I’ve landed back at SJC yesterday and put in a full today of start-up reviews, including our Monday morning management meeting (really just a chance for our founder to show off) and made the mistake of going on a date on a Monday night.
My trip home to Long Island — and specifically seeing my mom in such a physically weakened state — definitely helped reset some priorities, and I’m even more motivated now to find and help fund startups in the biotech or healthcare space that show promise in making cancer patients’ lives easier. Or really any type of patient. I know they’re out there.
I also still believe the right guy for me is out there, but it certainly wasn’t who I went out with last night. Let’s call him…Smarmy. Hi profile made him seem normal: claimed to be a pharmaceutical sales rep who loved sushi, stand-up comedy and traveling the world. I am purposely trying to avoid guys in the tech/startup/VC/PE/banking scene, so Smarmy had already cleared that hurdle. And I like sushi and stand-up…though not necessarily at the same time.
But when I showed up at Mitsunobu, my spider sense tingled. Something was off. First, Smarmy had arrived before me, was already seated and was talking to a guy at another nearby table who I know to be an i-banker. He also looked about 10 years older than the pictures on his profile. Now, both of those things alone wouldn’t have been enough to bother me except: 1) when I questioned how he knew the banker, I learned that Smarmy had “forgotten to update his profile,” had left the pharma sales role months ago and now was at a biotech startup, and 2) he was purposely being cagey about his age when I started talking about my high school reunion and asking if he’d ever been to one of his. Why was he acting like this?
After he downed a few cups of sake like an uncultured a-hole, he went on to divulge that he was very veryrecently divorced — and it sounded ugly. He also had two young kids. And of course there had been no mention of them on his profile, either.
Again, I’m not saying that I’m taking divorced men or men with kids off the table, but if someone’s already dropped 4 major lie-bombs on me within the first hour of our date — and they’re about critical things like YOUR JOB AND YOUR FAMILY — then hey, it’s not going to end well. I’m pretty sure when you try to sell a used car, you have to disclose its accident history. Just sayin’.
Per usual, I had Alice call me about 45 minutes into dinner so I could make up an excuse to leave, and I did. Now that kind of lying is OK with me. Sayonara, Smarmy.
Ah, well. Another one bites the dust. But I hold out hope for my date/meet-up/whatever it is with Nice Guy Cooper from my high school reunion … and then of course I still have tentative plans to see my college ex Chris again in a week or so, even though obviouslynothing is going to come of that except the satisfaction I’ll get from rejecting him ever so not-subtly. Onward.
Full Ratchet 