I started my first company, Modern Automotive Performance, out of a bedroom closet in 2006. By 2011, we landed at number 403 on the Inc. 500 list of the fastest-growing privately held companies in America. We grew to about 80 people and $44 million in revenue before I sold the company in 2020. These days I enjoy facilitating strategic planning sessions for local entrepreneurs and helping portfolio companies at Traction Capital, where I'm a General Partner.
While I had managed to find success in the business world, it turns out that I wasn't so good at friendship. When I left the business, I found out the hard way just how many of my friendships had been held together by where I spent my days. Some faded. Some I let slip. Making and keeping friends as an adult suddenly felt like work I didn't know how to do.
So I got curious and decided to document my journey. I read the research, talked with anyone willing to talk about it, and started practicing on my own life, with mixed results. The New Rules of Friendship is what came out of that.
This isn't a book from a friendship expert. It's a book from someone who got it wrong, wants to get it right, and is inviting you to come along.
I live in Minnesota with my wife, Heather, and our two daughters. You'll usually find me at a Wild game or on the ice for beer league hockey.