Andrew Lacy

And I was just thinking to myself, wow, if this is my life for the next 20 years, I'm not even sure I want to live that life. So I built up the courage to leave Lore and I moved into consulting. And I worked at a consulting firm called McKinsey. And there, during this dot-com bubble, there were a lot of big companies that wanted to get into digital technology but didn't really know how to do that.

And I was just thinking to myself, wow, if this is my life for the next 20 years, I'm not even sure I want to live that life. So I built up the courage to leave Lore and I moved into consulting. And I worked at a consulting firm called McKinsey. And there, during this dot-com bubble, there were a lot of big companies that wanted to get into digital technology but didn't really know how to do that.

So they brought us in and... We were supposed to be the experts. I didn't feel like much of an expert when I started, but we would do these highly compressed studies where we worked 80 hours a week trying to learn how to do product or trying to learn how to build technology. And it sounds kind of ridiculous today, but 20, 25 years ago, no one really knew anything. So people paid us to do this.

So they brought us in and... We were supposed to be the experts. I didn't feel like much of an expert when I started, but we would do these highly compressed studies where we worked 80 hours a week trying to learn how to do product or trying to learn how to build technology. And it sounds kind of ridiculous today, but 20, 25 years ago, no one really knew anything. So people paid us to do this.

And in the process, I learned a lot about the business side of how to build tech companies and We finally moved over to the US. I studied an MBA at Stanford. And my dream at that time was to go and work at a Google or a Salesforce. And on my resume was, I was a lawyer, a former lawyer. I had done strategic consulting and I had an MBA from Stanford.

And in the process, I learned a lot about the business side of how to build tech companies and We finally moved over to the US. I studied an MBA at Stanford. And my dream at that time was to go and work at a Google or a Salesforce. And on my resume was, I was a lawyer, a former lawyer. I had done strategic consulting and I had an MBA from Stanford.

And it turns out tech companies didn't value any of those things. So all the things I had worked so hard to put on my resume were completely useless to folks In that world, I think somewhat unfairly, but that's how they saw people with my background.

And it turns out tech companies didn't value any of those things. So all the things I had worked so hard to put on my resume were completely useless to folks In that world, I think somewhat unfairly, but that's how they saw people with my background.

People that knew how to code or had experience really in the trenches. I felt like I had built experience with companies, but in a much more low risk way. And that just really wasn't valued. So I became an accidental entrepreneur. I couldn't get a job at a technology company.

People that knew how to code or had experience really in the trenches. I felt like I had built experience with companies, but in a much more low risk way. And that just really wasn't valued. So I became an accidental entrepreneur. I couldn't get a job at a technology company.

And I hung out with a friend of mine at a VCR firm and he introduced me to another entrepreneur who was doing something in the iPhone world. And I just thought it was so wonderful that someone really wanted to even hang out with me and hear my opinion about this thing. And so we started working together and a month in, we decided that we would partner up and really grow this business.

And I hung out with a friend of mine at a VCR firm and he introduced me to another entrepreneur who was doing something in the iPhone world. And I just thought it was so wonderful that someone really wanted to even hang out with me and hear my opinion about this thing. And so we started working together and a month in, we decided that we would partner up and really grow this business.

So I didn't start out being an entrepreneur. Of course, when I got into it, I started to realize what an incredible experience that would be and how it really matched my personality.

So I didn't start out being an entrepreneur. Of course, when I got into it, I started to realize what an incredible experience that would be and how it really matched my personality.

I remember rollerblading along El Camino Real in Palo Alto and just being blown away going by like the Yahoo office and the Google office that were all on El Camino Real back then.

I remember rollerblading along El Camino Real in Palo Alto and just being blown away going by like the Yahoo office and the Google office that were all on El Camino Real back then.

Well, for me, I think you mentioned that I sort of, I've lived in different countries. I probably live now in six or seven different countries around the world. And a big part about that for me, every time I did that, it was a real enabler to show up a different way in that new country. I personally felt like a lot of what held me back, held my own development and growth back was that

Well, for me, I think you mentioned that I sort of, I've lived in different countries. I probably live now in six or seven different countries around the world. And a big part about that for me, every time I did that, it was a real enabler to show up a different way in that new country. I personally felt like a lot of what held me back, held my own development and growth back was that

I'll give a simple example. Let's say I'm a very serious person and I would like to be more lighthearted, tell more jokes. If all the people around me I've hung out with for 20 years, I suddenly show up one day and I start telling jokes. In my mind, I'm going to be thinking, these guys think I'm really weird. This is not me.

I'll give a simple example. Let's say I'm a very serious person and I would like to be more lighthearted, tell more jokes. If all the people around me I've hung out with for 20 years, I suddenly show up one day and I start telling jokes. In my mind, I'm going to be thinking, these guys think I'm really weird. This is not me.