10 Years of Learning

1990s

• John wins Morrisson VISA Lottery
• David Moves to London

• With no family and a vow not to return home because he had a kid on the way, John spends 63 days on the streets of Boston and is one of the many homeless people and families living on the streets. The most impactful thing to happen in his life, along with his children.

• David is in The South African Navy (No Joke) and
• John starts a magazine

The Birth

1999

• David and John met when David’s software company merged with John’s magazine (founded with Julie Steeves). The connection was instant. The magazine already had 25,000 readers.  With the merger on Liberty Street, the Brothers in Business were born. They agreed and respected the dignity that should be associated with sales and service people. It is very clear that they have a symbiotic business relationship. John is the balloon and David is the String. Each partner’s purpose perfectly balanced and designed in its importance.

The Wilderness

2000’s

• David gets all grown up and works at DNS, an email security company. 
• He also works to understand all operational aspects of running and scaling a secure SAAS Business. Eventually he is posh enough to be a forensic expert and married Betsy. (The single luckiest thing that ever happened to anyone)

• John works for branding experts with global brands and finds himself in the emerging world of mobile payments. John realizes that America is not ready for this world yet and won’t really be until now. He moves to the emerging and frontier markets of Europe, Middle East, and Africa.

• David and John emerge from the wilderness with real corporate governance infrastructure and best practices. John starts a business and is in dire straits (often). He calls David pledging never to be a balloon without a string. 50 million amazing stories, 40 companie, 9 great kids and partners and siblings and co-workers later we get to 2011.