Why I Knew I Would Be A Founder Someday

                I owe my desire and will to be my own boss to my parents. Some of my earliest memories are of sitting on my living room floor in Duluth, Minnesota for hours on end, surrounded by piles of Legos at my feet. I would have an idea about something to build: a car, or a boat, or a house, and I would construct a model, then refine it, then refine it even further, until I built something I was truly proud of, at which point I would start again from scratch. The idea that I could create whatever I dreamed of with just the right amount of trying enthralled me and I remember passing days simply lost in my own world of creative discovery, tinkering away with my Legos.

                It was in this environment that I distinctly remember a conversation I had with my dad. I couldn’t have been more than four years old, and again like the previous few days, I had spent hours alone, not talking, tinkering away with my Legos. My father had come in from the kitchen, smiled and me and remarked, “Who knows, maybe someday you can build real houses as a civil engineer!”

                The idea had never even crossed my mind of being able to build houses for a living! But who could have blamed me…I wasn’t even in Kindergarten yet. Nonetheless, the seed he planted in my young mind that day stayed with me all throughout elementary school and up until middle school when I decided I didn’t just want to build the houses but design them as well. From 6^th grade on anyone who asked me was sure to get the answer that when I grew up, I wanted to be a Civil Engineering and an Architect.

                But that, however, was not where the true entrepreneurial spirit was kindled in me. Instead, when I was in 3^rd grade, knowing at this point that I had aspirations to be a “civil engineer and build houses”, my father had told me, “When you finish college and start building houses, I’ll help you set up your own company so you can be your own boss.” Having spent his late high school and early college years in Nigeria doing contracting work, my father had already worked in the design & build industry and was willing to help me get started. But what may have been an honest remark on his behalf to a young me to look forward to help after I graduated, instead instilled an idea in my head that would impact the trajectory of my entire life from that point on. I decided then and there, at a very young age, that no matter what it took or whatever I did, when I finished college, I would be my own boss.

                Growing up I began to flex my entrepreneurial muscles early on, however I could. In elementary school it was packing extra bags of animal crackers for snack which I would sell for $3 apiece to friends who forget their own snacks during snack time. After my mom caught wind of my side project and stopped that venture, I quickly started a new business: trading cards. In the heyday of Yugioh! and Pokémon, I devised a new trading card game with my siblings and friends at school. Naturally, I managed the creation and integrity of the game…meaning the best cards could only be made (and sold) by myself. Despite the tenacity with which I advanced this new project, this scheme also saw a premature death as my teacher stopped the unregulated, unruly, black market my friends and I started that began distracting all the boys in our class.

                Later on in my elementary career I helped out in more “established” methods by working and helping manage the school store, but as soon as I reached middle school, I was back to my anti-administration vending ways.

                Throughout high school, the focus shifted to sports and academics as my plan for the future was set. Go to school for architecture and engineering. The day I’m licensed, start my own firm and never work for anyone else again. However, I did not see the luxury of that reality as I worked at a pizza shop and prepared myself to go to college only to acquire tremendous amounts of student loan debt. To me, the idea of being my own boss was slipping away.

                Luckily two amazing things happened to me in 2013 that would rekindle and make my childhood dream a reality. First of all, I decided to attend the University of Pittsburgh on a full-tuition scholarship, meaning I would only have to worry about housing and food costs, severely cutting the amount of student loan debt I would procure. Second came during winter break 2013. As my high school track friends and I sat in the basement of my parents’ home in Woodbury, Minnesota. That night we had begun talking about how we all planned to end up paying off our college loan debt in the future. This conversation quickly turned to how we could make money…and make it fast…and make it now. However, after thinking for a little longer and a little more logically, we came to the conclusion that we wanted to develop something that would help people. Those we knew and those we might never meet.

                This was the conversation that birthed GLIMPSE and sitting here, two and a half years later, it is funny to see how the seeds my father planted all those years ago have slowly come to fruition in this venture with my team. 2014 saw us struggle, and fall, and succeed, then fall again, all the while learning entrepreneurship through trial and error. 2015 was a little better. We finally developed a basic application, but also witnessed the struggles of delivering on time to partners we work with and the expectations that come from taking investments from others outside the founding team. We were able to film for The Startup Hour, attend the Forbes Under 30 Summit, as well as participate in the Blast Furnace Accelerator at Pitt and the Lorentz Hatchery Program in Des Moines. We raised amounts of capital we didn’t dream about a year prior…but we were still not where we wanted to be.

                Now in 2016, as we look to loftier goals, though they may seem daunting and intimidating at times, I only need to look at the past to have reassurance that I have the right team and work ethic to continue to succeed.

                The idea that I could create whatever I dreamed of with just the right amount of trying enthralled me as I passed endless days toying with Legos as a toddler. Now, I know with the same creativity and determination, GLIMPSE will be a reality by the end of 2016.