When The Billionaires Were Nice - For No Reason
Three Things I Learned From Interactions With The Powerful During Our Time Here
Three Things I Learned in SaaS, Sports, Tech, and Live Events:
Wyc Grousbeck and his group are selling the Boston Celtics.
I had an experience with Wyc years ago, which I learned a lot from.
This week's Three Things: Three times someone powerful was overly gracious to me for no reason, and what I learned from it.
"I’m a half hour late."
In 2015 we ran a process to raise a Series B. Wyc’s company, Causeway Ventures, had invested in SeatGeek so they called for a meeting in Boston. Knowing how valuable their time is, I planned to get to his office 30 minutes early
My Uber driver took a wrong turn into the tunnel and it was closed. Even though I was only 2 miles away, I was trapped. Couldn't get out and walk (it was a tunnel). I called and apologized, then arrived half an hour late.
We spent two hours talking about the industry. I apologized at least a dozen times. What I remember from that meeting was how insistently gracious he was. Totally understand and sympathetic. I could see why people wanted to work with him."Take care of him. He’s one of us."
I’ve written quite a bit about my AEG experiences.
I left AEG in 2005 for StubHub. I was a low-level salesperson, insignificant. Honestly, none of the executives had any reason to know who I was or care.
In 2010, a friend from the Cavs took a big-time job at AEG and moved to LA.
We met for breakfast. He told me he’d mentioned to Tim Leiweke, the AEG head at the time, that we were meeting. Tim told him, " Help him out; he’s one of us.” He had no reason to even remember who I was.We’re sitting where?
One of our seed round investors, Jim Pallotta, was a part owner of the Celtics back in 2010. I met Jim during our roadshow at his offices at Rowe's Wharf.
On one trip to Boston, we sent a note to Jim’s assistant that we’d never been to the TD Garden and asked if they had any tickets in the rafters. My co-founder and I would love to catch a game.
When we got to will call, there were floor seats and super exclusive club passes. We were broke. We weren’t sniffing the floor anytime soon if not for Jim.
But that’s how Jim treated us. Whenever in NY, he’d insist on us using his office. He always took care of us, and I wasn’t sure he even knew my name.
Be gracious. Take care of your own. And share your blessings. That’s what Wyc, Tim, and Jim showed me.
And I honestly believe that's a big part of their success.Note: I really wish I took a lot more photos back in the day.