Ramtin Naimi

One of the venture capital firms that I pitched that company to was a firm called Core Innovation Capital.

The founding partner of that firm is a guy named Arjan Chute.

He's one of the kindest people I've ever met in my life.

He's just a good guy.

Core's focus is investing in fintech that provides upward mobility for the emerging middle class.

There's somewhat impact in nature, but very much focused on returns.

And when I wound down the company, I ended up reaching out to him and he gave me a job.

So I ended up ultimately getting my venture capital job flat broke.

And when I ended up in all this debt, I needed a way to restructure it.

And that was probably the worst moment of my life was sitting in the waiting room of a bankruptcy lawyer's office, trying to figure out what type of bankruptcy I need to file.

And then at a big chapter 13, which is not a write-off of debt, but a restructuring for five years.

And thankfully things worked out and I wiped it all off within two years.

It was a nice comeback.

What was the headspace like at that time?

It's awful.

There's nothing pleasant about that experience.

In hindsight, losing your net worth is a lesson better learned at 24 years old than 54 years old.

So I'm grateful for that.

But the learning there is if you're going to start a startup company, raise other people's money instead of your own money.

I remember once when I was explaining this to institutional LPs in the early days, it was something I was very embarrassed about.