Embarking on a New Adventure!
Moving to London + what's next for me
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Life has a funny way of accelerating change once it starts.
In the span of three months, I've launched The Fundraising Blueprint, started a podcast, and literally a week ago, hopped on a 24 hour flight to move across the world to London.
It’s been exhilarating but also slightly terrifying (especially when I order a veggie burger for dinner and I convert the bill back to AUD!)
Last October, I wrote about how risk tolerance is earned through small acts of courage.
After writing that article, it actually sparked a journey of introspection on whether I was personally taking enough risk.
At that point, I’d just gotten married to my beautiful wife and we were finally settling into a new routine and lifestyle. We’d hit a really good steady state of comfort where it felt like things were in a great spot.
I was also busy building my dream career at Rampersand, surrounded by amazing people that nurtured my curiosity, provided invaluable guidance and afforded me freedoms that many workplaces would not. Working with Paul, Taryn, Andrew and everyone else at Rampersand will undoubtedly be a pivotal point in my career and certainly a highlight.
Something that I’ve always wanted to try and never really had the courage to do is Tim Ferriss’ notion of taking a mini retirement. As he puts it, mini retirements allow you to bring forward some of the activities you might do in retirement like slow, extended travel or deep learning while you're still young enough to let these experiences shape your perspective and career.
So far, a week into my London adventure, I've been blessed with amazing weather. Wandering the centuries-old cobblestone streets with the unstructured freedom of funemployment feels like being a kid again where time stretches endlessly and every corner promises a new discovery.
As it’s my first time in Europe, I’m hoping to be able to do more of this in the coming months through random towns and cities through the continent (would love all of your recommendations!).
In addition to traveling and exploring a new environment, I’m eager to build up a different set of skills and tackle a variety of other professional and personal challenges.
Whilst I’ve tried hard to define what these actually are, to be honest I’ve found it pretty hard to pinpoint what these could be.
The only point of clarity I have is that I’d love to keep working with startup founders of all stages in a strategic capacity.
As a VC, I gained a lot of energy and enjoyed working closely with founders on their fundraising narratives and on how to practically build momentum within a business through increasing velocity of product iteration and distribution.
Outside of that, I’ve always enjoyed helping founders think through the toughest problems they may be facing and coaching them through the challenges of early-stage company building.
My hope is that I’m able to do this in some capacity on a bigger stage and at a bigger scale in London. And whilst I might not be a full-time VC, I hope to also spend more time building my angel portfolio and supporting early-stage founders through a combination of capital and direct insight from my experiences.
I've already started meeting fascinating people in London and I'm eager to connect with more founders, operators, and investors who are building interesting things here (or anywhere in the world).
Whether you're working on early-stage challenges, thinking through fundraising strategy, or looking for strategic support, I'd love to chat. You can reach me on LinkedIn here or via email at abhishekmaran1997[@]gmail[.]com.
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Abhi
Mini-retirements are the best. I've done a few of them and my biggest leaps in personal growth have come from those periods. The extra time and space is such a gift.