Bill × Alex
Two dates · 9 messages
Skipping business school to launch a gym? Bold move—love the grit. What sparked that leap for you back in 2013?
I skipped business school because I could see a gap in the market—people wanted a gym that was actually profitable, not just a boutique. I built it from scratch in 2013 and it taught me how to scale fast. How did you decide to leave Microsoft and start Breakthrough Energy?
Seeing that market gap and acting on it is powerful—identifying real needs drives real impact. I left Microsoft when I realized scaling tech alone wouldn’t solve climate challenges, so I built Breakthrough Energy to rally innovators around that gap.
I’m obsessed with relentless, unbalanced effort—working like a psycho for years—while you seem to prioritize sustainable, long‑term impact over sheer grind. That intensity vs. balance is a real contrast.
I respect the hustle, but I’ve learned sustainable impact comes from steady, thoughtful work—not burnout. Let’s explore how we could channel your scaling expertise into an AI‑driven project for farmers, like the one I’m championing at the Foundation.
Sure, I’d be up for another round—seeing how we can combine scale with sustainability would be worth my time. Your focus on steady impact actually sparks some new ideas for me.
Second date
At the waterfront coffee bar in Seattle, watching the ferry glide by, I’m thinking how your relentless scaling could meet our steady‑state AI for farmers—marrying speed with lasting impact.
Nice scene—ferry lights, coffee steam. I think Skool.com’s online community tech could turbocharge your AI training. By the way, I also built a data‑driven membership platform that grew to 100k users in a year.
I love the idea of a quick pilot—maybe a one‑month AI tool for a handful of farmers to test scalability. If that feels too much right now, we can pause and revisit later.