Roy Adefarakan 🇺🇸

Most dating apps ask: do you like their photos? SPARK asks better questions. Are they worth meeting? What would you actually do together? Will you both show up? Because people reveal themselves through behaviour, not profiles. How they train. How they communicate. How they carry themselves. SPARK is a premium membership for serious athletes in London. Curated introductions. Shared activity. Real-world presence. A run at sunrise. Tennis after work. A proper conversation after. Not more swiping. A better way to meet.

@speedrun @andrewchen The team should look at doing something in London. Happy to help.

@andrewchen We’ll be there!

who’s in boston/nyc later over the next few weeks? The team is hosting a bunch of stuff alongside portcos, partners, etc — May 26-June 7 Boston Tech Week, followed by NY Tech Week right after. This is going to our biggest Tech Week ever:

- We have over  2000+ events - 15+ tracks - infra, founders, engineers, hackathons etc - 50+ portcos participating: OpenAI, Elevenlabs, Deel, Gamma, xAI, Stripe and speedrun companies too

@w_milczynska Yep, one of the few things worth paying a premium for. The right environment unlocks the right people/opportunities.

@royhrcg agreed! having the right people around you is key :) been focusing on building that a lot recently!

the quality of your life is heavily influenced by the quality of your conversations

I sell myself the best hours of the day, the world can buy the rest.

@w_milczynska @dunkhippo33 Agreed, also living the problem you’re trying to solve is a big alpha.

@royhrcg @dunkhippo33 true, as long as you double down on the right problem :)

Lots of founders pursue business opportunities to make a buck. I get it. But it is way easier to get through tough times if you are mission oriented and would love doing the work for 30 years even if you didn’t get paid a dime.

@w_milczynska @dunkhippo33 A lot of success in life comes down to your capacity to take pain and stay in the arena long enough. Anything meaningful is rarely a sprint. It is a marathon.

@dunkhippo33 spot on! left a stable doctor job because I love the problem I'm solving. when everything goes wrong (which can be often for startups!), being mission driven is so so important

This is true for founders, athletes, and life generally. A lot of success comes down to your capacity to take pain, stay in the arena, and survive long enough for the moment to come.

Running solves about 99% of my problems 😂

Nobody cares. Not in a cruel way. But in the most useful way. Nobody is coming to reward your excuses. Nobody is coming to save you because you had good reasons for struggling. The world responds to what you do next. All the energy you spend explaining why things are hard would be better used finding a way forward. Feel it. Process it. Then move. Because in the end, the only thing that changes anything is what you do next. Ben Horowitz

The body is the first system you learn to manage.

@sophiaamoruso DM’d

7 things I look for in founders before I invest: 1. They've lived the problem or watched people live the problem. That problem must be acute, and acute for a lot of people. 2. They know the industry from the inside. They've either built in it before or worked on it before. 3. They ask for things shamelessly. Entitlement gets a bad rap, but the best founders can do it with grace. 4. They can sell to actual customers, not just investors? Storytelling is key. 5. They show up publicly. Anyone can build anything today, so distribution is more important than ever. 6. They can pivot without losing the plot. Your first idea is often your worst idea. This one takes humility. 7. Can they ship fast? No navel gazing. 8. I genuinely like them. These are relationships that span 10+ years, and we've gotta be able to hang.

Don’t just exist. Carry some force.

Never underestimate the power of just locking-in for a while and just doing the work.

@CathieDWood deserves a lot of credit for her big bet on SpaceX in the early days.

@signulll @levelsio Most underrated but yet efficient way to network is to sign up to a premium gym in your city - that’s the unlock.

@levelsio i love that they exist as the purest anti signal. the world needs anti signals as well.

Network events are for losers

Go outside. Do something different.

No matter how hard things get, just keep going.

@brettcalhounn Check your DM

The market size slide can wait. Tell us why you're the only person on earth who can build this. $250k–$500k. Pre-seed. Link in bio.

@AdamDraper VC congratulating themselves 😂

I believe VC is the most important asset class. What we do at its best can change the world for the better.