Crack Game/ Rap Game

"Somehow the rap game reminds me of the crack game" 

This line is well known to fans of hip hop, but for the uninitiated, above refers to 1) a lyric in the middle of a Nas song, and 2) The sample (audio snippet) which provides the de facto chorus and song title ("Crack Game/ Rap Game) for an even more popular Jay-Z song. The Jay-Z song CGRG describes then startup rapper Jay-Z's ascent to radio domination vis-a-vis slinging drugs in the hood.   I won't waste your time with a blog drawing on the commonalities of lean startup ethos and the line,  "Let em test the product, give em a promo show.  Just a breeze, not enough to catch a real vibe." (this concept was touched upon in the book "Rework" by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson).  Instead, I offer this, my newest observations of a man reminded of a man trying to make his way in a strange world.  

When I meet folks who have been involved in this community for five, ten or maybe even fifteen plus years, it brings me back to a time when I first looked at the first twin screens (2 screens was considered a big deal in 1998, you were definitely official) at Knight Securities that looked like the matrix and a christmas tree mated on acid, and said to myself- there's just no way in hell I'm going to figure this out.  It took an unavoidable and at times intolerable climb up the learning curve, but I figured it out by fire.  The most important part of getting along was my interaction with those who helped me along the way. Those dozens  of new kids that have sat beside me on the trading desks of Jersey City, Connecticut, and NYC with eyes glazed over while desperately trying to remain just intense enough and interested enough- some whom have moved on to be head traders at big time hedge funds, and some are probably wearing a hard hat about now, I get to remember how they feel all over again.

Flash back to November 30, 2010 at the McMahon hall of Fordham University.  My good friend, undergraduate classmate and Fordham  MBA Alumnus J asked me a few weeks earlier to join him on a panel for the Fordham finance society on traders.  I was totally thrilled to give back with whatever perspective I could, look like a big shot, and just connect with people.  The panel consisted of: me, an equity trader on the sell side (broker), J, director of trading at a small hedge fund, and another dude who was an independent commodities broker on the exchange floor. We all presented our "typical day" scenario, and fielded questions from the room full of young and eager mostly men of different backgrounds.  By the end of the forum, it almost turned into a debate between myself and J about the future of the biz.  It may have not been what they wanted to hear, but I nearly told everyone to try to get a job anywhere but in trading securities, since there was no future in it for them. J disagreed, and strongly felt there was room for the smart folks to have a long prosperous fulfilling career.  I explained that getting into the biz is more of a function of your network and who you knew who was paying commissions.  Afterwards, I had my big shot moment while people actually waited to chat with me to get my card, hear about their background and aspirations.  I kept in touch with a few of them for a while- but I knew this industry didn't have much to offer them. 

As of the first week in January of this year, neither me nor J are employed, nor will be employed in that business again.  J's in law school and will go into the family business. The other dude is probably still banging out business on the floor, for now.

Here I am now, like one of those fresh faced and inexperienced MBA students with no track record, no training, a relative outsider attending some meet up, co-working space or class, biding for a second of attention to chat with another entrepreneur, angel, VC, just to get some perspective.  Strictly in the business of meeting people.  But I see how the savvy confident set swarms around these uneasy whales at events.  Aging techies who are now in the business of funding new companies made their bones creating the new world, not figuring out ways to game the system like a fast hedge fund manager.  Instead of wearing well tailored suits sans ties and soft leather briefcases slumped over a shoulder and a scowl, Angel guys are more likely to have tee shirts tucked into their dungarees and tennis shoes.  No one kissed their ass for the first three decades of their career, I'm sure.  They've got much to impart, if only people weren't trying to sell them all the time, don't they realize they'll get so much more if they just listened instead?