ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Nobody succeeds in a silo. The majority of our life’s travels include a partner or two or many. Be it a significant other, friend, or business colleague, we most likely have some company. If I’ve learned anything from my life’s journey, it’s that our choice of partners—be it a life partner, cofounder, team member, or investor—can make or break a venture.

I believe that the people we meet along the way are the people we are destined to meet. Positive or negative, they all play some kind of role.

The journey that became this book started many years back. The full set of people I need to thank will not fit on a few pages. My great thanks to the universe for unveiling the people and the experiences that motivated me to take on this project.

My life would be completely lost if it weren’t for my family and friends. They carry me through every day. I am fortunate to have a life partner and a son who are the greatest source of my inspiration. Every Frodo Baggins (bearer of the One Ring in J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings) needs a Samwise Gamgee in his life. I am lucky to have one such friend.

I wish to especially thank our publishing and editorial team at McGraw-Hill for their professionalism and attention to this project. There are not enough words to describe my appreciation for my friend and publicist who has been instrumental in moving me forward every day.

I feel deep gratitude toward the team at Fast Company and its readership for their direct and indirect contribution to the manuscript. It’s an honor to be reviewed by such accomplished thought leaders and authors. Thank you.

It is only when the right person shows up that we get to see why it has never worked the same way with anyone else. The connection, talent, enlightenment, and friendship I found in my coauthor are the only reason I am able to put out this book.

Thank you.

Faisal Hoque

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I have always loved books and always longed for—and feared—the opportunity to write one. I have been especially enamored with these sweet little back pages—acknowledgments, liner notes, and the like. They show us another side of the writer and in so doing bring us closer to the author.

I am astounded that I have the opportunity to write such a note, to acknowledge the people who have helped me along the way.

Near the beginning of this year I met a wise soul beneath the stars of Grand Central Station: we talked of Zen and entrepreneurship, poetry and products, life and life’s work. I knew immediately that this person would become a part of my life’s work. Thank you, Faisal, for inviting me on this epic adventure: I know it is the first of many.

I would also like to thank my mother, Nicole; my father, Robert; and my stepfather, David. As I grow older, I find myself saying things and acting just as they did—and I am fortunate to have such an inheritance of a love of learning and life. My dear siblings—Liza and Grant—are my anchors. I am honored to share this journey with them.

To list all the friends who are present in this book would be impossible, but I’ll name a few: Ellie, Dan, Dana, Chloe, Johan, Matthias, Erik, Tim, Mark, Ted, Mike, Dan, John, Marianna, Katie, Ryan, Christina, Benjamin, Kevin, Jack, Nilofer. You are all present here.

I must make a nod to my editors at Fast Company, who took me in as a stray and reared my writerly soul: Erin, Mac, Anjali, Tyler, Noah. Thank you.

But a writer is nothing without a reader.

So, most of all, thank you.

Drake Baer