1/ I'm interested in creativity and encouraging others to become creators because my own journey down the creator path changed my life. This is a story of how @shl changed my life and why I'm so happy for him today. 
2/ Ironically, my first job out of college was as a technology analyst in investment banking. From society’s standards, I could not have been in a role farther opposite on the creativity spectrum.
3/ A few months into this first job, I came across an announcement for an event that would be hosted on the Stanford campus, which was walking distance from my office.
4/ I was particularly interested in this event because I had heard about a young founder named Sahil Lavingia (@shl), who gave up his Pinterest employee #1 position to start a new company called Gumroad, and he was speaking on the panel.
5/ On the evening of the event, I walked to campus to find a standing spot in the packed room. At just 18 years old, Sahil was the youngest member of the panel. He spoke about his new company @gumroad, which would allow anyone to easily sell anything online.
6/ It’s obvious in 2020, but in 2012, selling something online was a difficult, multi-step process, with administrative paperwork, and complex flows. With Gumroad, you could take a photo of a pencil drawing and start selling that photo through a Gumroad link in minutes.
7/ If you’ve ever watched Inception, this was the scene where I woke up in the plane and realized that I had to start over with a completely new mindset.
8/ Sahil’s talk inspired me to believe that anyone could be a creative and make a living by selling any kind of creative output through the internet. I ended up quitting my job a few months after that talk and moved to San Francisco.
9/ Since then, I’ve worked on a number of creative projects. I'm very grateful that some of them did very well, opened new opportunities for me, and provided value to others in this world.
10/ One of the first side projects I built turned into a small comfortable business and was initially entirely monetized with Gumroad. I still remember when my first purchase order came through and a Gumroad e-mail notification hit my inbox. It really did change my life.
11/ Years ago, I was let go from a company. At the same time, my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer and had to undergo radiation and surgery. It was one of the most devastating and painful times of my life. I was worried about my family's medical bills.
12/ Fortunately, the small business I had built with the help of Gumroad was starting to provide some modest income. Gumroad helped keep me and my family afloat and for that, I will forever be grateful.
13/ Last year, the Gumroad team invited me to speak at one of their San Francisco Bay Area Top 50 Creators dinners. It was a magical moment for me. I had a chance to meet other creators and meet Sahil in person for the first time.
14/ We became good friends after that event and hang out regularly in the mornings over Zoom.
15/ I wrote all of this today because it's a special day for Sahil. He's just announced his new fund where he will be investing $5mm a year into early stage startups via $100-250k checks.
16/ I'm very lucky to be one of the smallest investors in his new fund backed by folks like @naval, @tferriss, @nickkokonas, @johnolilly, @photomatt, @ArlanWasHere and many more incredible people.
17/ It's been quite a journey to see everything come full circle. Please check out his new fund announcement and website - he's such a great person and you'd love him as an investor in your company.
shl.vc
shl.vc
18/ Congrats @shl! You're gonna be amazing and I'm so happy for you!
19/ As a side note, I hope you've all been enjoying the stories I've been telling these past few weeks. It's my hope that like Sahil's talk, they may spark some creativity that moves you past the tipping point towards becoming a creator and changing your own life.
