Writing

I wanted to start with a review of my 2021 goals. Let's see how I did:

Last year, I mentioned in my post that QuickNode was funded but failed to mention by who. It's now public info, but we participated in Y Combinator. It was a remote experience, but well worth it. Not a lot of people know this, but prior to being accepted to the W21 YC batch, I applied to YC for the 10 years prior with various other startups I was working on. Yes, ten years (10). For me, this goes to show just how helpful YC is, it completely changed the trajectory of our company. 

The amount of time invested to get through YC is a lot - you're basically eating, working and exercising only for 3 months but from the bootcamps, to weekly office hours with our partners, to the investor interest - I highly recommend every new founder do YC.

One other highlight this year was having my cousin Jagger and his girlfriend, Mariah move back to Miami from NYC. It was especially awesome because they moved in with me and my wife for 6 months while they made offers on places. Jag is one of the goofiest people I know so it's always good vibes with him. It was super fulfilling to be close to family for extended period of time and I loved watching Mariah grind to get a new job she loves with Barry's bootcamp.

We were quick enough to find an amazing property to rent in Ibiza for July and lucky enough that the travel restrictions eased in time for us to get there. Ibiza was magical, we were able to host many great friends and strengthen other friendships. Plus I got to hang with my co-founders a bit. I'll leave you with a single photo that I will use to remember Ibiza 2021.

Nathali started the year at the soon to be unicorn, SwagUp, as a product designer. I'm so so proud of her for taking this role and growing with it. She's a phenomenal designer and made huge progress there. She ended up getting poached away and is now making big moves at Gamestop. I honestly feel so fortunate to watch her continuously level up her skills and career while being a part of her decision making process.

QuickNode turned into a rocket! Each month, I would think "there is no way we are going to top that this month" and yet, our work continued to bear fruit. We ended up growing revenue 3000+% percent, team 750% and monthly requests 2500+%. We raised a $5m seed round we announced in May, followed by a $35m Series A announced in October and topped off the year named one of the 50 most promising startups of 2021 by The Information.

To say I feel excited is an understatement - we're going to move mountains in 2022!

I started a thing with a buddy of mine: Miami Tech Runs. It's been fun and we ended up playing the final game of our first season at the FTX Arena! Pretty crazy to be honest, but lots of fun. You can learn more about how I set this up here.

That condo we bought in 2020 took a lot longer than we expected to renovate - but it's done and we're living in it. This was really stressful because we were expecting to move in in March, but spent a lot of money paying double rent and micromanaging because the contractors in Miami are not very reliable or good. We're waiting for a bunch of furniture for months now because of supply chain issues - excited to complete our new home.

I managed to contract CoVid in early December and give it to my in-laws, putting a damper on Christmas and causing us to have a new years with family only. I'm OK, I actually thought I had a cold, but tested anyway and came out negative on rapid antigen and PCR over the course of 3 days while experiencing symptoms. It was only after testing a week after, that a rapid test came back positive. 

I feel pretty bad about getting my in-laws sick, but luckily they're recovered now, just waiting for a negative test.

Looking back, the same pattern emerges: I hit a few of resolutions, made good progress on a few, and completely missed a few. Things seldom go as planned for me, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't have aspirations!

With that said, the theme for me going into 2022 is love and fitness. I want to refocus on my relationship with my wife, strengthen our relationship even further and put a magnifying glass on my eating and workout routines. Here are my resolutions for the next year:

If I know you personally, don't hesitate to reach out to me and share your resolutions privately. I'll do my best to hold you accountable. Happy New Year!