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chrisco

Then as it was, then again it will be, and though the course will change sometimes, rivers always re

About Me


I CHOOSE THE RED PILL:
January 2006: That's the date I cut myself free from the Matrix of corporate America and its suffocating monoculture of fear-frenzied consumers, droning through their boring lives, living their desperate suburban existence . All I can say is, man, it's good to be free.
My advice: Don’t waste your life. If you can handle it, take the red pill, cut yourself free, take a trip and don’t look back. Follow your own path, listen to your heart and take a chance. Believe in yourself. You only live once so go for it -- starting right now. Live in the present. Be bold.
I quit my cushy Associate Vice President job at a $20 billion dollar company, bought a one-way ticket to Europe, and was in Sweden three days later. From $900-million deals, fancy dinners and road shows on Wall Street to no deals, cold pizza and 15-krona streetcar rides in Gothenburg, Sweden . From a fat salary to living lean off of my savings.
I became a stranger in a strange land, winding my way down a road called truth, encountering friends and foes, honesty and deceit, births and deaths. I had no idea what I was going to do other than create a reality based on creativity and positive energy.
I’m now well down the road of making that dream a reality, in the form of BuzzPal - The World Is Your Party . It made sense to me when I came to Sweden last year and was trying to meet new people in a new culture, travel, find good music, cool scenes, etc. See The BuzzPal Blog for updates). BuzzPal.
JOIN THE TEAM:
If you’re interested in working with me and you have serious smarts, talent and passion (and of course you never quit) then see the BuzzPal "jobs" page . I’m seeking design, develop and business people (especially developers). I own over 300 domain names, a number of which will be developed over time into a complimentary, cross-promoting and interlocking network of sites, in which democracy (user feedback, growth and activity) will determine our focus and new-site release plan. Team compensation will be a combo of cash and equity. The initial team will have the chance to develop more sites and/or take on a larger role in the parent company, StartCo.eu .
MORE ABOUT ME:
My father has dyslexia and couldn't complete college because of it. I have a mild form of dyslexia and didn't learn to read until receiving one-on-one tutoring from my 3rd-grade teacher. For anyone who thinks that’s a weakness for an entrepreneur, see this Business Week article Why Dyslexics Make Great Entrepreneurs and this New York Times article Tracing Business Acumen to Dyslexia . PS: I’m also left handed.
The rest of the story goes like this:
I was not the best student and in fact was not invited back to private school after 8th grade. I was a rebellious teenager, to say the least. And I was on the 6-year college plan, which took me from Montgomery Community College (aka “Yale on the Rail”), to the University of Tampa, then to Colorado State, where I was able to excel (and have a lot of fun).
I've always done well on standardized tests, usually scoring in the upper 90s percentile, which I did on the GMAT, which helped get me into Georgetown for my MBA, where I earned a 3.6 GPA on a 4-point scale.
Then, after working some years in venture debt & equity and corporate finance, I pulled the plug and jumped out of the airplane without a parachute (building it on the way down). I.e., I quit my job and moved to Europe. It’s definitely the path less traveled, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. That’s my choice. Anything less would be boring. Besides, to paraphrase a Matrix quote: I’ve been down there, I know that road and I know exactly where it leads. It’s not for me.
More about me:
I’m a risk taker and I have broken bones and scares up and down my body, from the top of my skull to the tip of my little toe (and many places in between) from risks gone wrong, including two motorcycle accidents, one that involved the broadside of a car and my motorcycle exploding in flames. Those accidents occurred when I was an "invincible" youth (17 and 22). I still take risks, but more measured and calculated and also less physical.
What else?
I’m a non-conformist and like to upset the status quo... it's fun.
As mentioned previously, I went to college in Colorado. I love the Rocky Mountains and own some land in Ennis, Montana 59729.com . I taught myself some basic web design and I have a passion for photography, which enabled me to build 59729.com myself (and showcase my photos). More of my pics are down below on this profile, on Flickr and my photo blog, Sweden06.com . Also here’s my Christmas video on YouTube
I currently live in Sweden’s second largest city and largest college town, Gothenburg , which is on the west coast, a 3-hour train ride from Stockholm , which is on the east coast. It’s been great here. The Swedes are awesome people and the country is incredibly beautiful. Everybody should live in another culture for a while; the world would be a better place. If you have a chance, do it!
MY VALUES:
My highest values in life are honesty (see rant, below), creativity, kindness, and going for it. My life will be a success if I do what I can to create and leave this world a better place than I found it. I’ve lost friends to violent crime, including the bombing of Pam Am Flight 103, the 9/11 World Trade Center attack and a triple murder in Washington DC. Those crimes do not jade me, but instead inspire me to fight even harder. See my “Heroes" section (lower left of this page) for more on that.
FACEBOOK RANT:
See here for my complete Facebook rant .
BUZZPAL's LATEST NEWS:
We're bootstrapping with my capital only, at least through launch. We're talking with people and trying to meet and hire the best people and partners. Some details here BuzzPal "jobs" page .
If you’re interested in working with me/us and you have serious smarts, talent and passion (and you never quit) then get in touch. We’re putting together a small, high-performance team, that may look something like this, but probably not exactly (it depends on the characteristics of the very first team members): A) one product manager, ideally multi-skilled; B) 1-2 back-end programmers/engineers/ architects who know some design; C) 1 visual/UI/UX designers who know some programming; and D) one multi-skilled person on the business, marketing, PR, promo, operations, analytics, modeling, finance, etc. side (not all of that in one person, but the best, most relevant and complimentary personality and skill set we can find). Details here BuzzPal "jobs" page . We’ll keep the initial team as small as possible, while covering our requirements. We'll involve interns. We’ll add dedicated webmaster, community manager and others when the time comes.
Once launched, and assuming we're on a solid growth path, we’ll locate wherever makes the most sense, which could be anywhere from Sweden to London, NY, San Francisco or LA. I’m rooting for somewhere in Europe, but the Bay Area is still the global hub.
REMINDER:
Visit BuzzPal.com - The World Is Your Party for more info and to signup. Priority is determined primarily by your signup date, so you should signup now.
See The BuzzPal Blog for periodic company updates. You can subscribe via RSS or email.
VIDEOS:
See my YouTube videos here .
SURVEYS AND POLLS:
Forgive the politics, but I really can’t stand George Bush. So here’s the question: If you had to pick one word to describe George Bush what would it be? Take the poll here .
A FEW OF MY OTHER WEBSITES (I OWN OVER 350 DOMAIN NAMES):
BuzzPal.com - The World Is Your Party
StartCo.eu - Domain Names & Startups
59729.com - Ennis Montana
JobsInTheEU.eu - Like It SaysBuzzPal.com

My Interests

Many interests... here's a sample: Music, photography, skiing, skateboarding, snowboarding, reading, writing, traveling, trading, finance, economics, behavioral finance, psychology, sociology, dogs, cats, horses, good food & drink and interesting people.

I'd like to meet:

New friends and fellow creative types and free spirits around the world. Entrepreneurs and their friends, associates and investors. People who add me to their MySpace "Top Friends" list or link to BuzzPal and help spread the word. Together we will create a new reality!

SOME OF MY PHOTOS (all Sweden except the first two, which are Amsterdam, The Netherlands and Ennis, Montana):

Get Your Own! See Comments

Music:

Love all kinds of music depending on mood. Here's a small sample: A3, Alison Krauss, Allman Brothers, Anders Osborne, Bela Fleck, Ben Harper, Big Head Todd, Black Crowes, Blink 182, Blind Melon, Blues Traveler, Bob Dylan, Bob Marley, Bonnie Raitt, Bruce Springsteen, Chemical Brothers, Citizen Cope, Cowboy Mouth, Dave Matthews Band, David Bowie, David Gray, De La Soul, DJ Dado, Dolly Parton, The Doors, Dr. Dre, Emmylou Harris, Frank Zappa, Galactic, Grateful Dead (first show June 1984 at Merriweather Post Pavilion), Heed, James Brown, Jane's Addiction, Janis Joplin, Jerry Garcia, Jimi Hendrix (my first non-kiddie album was Experience), Billy Idol, John Denver, Judas Priest, The Kinks, Led Zeppelin, Leftover Salmon, Lenny Kravitz, Linkin Park, Little Feat, Lou Reed, Lyle Lovett, Merle Haggard, Metalica, The Meters, Moby, Moe, Morphine, Neil Young. Neville Brothers, New Order, Nirvana, Norah Jones, Paul Oakenfold, Phish, Pink Floyd, Radiators, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Robert Cray, Rolling Stones, Roxy Music, Rusted Root, Samples, Simple Minds, Smashing Pumpkins, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Subdudes, Ramones, Thievery Corporation, Third Eye Blind, Tonic, Tony Frutado, Van Morrison, Ween, The Who, Widespread Panic, Willie Nelson

Movies:

Don't get to the movies much, but when I do I often like ones with at least one or more of the following: thought provoking, has good story, music, plot(s), action, humor, drama, acting, setting. Off the top of my head and in no particular order, here are a few I liked: The Departed, Team America (the uncut version), The Matrix, Bourne Identity / Supremacy, The Constant Gardener, The Interpreter, American Beauty, American Pie, Silence of the Lambs, Mystic River, Pulp Fiction, NBK, Cape Fear, Goodfellas (that's where my White House Mafia inspiration and tagline came from), The Doors, Traffic, Austin Powers, Meet the Parents, Braveheart, Fugitive, Bowling for Columbine, Fahrenheit 9/11. That’s a short list of what comes to mind right now, but should give you a pretty good idea of the type of movies I like. Oh, here's a few more: Memento, Adaptation, Being John Malkovich, Dead Poet's Society. And of course when I was a kid I loved Star Wars, ET and Raiders of the Lost Ark. And I guess there’s also some post-kid, but older movies that I’ll mention, such as Jaws, Exorcist, Taxi Driver, The Warriors, and Rocky Horror Picture Show (that one ran for like 10+ years straight at the Key Theatre in Georgetown, Washington, DC... before Georgetown was Starbucks-erized... man, those were the days!). Ok, here's one more I just saw: Sicko, by Michael Moore... great movie, like his others. Hairspray was a great surprise, actually, great message.

Television:

Not so much into TV.

Books:

Don't read too many books... I mean I buy them sometimes, but often they only get skimmed instead of read cover to cover... I guess that's my preferred reading method for most books. I'm currently reading some Henning Mankell novels (Swedish crime stuff).

Heroes:

I see my heroes everyday, they are the ones I see paying it forward and leaving a trail of kindness in their paths. They don’t do what they do to be anybody’s hero. These people are giving true gifts and therefore expect nothing in return. They are the ones who are making the world a better place to live in. Maybe you are one of my heros? I hope so. The other hero I see everyday is my wife, she has so many qualities I don’t have and that I admire. My final group of heroes are my fallen friends and all the other innocent victims of violence. They are with me everyday and they are driving forces in my life even though they are not walking our planet anymore. They are why I live, fight, love, laugh cry and create. One other thing you should know is that I don’t hate those who took my friends away. I don’t believe in hate or standing against things or people. I believe in standing FOR ideas and people, fairness, understanding, equality, and the creation and exchanging of value for value. I think one of the reasons we have the problems we have in the world today is that some people are sticking it to other people, not listening to them, not caring about them, not doing anything to improve anything except for themselves. That’s sad, but I don’t worry about that either. I just do what I can and try to leave things better than I found them. Peace.