Tracy DiNunzio (TW: @TRACYDINUNZIO, TRADESY.COM) is a killer. She’s the founder and CEO of Tradesy, which has taken off like a rocket ship. She’s raised $75 million from investors including Richard Branson, Kleiner Perkins, and yours truly, and board members include the legendary John Doerr. Tradesy is on a mission to make the resale value of anything you own available on demand. Their tagline is “Cash in on your closet.”
Spirit animal: Bee
“I was born with spina bifida, which is a congenital birth defect where your vertebrae don’t form around your spinal cord. This is likely attributed to my dad’s exposure to Agent Orange when he was in Vietnam…. I did a lot of painting when I was recovering from surgeries, so I had to use interesting techniques, like crawling on the floor to make the painting because I couldn’t stand up. [As a coping mechanism] I tried complaining and being bitter. It didn’t work. It was just terrible…. Stephen Hawking actually has the best quote on this and also [a] legitimate story…. [He] has the right to complain probably more than anybody. He says that, ‘When you complain, nobody wants to help you,’ and it’s the simplest thing and so plainly spoken. Only he could really say that brutal, honest truth, but it’s true, right? If you spend your time focusing on the things that are wrong, and that’s what you express and project to people you know, you don’t become a source of growth for people, you become a source of destruction for people. That draws more destructiveness.
“Because I was thinking about how I was in pain and talking about how I was in pain, it started a momentum that went in a negative direction in my life. At one point, probably 2006 to 2007, I just decided to put myself on a ‘complaining diet,’ where I said, ‘Not only am I not going to say anything negative about the situation I’m in, but I’m not going to let myself think anything negative about it.’ … It took a long time and I wasn’t perfect at it, but … not only did replacing those thoughts helped me start moving my life in a better direction, where I wasn’t obsessing about what was wrong, … it also made me not feel physical pain as much, which is very liberating and kind of necessary if you want to do anything.”
“If anybody is going to go out and pitch investors, my advice is to make your first 10 meetings with investors that you don’t really want funding from, because you’re probably going to suck in the beginning. I sucked for a really long time.”
TF: Even Jerry Seinfeld bombs with early material (see the Comedian documentary), so he develops it at small venues. Nike tests a lot of their new products and campaigns in places like New Zealand before getting on the big stage in the United States. I was turned down 27 times when pitching The 4-Hour Workweek to New York City publishers. Fortunately, you often only need one publisher, one lead investor, one X. Book your A list for after your first 10 pitches.