

Kayode
7.1K posts

@Kayodeodeleye
Partner Venture Capital Special Situation Fund @23mile | Host, 23mile Podcast (Tech M&A and Turnaround Stories)





Well, that was a crazy turn of events. Three weeks ago, I thought Parker was going to be acquired in a deal worth nearly $90M. Yesterday, we filed for Chapter 7. I spent most of my twenties building Parker. We went from an idea in YC to processing over $1B in annualized volume, pioneered products that became standard across fintech, and built something I believed could last for decades. And now it’s over. I know there’s going to be speculation about why Parker failed, but a lot of what’s being said online is simply not accurate. Over the last few years, we faced leadership turnover, a much tougher market, slowing growth, and the realities of trying to scale a venture-backed business after momentum fades. Earlier this year, we decided the best path forward was to pursue a sale of the business. We ran a process and spent months working toward a potential acquisition that ultimately did not close. After that, things moved quickly. The hardest part is the impact on the people involved: •Customers dealing with disruption •Employees losing jobs they worked hard for •Investors who believed in us losing money What I am proud of is the team. Parker was built by incredibly talented people who deserved a better outcome than this. Helping them land somewhere great is my top priority right now. If you’re hiring operators, engineers, designers, finance, credit, or growth talent, please reach out. To everyone who believed in Parker over the years: thank you.




The only 2 places where I felt ambition like this are the US and China Nomad hubs like Bali and Thailand are nice but often people there get stuck coasting at $5K MRR because it's just cheaper to live there, so that puts kind of a natural limit on ambition, very quickly you already make "enough" SF/NYC are so ridiculously expensive to live, so you HAVE to make a lot of money, and the high cost of living is a natural filter that keeps only broke but super ambitious or already successful people (and of course nepo babies esp NYC) China is not so much expensive to live, but there's some natural cultural ambition to become #1 in everything that's very infectious


When I see people quit coffee I always shake my head Single thing you consume with pretty much only benefits you're throwing out for what?

This woman just made ultramarathon history in 56-hour, 250-mile run in Arizona. Rachel Entrekin won the Cocodona 250 outright in a 56-hour, 250+mile effort, beating the entire men’s field, setting a new course record, and marking a landmark moment in ultrarunning history.





What's one thing you find exciting that most people find boring?


I cannot lie, running with a BMI of ~21 is much more enjoyable than running with a BMI of 24. If you have a few extra lbs to lose, would recommend.

Someone’s going to make a lot of money with this idea: AI personal trainers for execs. AI-native 22-year-olds charging $1000+/hr to automate workflows, set up agents, etc. Can be done remotely. Oppt'y is bigger than the $50B gym trainer market.