Growing a Farmer Post #2

I am not a vegeterian given my love for dishes that contain meat. At the beginning of Growing a Farmer: How I Learned to Live Off the Land, I did not expect to change my approach and beliefs regarding the consumption of meat. I never thought about where my food originates from and how a nonhuman animal is killed simply to satisfy my desires. But after reading chapter twelve, “The Slaughter,” Kurt vividly describes the processes and techniques that he uses to slaughter nonhuman animals on his farm, which showed me the realities of the food industry and led me to reduce the amount of meat I eat.

"The throat will be slit, the blood collected" (Page 241). I found this quote to be eye-opening and it made me feel guilty because it illustrates how nonhuman animals sacrifice their lives to satisfy human appetite. I concluded that killing nonhuman animals to be morally impermissible given that they are sentient beings who can experience both pleasure and pain. This taught me to appreciate the value of life and changed how I think about meat-related products.

The most important lesson I learned from Kurt Timmermeister is to be perseverant in times of crisis. I truly respect the fact that Mr. Timmermeister would not let short-term obstacles influence his long-term vision of being a small-scale farmer. An example of where Kurt embraced adversity was when he sold vegetables that he had grown to the farmers market and a Community Supported Agriculture Group. Kurt took on a considerable level of risk because in his first year growing and selling vegetables he only generated $17,500 worth of revenue while the cost of operating his farm was approximately $20,000. This reflects Kurt's level of determination to pursuing his passion regardless of the challenges he was faced with while still considering himself to be a privileged individual for simply having the opportunity to pursue his dream as a small-scale farmer.

In my opinion, an admirable aspect of Kurt Timmermeister's approach to writing Growing a Farmer: How I Learned to Live Off the Land is the fact that he does not preach for people to become farmers. Mr. Timmermeister, a detail-driven storyteller, simply describes his journey as he evolved from an urban restaurateur to a small-scale farmer in a transparent and uncomplicated manner without judging other people who do not embrace his values or approach to life. I encourage soon-to-be-farmers to read this revealing and informative account of how an inexperienced urbanite gradually pursued his passion of becoming a successful farmer due to his curiousity to understand where the food he eats comes from.

Job Description

Venture Capitalist

A lot of technology companies could’ve failed without venture capital. Netflix, Facebook, Apple, and Google – all depended on venture capital when they were starting out. People read about successful Silicon Valley entrepreneurs in the news, but not many people know there are investors that help these entrepreneurs grow companies. Last summer I worked as an investment intern shadowing a general partner at a venture capital firm in San Francisco.

A venture capitalist invests money in startup companies that have the potential to grow in exchange for equity in the business. Venture capital is risky because the returns depend on whether the company they invest in grows and exits through a sale of the company or initial public offering. There are two primary roles within a venture capital fund: general and limited partners. General partners (GP) are professional investment managers. They advise entrepreneurs given their past operational experience, raise money from limited partners, identify key investment themes and invest in promising technology. A limited partner (LP) is typically a cash-rich government, corporation, person or pension fund that gives money to a venture capital firm.

Three responsibilities that describe the role of an investment intern at a venture capital firm are: 

• Deal sourcing

• Deal evaluation

• Market research        

I’ll explain the duties of what I had to do on a typical day.                          

Deal sourcing

• Attend technology conferences and networking events

• Cold outreach potential target companies to learn more about their business

• To build and maintain relationships with entrepreneurs and other venture capitalists

During my internship, I went to the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco. At the conference, an industry peer introduced me to the founder of Mission Bio. Mission Bio is a startup that performs single-cell DNA analysis. The goal of Mission Bio is to deliver targeted treatments to every single diseased cell through precision medicine by looking at the origins of the disease. I exchanged contact information with the CEO and introduced him to my boss. After two meetings, the firm I was working for understood Mission Bio’s value proposition and business model before investing in the company.

Deal evaluation

• Identifying management competency

• Business model momentum

• Market size and validation

When meeting a startup for the first time, I aimed to learn as much as possible about the business and team. I tried to figure out how the founders met, how competent they are and if they really understand the problem they are trying to solve. Then I would go through their business model to figure out the company’s cost structure, assets (i.e., patented technology) and value proposition. This information allowed me to understand how the team will take their product or service to market. A valuable lesson I learned was to figure out if the company had an innovative solution or product that the market hadn’t yet realized and would satisfy customer needs. After the first meeting, I would validate the market size and see if there is a real pain point for consumers that the product could solve. I was able to do this by figuring out how many customers or users were using the product. 

Market research

• Identified market trends to help in risk analysis of asset allocation

• Created investment memos for LPs detailing market analysis and company overviews

• Evaluated future trends

Market research was the most critical part of my summer internship. If I didn’t complete this work, the senior partners at the firm would not have a high-level overview of the companies in their portfolio. I had a competitive advantage by researching because it would allow me to be aware of the latest industry trends, which could influence investment ideas of the firm. Also, if I hadn’t created investment memos, then it would have been difficult for the general partners to raise money because they would have no marketing materials to share with future investors. 

Readability

• Flesch Reading Ease 46.4
• Flesh-Kincaid Grade Level 11.3
• Passive Sentences 0%

Growing a Farmer Post #1

I admire Kurt for defining his own purpose and seeking a simpler life. He pursues his passion of feeding people by acquiring land and becoming a farmer to grow food. Kurt became fascinated with farming because he was curious to learn about what goes into the production of food and where it originates from. Regardless of the challenges Kurt faces, he is adept to change and identifies his mistakes as mechanisms that lead to personal development because "the idea of failing was inconceivable" (Page 47).

I dislike Kurt's extensive descriptions of his farming techniques. He goes in-depth regarding topics such as beekeeping and slaughtering animals for meat. Given Kurt's vivid descriptions, learning how to slaughter animals to obtain meat did not illustrate a pleasant image for me as the reader. Not only did the detailed descriptions of slaughtering meat disgust me but it also decreased how engaged I was with the content because of how in-depth he would go to describe these processes.

Growing a Farmer: How I Learned to Live Off the Land has taught me to pursue my dreams. Kurt's approach to becoming a farmer educated me regarding the importance of perseverance, drive and goal setting. It is exceedingly difficult for one to pursue their dreams linearly because of unexpected occurrences and deviations that may transpire along the process. I am excited to learn more about Kurt's journey as he transitions from an urban restaurateur to becoming a farmer that grows vegetables and raises animals such as pigs.

Who You Are Matters

I was born on May 10, 1996 in Los Angeles at St. John’s Hospital to a Persian family. In 2001, I moved to Menlo Park, CA because my father was on Cisco’s executive leadership team and he did not want to travel between San Jose and Los Angeles daily. In 2008, my father got promoted and became VP of the Internet Business Solutions Group and Head of Emerging Markets at Cisco. His new role caused my family to relocate for the second time to London, England. Post my four year tenure in the U.K., I returned back to Menlo Park for two years and finished high-school in the U.S. before enrolling at USC to pursue a bachelor’s degree in Economics.

I will graduate from USC in May 2018 and will invest in early-stage technology companies at a venture capital firm. After obtaining two years of work experience, I plan on getting an MBA with an emphasis in Finance at either Harvard or Stanford. In ten years, I would like to have my own private equity firm that invests in real estate, technology and natural resources.

Once I complete my MBA, I plan to work at an investment banking firm in their technology, media and telecommunications group, which will help me transition into private equity. I plan on pursuing my dreams by having a strong understanding of reality combined with my determination to create value in areas that I am passionate about. Additionally, I believe that embracing adversity and being reflective will help me progress towards my goals.

I adopted my mother’s strong set of values. She is hard-working and loyal to her family, which are attributes that I have acquired from her. My father and I are similar in terms of the fact that we are both solution-driven individuals who accept challenges and accurate criticism as tools for reflection that lead to personal growth. A difference between my father and I is our ability to take on risk. Personally, I consider myself to be a risk taker given that I think it is important for one to get out of their comfort zone and learn from their mistakes whereas my father is more conservative. The difference between my mother and I is the fact that she is short tempered and can become irritated quickly.

I have developed my own expectations for myself. Everyone has a specific purpose in life and they should not operate under someone else’s expectations or else they would lead a life that does not satisfy their personal desires.

Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, serves as a model of someone who leads a life with great passion and personal responsibility.

I feel a special connection with Lions because they protect their loved ones and exemplify strength and courage.

A significant encounter I had with a plant during my childhood was with a tulip. Tulips always cheer me up since they symbolize love, which reminds me of my mother given that her name Laleh means tulip.