My rock and my rock star

It isn’t often that a founder is lucky enough to find not one but two co-founders to take a dream to a reality. This spring, after a very long search, I found Mary Jo Becker, my rock and Paolo Resteghini, our long awaited “rock star”. 

One of the hardest things for a founder to do, particularly when that person is the inventor of the solution, is to find a team that is capable (and dare I say worthy) of taking over the ownership of the product roadmap.  

Eureka! I’ve found them!

I talk about Mary Jo as my rock, because she is absolutely rock solid in the skills that she brings to our new tech venture in her role as Chief Product Officer. We met just after September 11th when tackling the tough problem of vetting nefarious travelers using GDS data and incredible technology that would map them to watch lists and databases only known to three letter agencies of our government. 

Last year, when I needed someone to test my new proximity based hotel booking concept, Mary Jo stepped up and plugged it into her ArizonaGolfTrails.com system. Earlier this year when I needed help building the company, she jumped in with both feet, hopping on a plane to Tampa with very little notice. She never looked back and was the first one to be “all in” to the new venture.

Right around the same timeframe, I was introduced by a client to Paolo, who despite his Italian moniker, is as British as they come. I knew right away that he was something special and this has been reinforced over and over again as we have seen his work and watched how he tackles problems. Paolo has been programming and designing since he was 12 years old, so he is a true veteran, despite his youth. His business maturity belies his age.

Seek and you shall find. But beware, you may need to be really patient. 

It is worth the wait. 

Stay tuned and I’ll introduce you to the rest of our amazing team.