Julio Gomez on Serendipity
You have to keep your eyes out because you never know
I was destined to meet Julio Gomez. I remember exactly how it happened. Back in the nascent days of the Internet, I was working in NY for a web consulting firm where I was focused on selling into financial services. To be honest, I was new, not very familiar with the industry, and not very good.
But I asked my boss if I could attend the SIA (Securities Industry Association) show to prospect potential customers. Once there, I noticed that Julio was the keynote speaker talking about how the Internet was going to disrupt brokerage and banking. (For the sake of context, Julio had just hit rockstar status as the multi-year All-Star Internet analyst at Forrester Research covering FinServ.
I had to talk to him but how does a nobody get noticed. As the day wound down, I saw my opportunity. It was happy hour at the SIA, and Julio was casually chatting at the bar. I summoned all my courage, strolled to the bar and introduced myself to him. Maybe it was my boldness, maybe it was luck, maybe it was the fact that we had both gone to Princeton, but he took an interest in me.
In fact, after a couple of email followups and conversations, he invited me to meet him up in the Boston area where he was putting together his startup Gomez Advisors. After a leisurely lunch with my wife and I at the Colonial Inn in Concord, MA, I remember he turned to my wife and told her he was going to make me an offer, I should take it and that would change my life.
As it happens, he was right. You never know when those chance occurrences are going to happen, so keep your eyes and ears open and don't be afraid to make a fool of yourself.
