The Next Adventure Update

Where I landed.

A blast from the past.

Over the last few weeks I posted a link to a podcast that I did regarding the ecosystem work I had done in Eugene for over a decade. The post had many people reached out to reconnect, talk over the state of things, and find out what I have been up to.

I had gone kind of dark on social media as my new thing is a bit different than what I had been doing, and depending on the week, keeps me really busy.

The choice I made is a reflection of all the deep thinking on my future I had done over the pandemic about who I am, what I want out of life, and where I could provide the most value.

Everyone who has been following me knows by now that I moved from Oregon back to where I grew up in NJ. I have not been able to connect to the local ecosystem to the extent that I would like.

NJ is a different beast and the startup ecosystem has no center — but as much as I would like to get more involved, my day job has kept me busy and I am kind of holed up in a sleepy beach town on the Jersey Shore (see picture above). The plus side is that I get to kayak every day that the weather allows — the downside is that I am not ‘connected’ the way I was in Oregon. In a number of ways it feels like just an extended pandemic existence as I mainly work from home.

And what am I working on at home?

I decided to join a friend of mind to launch a fund. It was not just a new fund, but given my penchant for living on the edge and choosing to do something extra hard, a new type of fund. The concept itself is fascinating and as I talk about it I will weave in the things that excited me about it, why I think it is important, and how the vision of what it will become matches what I do very well.

The company, Aventurine Capital Group, is looking to launch a fund called The Omega Fund. The concept was presented to me by my friend David Van Wie. The idea is centered around trying to extract the maximum value out of Intellectual Property. He and the other amazing partner, Michele Moreland, are the right people to do this. David and Michele know how to monetize IP — not theoretical — just like I was in the trenches with startups, these two have been in the trenches with IP.