Ryan Juliano

My North Star: connection through contribution.

We're all more connected than we usually act, and so much unnecessary suffering comes from forgetting that. The best remedy I've found is service. Tagore put it better than I can: "I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy."

Startups are where I see this most clearly. I unironically believe the cliché about "making the world a better place through [insert disruptive product]." Every company that sells customers something they value more than what they pay, pays its people more than they value their time, and (sometimes) delivers investor returns is a blessing that makes the whole world richer. My work lets me contribute in widening circles: directly to founders, indirectly through their companies, to our team through the opportunities it creates, and to my family through the paycheck. I want to spend my time solving problems I'm uniquely suited to solve, alongside joyful people. If that helps a few more of those companies exist and grow their impact, I'll have done enough.