Nicholas Mancini: [00:00:00] I can make both make money and make you feel good. Um, that to me is a feeling and I have, I used to feel very bad about going to work when I was working at a corporation. I haven't felt bad about going to work and over 12 months.

David Fano: All right, well, thanks for joining today. Where with Nick man. Uh, who I've had the pleasure of getting to know for a while, talked a lot about careers. We've done some classes together and has just had a really interesting career of sort of dipping a toe in entrepreneurship than selling a company and then, uh, deepen the crypto on web three space.

So I'm super excited for him to tell his career story, but, um, but first let's kick it, kick it off with you telling us a little bit about.

Nicholas Mancini: Yeah, thanks so much for teeing it up. Dave, my name is Nick Manzini and uh, currently what I do is I build brands and communities specifically. So, uh, the web three economy opened up an interesting kind of marketing opportunity.

And what I specialize in is the management [00:01:00] leadership and. Of communities as a whole, specifically in the web three space, but there we're seeing plenty of opportunity moving forward. So a little bit about me is, uh, previously was in finance, moved into entrepreneurship, moved back into the corporate world via, uh, cloud, uh, sales with Oracle, but was always focused on the startup side.

Every bit of that. So even. Even on the finance side, focused on startups, innovation, and all that fun stuff. And I've carried that through my whole career. So everything I like to do is a little bit forward focused. Um, I love the web three economy. I love people. Um, and, uh, I also love teal, so I'm a very glad that we were able to have this conversation.

So.

David Fano: Awesome. Thanks for that. Um, thanks for your continual support. Yeah. The shout outs on Twitter and all the cool things you've done for us. All right. So. Like careers, it's kind of tricky to identify where, where they start. Right. I have a deep belief that we don't change careers. We build careers. Um, and every little thing we do is just kind of like building on this awesome thing.[00:02:00]

Um, but when would you say was the first time in your life that you started to think about a career and the decisions you were making? Even if there were the wrong ones, we'd be like, Hey, this is gonna affect like my.

Nicholas Mancini: Yeah. So I think probably like the biggest one, probably the, the point that pivoted everything to me is actually in college.

And when I switched my major, um, that's probably not entirely relevant, but it did lead me down the path of being interested in tech as a whole. So I'll never forget that day in that professor, that conversation. So that was meaningful. But I would say in my actual career, after I had started with a full-time job, that moment would probably be the day where.

We're in it. When I was in finance, we were afforded an opportunity to, to kind of go around and meet people, kind of carb lunch, you know? No, no expectations, just be nice and people will speak to you for 10, 15 minutes. And so I took that, I heard about the innovation labs and I was like, I need to meet whoever runs this place.

And I had, I think I talked to him for 10 minutes now. And to the meeting, I [00:03:00] want to do what you do. Um, I was like, whatever we need to do whenever we need to figure it out, like I will do it. Please just let me know. And he took that very much to heart and gave me the opportunity. So I'd say, you know, it could have been the day that I taught it could have been the real conversation we had, but I'll never forget, you know, the entire exposure to the opportunity, the chance to have the conversation, and then just putting it all out there.

And. This is what I want to do without that moment. I actually thought about it before this conversation. I don't know if I'd be here today. Like, you know, if I was not afforded the opportunity to work with hundreds of startups or, you know, kind of, you know, put myself out there, um, not everybody gets the chance and they ask for it.

So to me that was like such a big deal because it was a culmination of interests and sticking your neck out when you're. Um, and then having to perform when you get the chance to, to also perform. So it was, it's a, it was a big moment for me and I still never forget. I've been meaning to actually reach out to that guy, uh, who gave me the opportunity ever saw and go, it's been in my notes to like write him a letter, but it's such a weird thing to do.

It's very personal, [00:04:00] so I need to do it. But, um, so you kind of reminded me of that as.

David Fano: Oh, that's awesome. And so talk us through that a little bit. Cause I think a lot of people know, one of our goals with this podcast is to give people a little bit of a lens into the thought process. One to show them that other people are going through these kinds of things and making these tough decisions are not unique.

Uh, not in the sense that there's, isn't unique to them, but in that like a lot of people struggle with these things or maybe struggle not the right word, but like are confronted. Um, and so you were doing something you didn't love it sort of you were presented with this operative. You were made aware of something else you could do, which I think is oftentimes what holds people's career back to just pure lack of awareness that you can even do certain jobs, I think more so than ever given all the cool things that are popping up every day, but kind of what was that?

Like, you were doing a thing, like you had a degree in it, you were like, well, on that path and you're like, wait a second. This isn't it like. Kind of like what helped you have the courage to like jump and make a change?

Nicholas Mancini: Yeah. So I've always [00:05:00] been a bit of the person who raises their hand. Maybe not every time that they should, you know, and it's, it's hurt me as much as it's helped me.

But again, you know, I think the steps I've taken forward, beat the ones taken back. But in that, in that context in general, I think the biggest that might like the first piece of advice. And I gave this to everybody who I met when I was a senior in college and had had a job, is join clubs, join organizations within the umbrella that you're already in.

Um, oftentimes if you're in a larger corporation or a company that's, you know, maybe over, at least over a hundred employees, they'll have some sort of subset where it's, you know, potentially veterans or it could be with. It could be LGBT, could be, you know, the, a flag football club, like sign up for things that are happening in your organization and you will be better for it because it creates a networking opportunity.

And that's really where you always learn about that's where awareness is created. Right. For the most part. So that's like the first thing is just getting. Even if you hate your job or you're in the doldrums or whatever, the more people you meet, I guarantee you it'll probably open up a door, uh, more so than it will close it.

So that's probably the biggest thing to [00:06:00] me. Um, that, that, that kind of helped push me in that direction is just, I, I practice what I preach. Uh, but then in, in the, in the subset of actually making the decision, having the conversation, putting my neck or neck out there, um, I was always kind of entrepreneurial to begin with.

So, you know, for me, sitting at the desk all day was not an end all be all and not anything I wanted to do. Long-term so I was kind of day one, like I'm going to do my work, but if I have downtime, I'm going to start researching and I'm going to start looking at what I can do to apply my interests within the organization, because it's generally easier to get hired in a new.

If you are in a large corporation, you kind of have to do your one or two years. Um, and then you can move. So, you know, if you are, if you're in a bigger place, this opportunity is more prevalent than if you're in a smaller place. Um, but it doesn't mean that it, it kind of cuts you out anyway. So research and just understanding when you have the downtime, look for the opportunities that you want to see.

And I know it's not the easiest answer, cause it just requires more work. Already supposed to be working. Um, but I think about it as an investment [00:07:00] because like time is a tool time as a resource, just like money. Um, and if you're putting an hour worth of research towards the career you want, then eventually, you know, hopefully what you're studying and the skills you recruit will be worth more by the time you reach that goal.

So then you're making more money and you're rewarded for the time spent to begin with. So the way I just think about things is like getting involved and like, I try to do that with everybody and everything is just, how can we kind of take friendship and community and camaraderie to the next level and then be explore, you know, figure out what your interests are.

And we had this conversation when I joined CLL. Uh, I asked you like, how do you figure it out? What you want to do? Like how do you figure out what you're good at when you don't really know? And I remember I wanted to get into project product management specifically, and we had the conversation. You gave me a bunch of tips and it was, it was research based.

You have to trial and error. You have to look up what you want to do. You have to ask the questions, you have to practice it. Um, and then you have to put your neck out there. So when you're younger, I will say, if you go, any people listening are in college. You're in your early twenties. It's a lot [00:08:00] easier to do what I'm saying than it is probably later stage because you are more established, maybe your connections run deeper.

So it's tough to just kind of pick up and move somewhere else. But I'm watching people do it all the time in crypto in tech. And it's simply, it starts with generally a question and a question. How can I help? How can I benefit you? How can I learn? It's really tough to turn down those questions. I don't care if you're screwed, you know, if you're the Grinch, you know, if you, if someone asks, like how can I help you?

And you say like, you know, screw you, like, that's your own fault. So, um, I always look for those people and I always encourage those to do so. It won't work nine times out of 10, but it will work more often than not. You know, if you, if you continue to practice, you know, that, that kind of a pattern.

David Fano: Awesome.

I think there's a lot, a lot there. Um, right. So you get this, this job, um, that you kind of, like you became aware of, you were super stoked, you landed it, you convinced someone to hire you. Um, what, what was it like being in a job that, you know, you kind of just became aware of? And I, I would assume [00:09:00] that means you were teaching yourself on the fly.

Yeah.

Nicholas Mancini: And it's, so again, I just want to caveat that my experience was, you know, young age. So you do get a bit of the benefit of the doubt when you're, when you're a young, young person in the industry, but, uh, you're a hundred percent, right? I mean, I literally went and bought books. I bought like a, some of these books, um, the messy middle there's, one of them radical candor is another one venture deals, financial intelligence.

I started reading and I started researching. So whatever I could do, like I remember going into my boss's office and like, And when you were a younger person in the industry, you get put with work and sometimes it takes you 12 hours. Sometimes it takes you four any day. It would take me three or four. I'd go.

What else can I do? Can I sit in on this meeting? Can I take notes for you? You know, I just found stuff to do because when you're working at a bank or how, when you're working at a large corporation and you're just an employee, Sometimes you have to find things to do to keep busy into Ford your career.

So I was just kind of always that person I wanted to read. I wanted to learn and I communicated to my superiors that [00:10:00] I am here to accrue knowledge just as much as I am to deliver value to the. And so I just kind of put it to them very honestly, that, you know, I had a desire to learn as much as I did to work.

And as long as my work was done, then they allowed, you know, the forwards of, you know, my, my interests. And so I think, you know, that doesn't happen all the time, but I think, you know, that comes down to an honest conversation and obviously putting yourself out there as well.

David Fano: So, so this job was innovation specialist at Deutsche bank's innovation labs.

Yes. Yes,

Nicholas Mancini: precisely. And I was working with startups and venture capital. Well, I think

David Fano: is worth highlighting there. Is it like, if you're clear on what you want to do it, shouldn't, let's not say no matter where you work, but if you look hard enough and long enough, there's probably something not too far out of your reach, like right where you are.

Uh, which I think is super

Nicholas Mancini: cool. And that can apply to both interests or skills or whatever. So like, what I was doing was working with venture capital and I wanted to learn about startups and how money worked and funding. [00:11:00] Cause I was already entrepreneurial and I was, that was where my interest lies. So I, you know, I held it, had all the buzzwords I wanted.

So maybe, you know, if you're looking to. Maybe it's within your department to a new specification. Maybe you're working closer with product. Maybe you're working closer with clients, you know, find out whatever your interests are. So you can gather a few of those skills. That'll allow you to make the next leap potentially with another company or a leg up in your own company.

So, you know, cause if you're just doing back office the whole time and you have a desire to work with clients or work with front facing our front office type stuff, then you know, what can you do? In back office that liaises with front office, more so than not so that you can gather the experience, make the connections and et cetera, et cetera.

So to me, you know, although this isn't a, one-to-one what stuck out to me initially was just who they were working with and what they were doing. I was just like, these are the things that I want to work with to put on my. And that's kind of how I, how I move

David Fano: forward. So now you got exposure to start ups.

You're getting exposure to like the startup ecosystem, how the dollars move around. Um, so what came [00:12:00] next? Like when, when was that next thing? Like, all right, cool. I'm going to do the next.

Nicholas Mancini: Crypto came next. Uh, I, as I was working for Georgia Vago, when you're working in innovation, you have to, you, you almost feel a primordial need to understand what's happening on the innovation landscape.

Like you just, you kind of wake up and feel out of the loop cause everyone else. In the loop or at least it seems that way. So I was into crypto. I was, you know, what is this new thing? I think what it also, what got me into crypto is, you know, very gambler asks, like I made like a five X on a token when I was in college.

And I was like, you know what? This is always going to be in the back of my mind. Like, I'm all like wondering what's going on here. So when the, everybody in the office is like, you know, where's the deal flow, what's happening here. And I'm like, I'm the, I was the defacto crypto guy in the office. So, uh, this was 2017.

So. Barely anybody was talking about it at length and it was very much kind of scam territory. So I did get a lot of eyebrows, but it afforded me the chance to prove myself. And when someone tells you no, or it tells you that you're an idiot, nothing kind of [00:13:00] fuels your fire more so to prove them wrong, especially when you're about 22 years old.

So, uh, so I literally ran with it. Um, and through that I found communities, uh, and I found camaraderie and I found. A sense of belonging that I had never felt before, because crypto was such an economy of people like me wanting to learn. Um, and then, oh my gosh, you can just make money in your free time instead of just investing time in your free time.

So it was kind of a fascination of all of that coming under one roof. And then eventually, like it was, it was the, I think just over a year of my time with. And a couple of people that I was already in a community with. We're like, Hey, we have this product together. Like you're really good at growing community.

And communicating with people like, would you want to help out with operations and leading the charge on this? So they're like, we need to get investments, but we have, you know, X amount of money. We have a product that's at alpha stage. Um, we have tech that can take us [00:14:00] to XYZ over 12 months. So at my young age, I thought it sounded like.

Idea ever. Um, and I left the bank, took my, I had, fortunately I had a large bonus for being a, an all-star employee. Um, that afforded me a bit of an extra year's worth of runway. Um, and I, and I jumped off the cliff and now this is kind of, you know, where I am full-time startup grind, but back then it was very nerve-wracking.

It was, you know, do I want to give up the cushy job? Do I want to go have fun? Um, I will say looking back, I might've gone half and half a little bit longer. I might've taken the extension with the bank, but also the type of employee I was, I, it was a tough to give them. The commitment for the full year contract, knowing that I, my, my love was somewhere else in for a career.

So I took the high road, at least what I thought morally and was like, I'm going to go do, I'm going to do what I should do. Full-time and I'm not going to ruin anybody else's life. Uh, and that's when I kind of jumped off the cliff and that was, uh, telling me the decision. So

David Fano: let's talk about that for a second.

Cause I think that [00:15:00] that's something a lot of people wrestle with. I almost call it, I call it career, but. I would say I would, I don't think it's a thing, right. I don't think you can like cheat on an employer. Um, now I do think you can not sort of deliver the value that's expected. Right. And I think that's a problem because you have agreed to deliver a certain amount of value.

And I think the more we can move the conversation to value and not time or mind share, like the more we will get freed up to do these things. Because I think right now the sort of tacit understanding is like, I get a hundred percent of your mind share. Cause you're a salaried employee. And the truth is like, look, you've hired me to do a certain task and deliver certain outputs.

If I do that, whether I do it in an hour or 10 is kind of irrelevant. And if I can understand my value, my contributions in this sort of perspective of value. So like knowing what you know now and like the value you were delivering, you know, how would you rethink like, Hey, I can [00:16:00] continue to deliver the same value even though they're not getting.

I'll go as far as to call it like loyalty, because I think that's kind of what we think it is. But at the end of the day, it's. Um, you know, it's a contractual relationship you're on salary to do work, you deliver value. What would you have? Cause you said you might have done it differently. Like how would you think about it now?

Nicholas Mancini: So, yeah, so might've when I say maybe it's generally. Yes. You know, I just kind of say that for filler words. So it's funny you even bring this up because the way I live my life is exactly the opposite of what I just told you. I quite literally worked for three companies full time right now. And I am in the process of umbrellaing that up into an eight.

So I, I used to give one, I used to feel bad about not giving one company, my full undivided attention. And now I do it very well giving a three and a half companies, my undivided attention right now at a time. So it is possible, but it does take serious work to be able to juggle that and serious, you know, organizational skills as well, because you will go crazy.

But I think, you know, [00:17:00] saying I would have done differently is, you know, a, I would have definitely taken. Here's just a really good life model. Anytime you are earning money, do not turn that down, uh, for the possibility of earning money in the future. If you are making money and you can do things that doesn't ruin your life or make you unhappy, um, and you can earn the money and do the extra stuff, um, earn the money as long as you possibly can, because like you just said, I think, you know, if you were delivering.

There is no moral issue. Um, and as long as you're happy and mentally stable, um, and, and, and, you know, I'll go as far to say improving yourself. Um, then there is no real issue, I think, in the long run because you're maintaining sanity and health at the same time. So if you were occurring, And becoming better for it then, you know, there's your equation for happiness in life anyway, um, you know, maybe it doesn't involve work, maybe just Paul's earning money, but you get what I'm saying.

So I would, I would have definitely have stayed at the bank [00:18:00] knowing that I could knowing that, you know, knowing how contracts work and stuff like that too, that I would not have been heavily penalized for leaving. Um, and that I would have been able to earn money as well as learn while I was also building a company, making connections and doing all that.

And I recommend everybody. Stretch that time as much as possible that overlap is going to matter so much because especially if you work in a cool company, those people will probably be your biggest fans. The day you leave. Like there'll be the customers, that'll tell their moms and their kids and be your day ones and be your OGs or however you want to categorize them.

So there's a strong likelihood that you can build a sense of community before you even shove your product off because people were seeing you, you know, both. And their arena, and then also impress them by building something that is valuable outside of their arena as well. So you're getting the best of both worlds there.

So it's a very tricky situation and I will say there are. Companies and founders that does demand literally a 365 type of type of gig. There, there are companies like [00:19:00] that. Some people will have to make those decisions, but I recommend that everybody overlap as much as possible because you know, you don't want to give up on a dollar today when there might not be a dollar tomorrow.

Um, and that's, I think if you're a founder, that's probably one of the biggest things that goes through your head too. So

David Fano: I also value, right? Because I think a paycheck is not really an investment. It's like cash it's how do you put it to work? And if you think about your, your forms of currency, Time is one mine share is another dollars or another.

And it feels to me like you operate like an investor in general. And so you, you operate in a different time horizon. Like some of these things that you could do, you're like this is going to pay off in the long-term. I don't exactly know when, like when I buy a stock, I don't know if it's going to go up or down, but like my spidey senses and my research says it's a good thing.

Um, and I'm gonna kind of go all in and. I, I feel like you're, you're playing with at a different time span than like immediately. What does this job do for me right now? And that you were even doing [00:20:00] that in early career.

Nicholas Mancini: It's a very good inference to make, because I am a very immediate, uh, individual. Like I, every job that I've had, like, I kind of stare I've, I've stared at them blankly like day one, like where's the work like I've done.

I studied for a week before day one, like let's get cracking. So I'm very immediate and very intentional with everything I do. Like I, I would rather work till midnight knowing that the work is great. Um, then parsing it up every single day of the week to just to fill time and like, I enjoy the work because I know that good work affects people in a positive way.

Um, and when, and for me, life is about just affecting others positively. Like, it's just, if I was to go, if I was to ask myself why the hell I do what I do? It's because the work that I do affects so many people and because I get it, I get positive responses of how it makes them feel. And that drives me to continue to pump out more work.

So I have a different driving factor, but it also like the sense of immediacy knowing. When I finished [00:21:00] one task, the next one is there. Um, and there was a never ending flow. The quicker, the more I get done, the more, the better I feel. And it's kind of like, it just, it stacks up like that. And you and you're right.

I do think about things very much like an investor and I have theses for life. Like I just like the commercial. Organizational thing. Like I just, I just know that the more people, the wider your network is like the better life eventually becomes. And, you know, I can port this over to plenty of other investment things and why I put my money where I do.

But in terms of time, my time is well spent when I earned value in my value is both money and know. Um, and if I can make both make money and make people feel good, um, that to me is a fulfilling life. And I, I have, I used to feel very bad about going to work when I was working at a corporation, I haven't felt bad about going to work and over 12 months.

So, you know, I, it feels, you know, I encourage everybody to be in tune with both their feelings as well as their wallets. Cause you know, when you kind of reach the double do blades, it's very enjoyable.

David Fano: I love this idea of a career. [00:22:00] Right. Cause even things like mission, vision, there's somewhat absolute. And you're either like on or off, but like a thesis is more about like an intentionality.

Like I've got this theory, I've got this like idea of what my, and a thesis can be revisited. And it's like a thing that you can use to bounce ideas off of. Um, so I love that. All right. We're going to get back to that. So. All right. You go to this startup. Um, it looks like you're there for about a year and a half.

Nicholas Mancini: Yup. Or co-founded.

David Fano: Oh, okay. There we go. So you co-founded it, uh, technically I guess your title was COO based on LinkedIn. Uh, and so, you know, he didn't, don't give us the play by play there, but I would imagine lots of, sort of instrumental career decisions and learnings that like led to the next thing

Nicholas Mancini: yup.

Went through at the time. Best the. Era of my life and the worst era all 18 months, I [00:23:00] think many founders going to test that. So, yeah. So I will give you the play by play, but I learned at a very young age, how to raise money. I learned how to deal with lawyers. I know I learned how to build a budget. I learned how to.

People when your life is on the line, not when you're, you know, your sales quota is on the line. I learned how to communicate information intelligently, which is probably the biggest skill that I like and enjoy that I have, like being able to create. Crazy technical jargon and do something that is one sentence that your grandma can understand is extremely difficult and takes, you know, lots of iterations.

So being able to communicate, you know, effectively is the best way to umbrella that, but it, it goes into so many different, small things from building decks to pitching, to meetings, to, to Twitter, to conferences, to, you know, all sorts of things like that. So communicating effectively is probably the. Life lesson, but then also like [00:24:00] convincing someone to give you money is the craziest conversation you'll ever have.

And everybody tells you to do it differently on every investor is different. So that's, that was a very interesting one, but also at a young age, you've not worked with many teams. You don't understand. Teams work, uh, in a corporate world, in a startup world, everything is different everywhere you go. Every team is different and understanding how to build and manage and lead a team at a young age.

That is where most people are older than you is also a very, it was a very learned, a big learning experience for me. And then also just the journey of building something where you are literal. Life is on the line is the craziest thing. I have not had a child, so I have no way to compare it. Everyday, you wake up thinking about this thing and everyday you line up, you know, the 1220 things that you have to do for this thing.

And you have to hope that it grows and it's healthy and that, you know, you don't have to stress about it. And X amount of time, you hope, you know, everybody has a runway and everybody has an exit idea. So it's a, it's a fascinating learning experience about life, [00:25:00] about people, about. Um, at about general financial management, uh, and it's, it's something that gives you the most 360 degree perspective.

I think on everything in life, as it, a play, as it applies to the professional worlds, I will say I might have wasted personal experiences in potential friendships. Might have, you know, benefited me later in life because of either arguments, lack of time, um, you know, ineffective communication, because you're so busy because you're so stressed, there are downsides to it.

And that I talk, you know, the highs were just as enjoyable as the lows were unenjoyable and I would never give them up again because I like in that 18 months, I feel like I got the world's best master's degree. You know, I feel like I got a PhD in being a professional because you just have to learn so quick and it's doggy.

And it's a, it's, it's fun and it's crazy, but you learn so quick and it's, it's a process unlike any other,

David Fano: oh, there's so much stuff there. I'm like thinking of all these ideas of like careers are a [00:26:00] series of highs and lows, but like startups are definitely like higher for you. Yes. And I don't know the math, you might know better because you do like what the math term is for like the top and bottom of the curve.

Yeah. So the peaks and troughs are much, much higher and lower in the earlier.

Nicholas Mancini: You mentioned personal investment in time. I mean, that's what it is like when you go to a company and you know, maybe you have a big project and your bosses relying on you, but at the end of the day, you're like, if this doesn't fail or if this does fail or we don't do this 100% correct.

I I'm not like my life isn't over, you know? Um, but sometimes going into an investment meeting or pitching, you know, you know, a big client or something like that, it can really weigh on you like that because you're putting in all the hours because you've likely put in a good chunk of your own money. And it's a completely different perspective on the situation as well.

You know, when, when you have a busy. Parents, you know, that's kind of taken care of you and your, your, your, in your crib. It's nice. And then, but [00:27:00] when you're out in the cold, you know, fighting for yourself, it's completely different I'm feeling. And I think it's the same classic tale is, you know, when you buy something yourself, versus when it's bought for you, you know, you appreciate, and you look at things completely differently.

Um, and it's, it's very true with founding a startup or being at a startup really age. Maybe you're not the founder of where you're employed by, you know, you still feel it.

David Fano: So it didn't, you, you know, you're not working there anymore. Um, and I know that, like, I also think that, uh, w w I want to hear about like, how that ended, but regardless that's intense.

Right. And that's like a big transition moment and you probably had to do some like, career reflection. So, you know, give us the, the amount of detail you'd like on kind of like what that transition. I was like into, you know, cause then you went on to do cool things, uh, like project manager, and then you did mass challenge, which is an incredible, uh, organization.

So like what, what was, what was that transition like?

Nicholas Mancini: Yeah. So [00:28:00] it was, it was tumultuous is the best way to describe it. Um, and unfortunately it ended because my relationship with the founders had deteriorated on due to stress and I think. Lack of alignments on ways to work together. I think that that certainly happens in a lot of organizations is after a full year of grind, you kind of realize, Hey, this isn't, you know, these are not the guys that I want to be in the trenches with for.

Two three years. So we came to an agreement for my leave. Um, and, and, and, and it D I would still advise and be a part of the company, although I would no, no longer be the COO, um, and you know, co public co-founder of the company. So, um, I retain my equity at the time the investors took in early, the founders took in some more investments, um, and kept chugging along.

And I kind of just, you know, more or less walked away. Um, from something that I had helped build, but which was another difficult decision. And sometimes, you know, not everybody makes money leaving a startup. Sometimes you get out. Sometimes you barely get out, you know, with what you put in. Sometimes you get out [00:29:00] even sides.

You get a little bit, um, I was more or less. Um, but at the end of the day, you know, it was, it was a learning experience and it was also, you know, leaving a company is just, as you know, experiential is joining one, you have to learn how to properly think people and keep relationships and understand how to leave things on a good note, even though things may have been difficult in the past.

So that was another learning experience is like, you just have to, you think everything's going to be great and then it ends up not being, you know, the, the perfect. Landed fairytale that you thought it was going to be. So that's also called growing up and, and moving on to, so I, we had a mutual agreement and throughout the time I was still working with them and searching for other jobs.

And finally the Oracle opportunity came up and I joined Oracle full time because it allowed me to continue working with founders with startups and allowed me to stay in the industry to, to assist the previous company. Um, and it aligned with my interests, which was the biggest thing. It was startups. It was leadership.

It was. It was a complete porting of my skills from pitching [00:30:00] one company living and breathing that all the time to now living and breathing. Portfolio company. So I was like, this seems fun. Integrate transition. And which led me to work at mass challenge. I'll let me to work with dig. South led me to work with some fantastic founders itself, some cool issues internally within Oracle, um, as well, because I think anyone who's worked at Oracle knows that there's a few things that like to break every now and then.

So I'll leave it at that.

David Fano: It's a really cool experience to go from like big multinational company. To a startup founder and then back to big multi-national, uh, technology company, you know, one of the, sort of like innovative leaders in the world, right. They've been around for a little while, but they, you know, we're all using something that is built on their.

We just don't know. Um, and so that's really cool, but you've been able to, the cool thing is you've been able to match those up, right? Because I feel like you had this career thesis, whether you knew it then explicitly as well as you do now or not, but [00:31:00] even within the context of these big organizations, you were able to find pockets where you could do the work that wasn't reaching.

So

Nicholas Mancini: teal helped me with the job. I was thinking of like, what was I doing? And I just remember how much I was on slack at the time. I mean, that's, that's why Tio popped up because of where the community was. So I was using teal, uh, and I was, you know, working full time, but it was a very difficult search because I knew that I didn't want to just get a job.

Like clearly, like my run, my runway was running out. I was a young founder. I was not insanely wealthy and I wasn't exiting with a fat bag of money. So I knew I had to pick the job that was going to pay me well, but I also knew that I would wait a few months to get the interviews and go through the process that I, that I.

Felt I deserved. So I will say that this entire process was much lengthier than maybe most, um, because I was able to afford the time, but I went through, oh my gosh, I don't know, 20 interviews, 30 interviews, you know, of, of, you know, sales, operations, W2, [00:32:00] consultancies start like all sorts of stuff. And nothing kind of really clicked until I had the phone call with Oracle.

Um, and I will say. This is, I also got a lesson and don't listen to everything that the hiring manager says always do your due diligence with the team or with the company, always reach out to some people on LinkedIn and figure out kind of what's going on. If, uh, you know, sanity check, so to speak if possible.

So I kind of wish I did that a little bit more cause obviously I did not stay with Oracle very long, but Oracle did afford me a very interesting opportunity to continue to work with startups, to gather a very interesting set of resources and tools. Um, because what I was doing was where I was liaising very much on the ground level with, um, Deutsche bank.

And I was very much at the top of. With, um, CSQ holdings. It was now kind of in between. I was like very much a connector of many different resources running around Oracle. So I got to a, be exposed to everything a founder could ever want. And I learned a bunch even after my. So that was interesting. I think, got to [00:33:00] work with a bunch of founders who are all learning on their own and some older and much wiser than me.

Um, I got to work with mass challenge who allowed me to work with advisors and mentors who were teaching startups and four were able to pass their advice on to me. And so it was a fantastic experience. Uh, just. Expose myself to the market in a completely different fashion from a completely different perspective.

And that was what also struck out to me in the job because I had, I had tools in my toolkit, but I was missing one. I was missing the mesh role and the mesh role is a very important role in many organizations, one that many, many need often. So I thought that was an interesting skill to pick up, uh, throughout that time before I, um, and now doing whatever.

David Fano: So you took a pause on crypto, which was the thing that you found that like really lit you up in a good way. Um, and it's kinda come full circle. So you're back, you are you're in the crypto space. You're a thought leader in the crypto space. Um, so [00:34:00] how, how did you know you had, it sounds like you found like this awesome job at an awesome company.

Um, so tell me a little bit about that and, and, and also just like, kind of like your journey to. Creating content and having a large following and being on news shows to talk about the crypto markets. Like, but it was all like self-initiated, I feel like you took deliberate action that made a lot of those things happen.

Nicholas Mancini: Yes. Uh, I received the advice early on in life that you really do have to, you know, ask for things you, you, you ask and you shall receive, um, I, I take that advice to heart, so that's just, you know, just enjoying. You really don't get what you, what you don't ask for. So I think just you, people need to be more intentional in that fashion, but in terms of the whole career cycle, I fell out of love with crypto because of a bad situation with founders.

And when you're, when you're living and breathing in an environment that is associated with a bad feeling, just basic human psychology, you start to kind of lose taste for it. Um, so I took my break and I was very much exposed to every market. Um, and so. [00:35:00] What happened when I was about to leave Oracle or slightly before I was going to leave Oracle COVID happened.

And so I was not a dummy in the markets, although I was not about playing around with them, you know, as much at the time I realized that that was a once in a decade lifetime event to potentially make the most money that you can in, in, in one, one year period, within a decade, if you go back every 10 years, there's a black Swan event and we have the channel.

Make life-changing money. So as soon as I saw the stock prices, I was like, oh my God, I wonder what Bitcoin's doing. And Bitcoin dropped to like three K and I was like, this is it. This is it. So I called all. I remember I'll never forget because I was so, so community focused, like every audit, everything came from.

Pretty much that day that the stock market was like down where it tripped the circuit breaker, like the first time. And I called my buddies and I said, we needed to get a community together now, like we need to all mind share and get investments together. I mean, we were building, we built a 200 page word doc of like categorized [00:36:00] investments and stuff like that within a week's time, like me and all these buddies.

So. Why am I it's like, why am I selling cloud for starting? So I was like, this is what I love to do. So I had caught wind that a colleague who I spoke on a panel with when I was a previous founder had started a new company. Um, and we had gone back and forth a bunch about the company. And I said, if you need help, let me know.

One day they came into town where I was in Philly at the time. Um, and we had a very nice lunch. Got the gist. Um, pretty much got an offer on the spot because like we just ju when you, when you jive and you understand what's going on, sometimes there's a click and you notice it and you have to jump at it.

So they needed community. I was the community guy, I, all my ideas synced up with what they want to do. And I started doing that. So I was, then I was again, overlapping and I was like, okay, another startup, I'm not quitting tomorrow. You know, I'm going to fill my duties, I'm going to take my money. Um, and so I was getting paid.

We were growing membership and it was going well. And I said, you know what? I am seeing, you know, this was a few months into the pandemic as well. So I was like, you [00:37:00] know, this is likely to go crazy. And, you know, obviously we're, we're living crazy. Uh, but you know, a year or 18 months ago, uh, we, I saw the writing on the wall and that, that was why I made the leap to do what I did.

So

David Fano: I want to touch on something you said, which I think is something that a lot of people struggle with in their career is let's call it like disdained by association. Right? You fell out of love, at least with. But it really wasn't that it was the situation. And I feel a lot of people like you hear like lawyers be like, ah, I hate being a lawyer.

It's like, do you, or did you just kind of like hate where you worked? And, and I, I think it's really awesome that you were able to kind of like decouple those things, because I think a lot of people like architecture, you know, Profession. And I know a lot about, I was educated and I think a lot of people get really mad at like the career of architecture, [00:38:00] but it's really, they just hate like the constructs of practice and the economics of it.

They still actually very much love architecture and they're not in a situation where it can, it's giving them the career they're looking for. Um, so I just wanted to call that out and kind of like how, and, and how you, how you were able to like, reconnect. With with that domain. And, you know, it seems like it goes back very situational and the kind of stars aligned, but you still see.

Nicholas Mancini: Yeah. And so I think probably the best way to start for this conversation is that a young age is like, I've always been an emotional moody person. And so I, like, I had to learn like very quickly, cause people would be like, why are you acting? Like, especially with Italian parents, it's like, where are you acting like that?

So, you know, So I had to very much learn to be in touch with myself at a young age. And it just started with a question, why do I feel that way? And like, I, we all have anger. We all know what anger or happiness or sadness feels like. And I would just. Run through various life scenarios that may have led to me feeling this way.

Um, and as soon as I was able to [00:39:00] pinpoint what it was like, the feeling washed away like magic, it was just like the simple fact that I knew, I understood changed my perspective on this entire situation. So I learned, I don't know if everyone has a skill. I, this may be a me thing, but ask yourself that question and try to find, you know, this, the source to that feeling.

If you know, maybe you feel better. I don't know. Um, but it works for me and. In that scenario, like, after I got like, after I, my, my spidey senses kick in and was like, look at the charts, like, what is it telling you? Um, all at like the two year to three years worth of study research, memories time, like just came back and like, I just was calling buddies.

Like, we were just all like in this groove and that, that group that I started now, I was like up to 150 and just like close guys from my, uh, my high school college area. But I like, it just, it just flooded back and I was like, you know what? Sometimes there's a sign and they're like, I got called to the crypto markets and I was intentional.

So with the, with the, like the public appearances, public speaking thought leadership thing, I was, again [00:40:00] intentional with my new bosses, my new working colleagues at trade the chain. I said, I want to be a thought leader. Like I know I have the knowledge. I know I'm able to communicate well, like give me the opportunity to do that.

Um, and actually the research analyst with the community I had signed on only to do community, but to gain we, we got rid of two guys just for lack of effort, which happens a lot in, in the early startup world. So we went from a team of six, a team of four, and I just picked up two people's work and I was loving it.

Cause like I was fulfilled every day. Like I loved. More than the average human, it makes me feel good. And so that's, you know, I was intentional with what I was able to do, the opportunity presented itself. And again, I ran with the opportunity and I'm now kind of here talking to, I don't think that's exactly why, but being able to communicate, being able, being intentional, you know, understanding what you want and, and figuring out a path of how to get it.

So I think is a, it's an important skill that. It's tough to practice, but when you do accomplish it, it's like, holy [00:41:00] moly. Like I, I hit four goals and now I'm here, you know? So it's, it's very, you can analyze it very well, too, with some successes. You don't really feel them, but when you, when you make the goal and you hit the goal, you know, it, it feels extra better.

But what,

David Fano: what I've heard throughout this conversation is, um, a deliberate practice of career iterations. Uh, career thesis and an investment in the truest sense, not a short term, but like an investment in a longterm that there's a return, um, in yourself. And sometimes investments take a long time to pay off, but I think.

Given, you know, I was, I observed you from the outside. You're one of the few people who I've had have tweets notifications turned on for. Uh, so I see all your tweets and like, you just seem happy and you enjoy your work and you're putting good things out and people aren't engaging. And you're, I don't know.

I feel like you're in that virtuous career site.

Nicholas Mancini: Yeah, and I, I could honestly be more happy and more nice and more kind. I think [00:42:00] that's something that I'm working on is not like when you, when, and I'm finding this as a negative after working so hard for so long, when you, when you work continuous 12 to 14 hour days, you start to gain a perspective that people who don't are.

It don't deserve the same time and attention, you know, it's maybe this is the one wrong way to say. When you, when you just over exert yourself too much, you start to put yourself on a higher pedestal and that's bad for just emotions and working with people. And you have to very much check yourself because it's just a natural human thing.

When you do more than others, that it's just quantifiable. Start to gain a sense of higher than the one that's the wrong way to do it. And it's taken me as a young man, you know, some, a few conversations and, you know, apologies for, you know, over exerting myself and, and being a little bit like maybe to, you know, too on top of, you know, work rather than life is maybe a good way to say it too much work, not enough life.

And that's the, probably the hardest thing to define. So I, I want to let everybody know that. [00:43:00] The way you just said like introspection and, you know, looking back and, you know, being able to analyze these things is extremely important for everything that I just discussed, because if you're just going, going, going, and you have no reflux, Then, you know, how, how are you understanding that you're even moving in the right path?

You know, how are you, how are you understanding that the goals that you are even setting for yourself are beneficial because we've all probably set a goal for ourselves. They didn't help us, you know, or maybe it was the wrong goal at the time. So, you know, I think, you know, being intentional is the biggest thing.

Reflection is the second biggest thing, because you have to understand where you're coming from. So understand where you need to go. That's, that's probably the biggest thing about my career is the switch on and off of I need to move forward. And then as soon as you know, you start to realize that you're doing too much is now I need to look back.

And I think if you, if humans can do that on a, on a regular cadence, I think we probably to see a general change in humanity. It's tough. It's tough to do that stuff. [00:44:00]

David Fano: Well, I think you got a lot of awesome career ahead of you and you're figuring out a lot of the cool things that takes a lot of people, a long time to figure out.

So I'm super excited to where you're to see where you go and all the cool things you're going to do and continue to get crypto advice from you. Um, but Nick, thank you so much. How can folks follow along with all your amazing insights and, and tap into the cool things you're doing?

Nicholas Mancini: Yeah, thanks so much, Dave.

Uh, the conversation was awesome. Um, and I appreciate your time as well as the audience's time for listening in this long, the best way to get in contact in these definitely Twitter. My Twitter is at Nick, N I C K, Sini C I N I. So Nick Sini, uh, is my Twitter handle. Um, and then I'm in a bunch of communities which are in my Twitter handle.

So if you want. From not easy to get on Twitter, I'm probably easy with a ping and either one of the communities that I help run and manage. Um, so if you're interested in play to earn, and if T's trading, I cover it all. And, uh, [00:45:00] please, you know, come at me with an intelligent question, please don't come at me with, uh, you know, without some thought I, I would appreciate, uh, intelligent questions, but I'm always happy to help, um, and assist and point you in the right direction.

Um, there's so many resources out there. And if I can be a person that, you know, points you in the right direction, then that will make me happy. So thank you.

David Fano: That's good advice. Just Google it first. Um, yeah, if you can Google it, you know, cause then you're missing out. Awesome, Nick. Well, thanks so much.

We'll make sure to link in the show notes to all the cool, uh, communities and ways to find Nick, but thanks for, for tuning in and we'll catch you on the next one.

And that's it for this episode of Non Linear. If you enjoyed today's conversation, make sure to subscribe, share, and rate us wherever you listen to podcasts.

You can learn more about Teal in our website tealhq.com, or follow us on social media @teal_hq. Thanks again, and please join us again to keep hearing about how we make decisions that shape our careers.