The Place: Cafe Medici

The Cup: Just coffee folks, move along, nothing to look at here. Plain, old coffee. But Cafe Medici does know how to do it right – french press style. Yum!

Background: Cup 67, Eric Simone connected Brian and I. Eric told me, during our visit, that there were a handful of people in Austin who were doing really exciting things, but who were flying totally under the radar. Brian is one of those people. He’s on the radar now, my friends!

Brian and Eric know each other because they are both a part of the start-up fabric that the entrepreneur’s mecca – Austin, is cloaked in.  In fact, as investors, it could be argued that they are strands of the thread that holds it all together.

Brian took an unlikely path to entrepreneurship. We’ll get to that and so much more, but first, some:

Common Grounds:

1. What’s a food you can’t live without? Tex Mex.
2. What is something you’ll regret not doing, if you don’t do it? I want to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro.  I have some friends who have done it. I’ll need to get in shape for it, so I may end up running a half marathon while I’m getting ready for it.
3. How did you make your first buck? Mowing yards. As a family with seven kids living on a professor’s salary, we all had to work. By the time I was in 7th grade, I was managing a sandwich/ice cream shop. I had the keys and everything. When you are the oldest boy of seven, you learn quickly to be responsible.
4. What’s your favorite way to unwind? I love to paddle board. Also, we spend a lot of time at the house. We have a great backyard and we love to sit back there under the cabana, hang out and drink wine.
5. What is the last thing you fixed? I’m having my son learn how to lay tile, and we’re doing a tile project in our bathroom.
6. What is the best compliment you ever got? Probably from some start-up entrepreneurs who have commented on the understanding I have of balance. How to balance the needs of the companies with lifestyle needs; how much time to put in and how to make it work. How to be fair – to the team and to your family. I learned it from experience and I share it. It’s hard. But I’ve been there and know how they’re feeling.
7. What is your guilty pleasure? Racing cars. I race in the Sports Car Club of America Spec Racer Ford Series. (And he’s good! He won 1st place in his division in 2010!) Also, wine. We’re big wine fans. Specifically, big Napa Cabs.

The son of a college professor, Brian grew up in college towns – first Bryan-College Station where his dad taught at A&M, then off to University of Oklahoma. Which is where Brian would eventually earn his first degree in physics and engineering.

After graduation, Brian headed back to Texas and was hired on at NASA. Not bad for a first job!  Brian agreed. He was grateful for the opportunity and in the year and a half he spent there, he got to be a part of seven missions. Brian was part of an Engineering Team that provided support for astronaut training and the testing of flight hardware, systems, and payloads. As exciting as it was on paper, the reality was – things happened so slowly, particularly innovation, and Brian didn’t see future for himself there. So back to school!

He returned to University of Oklahoma to study some more physics – because let’s face it, is four years ever enough? Not for Brian! While getting his Master’s Degree,  he leveled up in the relationship department as well – and met the woman of his dreams; the woman he’d eventually marry and have three kiddos with. All in all, a good move. The next best move he made was when he packed up after graduation and moved to Austin.

To put himself through college, Brian managed a high-end audio/video store in Norman, OK. He was a salesman and custom commercial systems installation technician – a job he really enjoyed. So when an Audio Engineering job offer came along, he was all over it. It was at this company that Brian learned what he loved more than engineering – leadership. He was promoted within the company a handful of times and eventually found himself managing a team of 40 people.  Brian says, “I learned a lot about people – managing them, influencing them and leading them.” When the company eventually merged with another company, Brian would learn another important lesson and catch the entrepreneurship bug.

“I saw a 100 million dollar company merge with another 100 million dollar company and they ended up with a 100 million dollar company. I decided I wanted to learn something about business and figure out why that happened,” Brian tells me. So he set off to try it for himself.

Brian had a friend from college, Shawn Smith, who he helped recruit to Austin from a Texas Instruments job in Lubbock.  Shawn went to work as a Yield Engineer for Motorola which is where the core knowledge for how a Semiconductor fabrication plant works came from. Together, with all their skills and knowledge, they hatched an idea for some software that’s way too far over my head to understand, let alone try to explain to you folks. So let’s just assume it was pretty freakin’ incredible. Put two engineers together and you’re either going to get a hilarious punchline, or an incredible idea. In this case, it was the latter.

Brian admits that not only did the two have no money, they were about to head off to start some important negotiations and they really had no clue what they were doing. They knew they had a great product, though, and an entrepreneur armed with a product they believe in is a force that’s unstoppable.

In 1999, tapping a connection from the company he’d just left, Brian secured $100,000 in seed money and they were off to the races. When it was time for bigger dollars, Brian again proved the old adage, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know,” true when he cold called a friend of a friend and managed to get $1 million in investment. I make that sound so easy, don’t I? It wasn’t – but that didn’t stop them. Proving another adage true – “You don’t know, what you don’t know.” They didn’t know how hard it would be, so they did it, and they weren’t scared. In the world of entrepreneurs, I believe naiveté is at the heart of every great success story.

By the way, at this exact moment in time, amidst all the start-up stress and pressure, Brian and his wife had their first baby. Wow!

The business was gaining traction and in the first part of 2001, it was time to raise more cash.  The original investors came through again and ponied up an additional $1 million. The economy began to weaken and by March, almost all the contracts had been cancelled. By July, they were meeting with the investors to decide what the best go-forward strategy was, and considered shutting down for a few months while the economy recovered.

Thankfully, an offer Applied Materials had made to the company months ago came back into play. They still wanted the technology. And they were willing to buy it, at a discount. Fortunately, even the discounted price was reasonable and provided not just an out, but a decent return for everyone.

With the odds heavily against them, the deal managed to survive the national tragedy of 9/11, and the continued nosedive the economy was in. In December of 2001, the deal was done. And Brian was out of a job. Well, not really. He stayed on with Applied Materials through the transition for a few years, until once again, it was time for some excitement. Oh, and another baby.

Brian loved start-up – even with all the highs and lows, in the end, he loved the experience. In fact, when I ask about his greatest achievement to date, it is this start-up experience that he names. Brian says, “Investing in other businesses is great. But nothing else feels as good as when it’s your own.” But because he also enjoyed being married and having a family and a life, he knew it was time to take a backseat in the exciting world of start-up. Brian says, “When you do a start-up, you have to put everything into it.” He needed to find a way to be a part of the ride but not be the one driving. Investing seemed like a logical choice.

Ready, aim, fire? No way! Not for Brian. Fire! That’s his approach. He admits of his start in investing, “I dove in naively.” Brian joined an investor group and just started writing checks. His experience was good and coming from being in the trenches on his own start-up, this seemed easy by comparison. Invest, wait a year or two, company gets bought, payday for everyone. Perhaps not quite that easy, but that’s the essence.

In 2004, Brian decided it was time to leave the investment group behind and start leading some deals himself, focusing on what he knew best – technology. Brian’s model was hands-on helping of the entrepreneur. By 2008, his portfolio was pretty large. When the economy took a turn, they lost a few deals. Brian learned that failure was just a part of the business. He admits, as is true for most of us, it’s not something he enjoys or is comfortable with.

When one of the deals he was a part of got big, it was time to bring in a large venture firm. Brian tells me he learned the hard way how different it is when the big guys get involved. He said, “It’s tough. That’s a pay-to-play world, it’s cutthroat and everyone is out for themselves. And rightfully so, I suppose.” That deal eventually got sold and Brian walked away a wiser man who was more clear than ever about what he brought to the table, and what types of investing he was comfortable with. During that time, he’d also had the chance to work with a friend, Alex Gruzen, who he’d met on the race track, and who had been a part of helping the deal come together. After the deal was over, Alex told Brian he was ready to leave the big corporations behind (Compaq/HP and Dell) and use his talents to help start-ups.

In 2011, with another new baby in the house, Brian, along with Alex and a third partner, Le Tran, launched Corsa Ventures, an early stage venture capital fund based in Austin. Corsa invests in technology companies focused on cloud, big data, mobile, and social to disrupt established business models and revenue streams. When I  ask about the most significant thing that’s happened in his life in the last 30 days, Brian tells me it’s was concluding the investment in Gravitant – an Austin based cloud services brokerage startup.  Corsa led the $10m Series B financing.  Well, I’d call that significant.

Brian and I talk a bit about the biggest challenge facing entrepreneurs in Austin. Brian is quick to point out all the incredible resources Austin offers for start-ups. Thanks to organizations such as Capital Factory, Techstars, Central Texas Angel Network (CTAN), Tech Ranch and others like it, Austin start-ups have access to mentors, resources and money. Brian has noticed an alarming trend though. When a start-up gets to a certain size, they have to head outside of Austin, outside of Texas even, and go the the coasts to get large capital. That’s a problem.

Brian says the biggest road block to Austin becoming a technology hub for the long term is a lack of capital. There’s plenty of seed money. But Series A money is harder to come by, and Series B even harder. There’s plenty of money in Texas – no question. So what’s the issue? Energy. Historically, it’s been the only game in town, or at least the surest bet. Brian is on a mission to educate investors that technology is a great hedge for energy. Brian says, “No one is saying that. But we are. M & A strategies are smart, and the market is really ripe right now, there’s lots of activity and the money flows. When it comes to technology, innovation comes from start-ups.” And when done correctly, with investors who go beyond just writing checks – to opening their proverbial rolodexes and sitting down at the table, face to face, to offer ideas, suggestions and help, those start-ups get acquired and everybody wins.

Did you notice, like I did, that each time Brian started the next big thing in business, he and his wife also had a new baby? I just had to know what the deal was with that. Brian tells me, “If there isn’t pressure and stress, I don’t perform.” He’s obviously one of those people who’s best under fire.

He and his wife have been married for 20 years, so I decide to go off script and ask what the secret to a lasting marriage has been. It’s obvious they’ve got something figured out, considering the roller coaster they’ve been on. Brian says, “First you must start with compatible personalities. My wife and I were married for 8 years before we had kids. It hasn’t always been easy. We love to do the same things and yet we have interests outside of one another. It’s give and take. Usually there is one person who has to be more self-centered than the other person – my wife has given me that. I talk a lot about balance, but it’s mostly about me. She understands that and sticks by me.” So I clarify his answer and ask, “So the key is, marry the right person? Brian smiles and nods, “Yes.”

I ask Brian if he’s read a book that he’s found particularly impactful in his life. He surprises me when he tells me he’s not a big reader. “I’m much more visual. I’m a Powerpoint guy, not a Word guy,” he says. Brian really surprises me when he says that although he was never officially diagnosed, he believes he is dyslexic. If I wasn’t impressed by his advanced degree in physics already, I certainly would be now. Brian has recently read a book that he really enjoyed – a book he thinks I and others might really like as well. The Future of Physics by Michio Kaku. He promises me that it’s not just about physics, but more about how physics will shape things such as space travel, finance and humanity. I’m looking for the Cliff’s Notes.

If happiness was the national currency, I want to know how Brian would earn his living. This time, his answer does not surprise me. “I’d be a teacher. A physics teacher. I’d give it all up – the stress of what I’m doing today – and become a teacher. I love physics. I left it behind to go make money. We were taught to chase our passions, not a paycheck, but what I learned was that I have a passion for starting businesses. But I’d go back to physics.”

What’s the biggest issue facing society today? Brian says it’s a problem with family. “We’re deviating from our core values. To turn kids into successful adults takes stability at home. The divorce rate is high. We’re too money-driven. There’s too much focus on achievement – bigger and better, and that’s fine, but it needs to be balanced with values.”

Something Brian believed to be true for a long time was that there was an answer to the question of “Why do we exist?” “I spent seven years studying physics, trying to figure it out – what is the source of life? I’m not a religious guy. Physics is my religion. The questions of ‘what is the meaning of life?’, I don’t know that there is an answer. The universe is really big. I’m still searching.”

If given 30 seconds to make a speech to the world, this is Brian’s message: “People don’t spend enough time thinking about how they live their lives and about how to influence people in a positive way. A lot of our problems in this world center on very strong religious beliefs. I think we need to educate people about how to think critically about their beliefs. And people should focus less on their daily to-do lists, and focus more on living their lives.”

I must say that of all the surprises I had in my time with Brian – and there were several, the biggest surprise was his interest in discovering the meaning of life. I am guilty of getting so wrapped up in the day-to-day flurry of activity that I often operate solely from my to-do list. And since the list only seems to grow, I’m never done. It’s living life, as Brian says, “on a hamster wheel”. I do pause, occasionally, and as I come up for air I ask myself, “Is this it? Is this what it’s all about? Laundry, bank accounts; upgrading cars, appliances, shoes? It can’t be. There must be more. But what is it? What is the meaning of life?”

A guy who is writing the checks that fund dreams and that create new technology that will change lives – he also asks the same question. I found that surprising.  But then, I realize that it’s universal. It’s the question that was planted in each of our hearts at the moment we came to life. It’s the question that drives us and our decisions as we inch our way closer to an answer. Sometimes, though, the noise of life drowns out the voice inside that continues to ask. We get busy answering other questions – and if we’re not careful, we stop hearing the tiny voice within that asks the biggest question.

Brian reminds us that when it comes the the meaning of life, it’s not about having an answer. It’s about continuing to ask the question. Stay curious, my friends. Stay curious!

To learn more about Brian, check out his LinkedIn profile and if you’re interested in more information about his latest venture, check out the Corsa Ventures website.