knew. She knew that Esperanza was going to live in our house and help raise me and my siblings.  I wish I could talk about specific stories in detail, but I was so young. I only remember bits and pieces of … Read More »

This post originally appeared on Forbes.com.

If Facebook has taught us anything over the past few years it has taught us this:

1. A hacker culture works to drive accelerated growth in a business. Mark Zuckerberg writes in a letter to his investors, “Hackers believe that something can always be better, and that nothing is ever complete. They just have to go fix it — often in the face of people who say it’s impossible or are content with the status quo.”  It’s hard to argue that this approach doesn’t work. Facebook today has over 850 million people and to give you some perspective, that would make it the third largest continent in the world behind Asia and Africa. So clearly, a hacking culture does help move a business and it’s product forward. But why should a hacking culture be limited to a silicon valley technology company?

2. The … Read More »