I met up with Eric Nakagawa this week at Philz Coffee in Noe Valley. We hadn't seen each in person since I was a guest on his podcast back in January. When I first moved to the Bay Area in January 2015, Eric let me stay at his house while I looked for a place of my own. With his third child on the way, my presence was no doubt an imposition on his family. I luckily found a 10x10 tool shed in Brisbane a couple days later. Living in a 10x10 space with an outdoor shower and the words, "Cherish the cabin" scribbled above the front door are obviously topics for a future post.
Since then, Eric's helped us get into 500 Startups, provided investor intros, given growth advice and been a trusted friend and adviser to me. I am indebted to him. Here are my takeaways from our meeting:
I first met Eric Nakagawa in 2013 at a Barnes & Noble at Ala Moana Center. I had recently launched DareShare in the App Store and was in distinct need of consumer app expertise to drive user growth. As a refresher, Eric is the guy who brought funny cat memes to the internet. He's also a a New York Times bestselling author with his book "I Can Has Cheezburger?" Eric didn't waste much time that day we first met: He quickly started drawing wireframes in my journal of new DareShare concepts. I'm glad DareShare got put to bed because what we're doing at Paubox is much more fun and lasting. We're helping the last American business segment drop the fax machine and finally use email in the office. Win or lose, Eric Nakagawa has had my back from day one.
Our first meeting at a Barnes & Noble at Ala Moana Center in 2013