2025 in review: curiosity, creation, ambition, and community

As I look back on the year, paging through the notes I kept along the way, a pattern emerges:

What gave me the most satisfaction wasn’t the number of investments, the events and conferences, or even the travel — it was the feeling of making things. The line “be a player not a victim” stayed with me throughout the year. On the days when I created something — a new robotics framework, a sharper investment thesis, a storyline that finally clicked, or a piece of writing that expressed something clearly — I felt grounded and energized. The act of shaping ideas into something tangible brought a steady, quiet joy that I only fully appreciated in hindsight. 

Another source of pleasure was deep curiosity. So many entries begin with reading, learning, or pulling on a thread — robotics software, military doctrine, industrial software architectures, or the evolving nature of agentic AI. There were times when I disappeared into research and resurfaced with a new insight or slide that clarified how the world works. Those moments reminded me that I am happiest when my mind is fully engaged, when I’m learning for the sake of learning, not because someone expects it. 

I also noticed how much energy I drew from supporting founders and seeing them sharpen their ambition. Not every conversation was easy, but the good ones — the ones where a founder took a real step forward — stayed with me. There is a particular satisfaction in helping someone find their edge or their next move, especially when they’re working on something technically hard or operationally bold. These interactions made me feel part of something larger, and they reminded me why I’ve stayed in this world for so long. 

Communities mattered more than I expected. The Defense, Intelligence and Aerospace Special Interest Group (DIA SIG) at the Band of Angels developed into a place where I could contribute, learn, and shape something with others. Stanford University — in its events, its conversations, and even its everyday atmosphere — was another source of inspiration. What I enjoyed most was not the networking but the proximity to people who are in motion, who care about ideas, who push themselves and others. Being around that kind of energy has an amplifying effect. 

Craftsmanship also played a larger role than I realized at the time. I took real pleasure in producing high-quality work — an industrial software matrix that clarified a pattern, a robotics slide that simplified complexity, a board presentation that finally said what needed saying. There’s something deeply satisfying about precision: about taking a messy cluster of thoughts and turning it into something clear, structured, and useful. 

And then there were the conversations that stayed with me. Breakfasts, long walks, late-afternoon coffees, unexpected moments of candor — whenever I spent time with people I care about, the day felt fuller. I repeatedly wrote that I should “make meeting people a higher priority,” and reading those lines now, I see why: the human connections were often the highlight of the week. 

All of this leads to a simple realization: I thrive where curiosity, creation, ambition, and community intersect. Not just investing, not just advising, not just thinking — but combining them. The most fulfilling days were the ones where I learned something new, shaped it into something meaningful, shared it with people who care, and felt part of a broader arc of progress. That is the throughline in my notes, and the clearest insight I’m taking with me.