Who I learned from · 2011–now
Adam Arif
Adam has pushed me toward my potential since we were kids. When a double degree seemed impossible to both of us, he pushed me to apply, and we celebrated my acceptance together on the prom party bus. When I started my first company, and later pitched Limelight to investors, Adam was the first person I told and the first to check the claims.
Who I learned from
- Who
- Adam Arif
- Role
- Friend since 2011
- To me
- My oldest friend, the first person I ever made a deal with, and the one who pushed me toward my potential.
- When
- 2011–now
How we met
At school in Hamilton in 2011. We spent that summer trading PlayStation games, map packs and accessories like currency, haggling over every dollar.
What I learned
To go after what looks impossible. A double degree seemed out of reach to both of us, but Adam pushed me to apply anyway. When the acceptance came, we celebrated it together on the prom party bus. I owe that application to him.
Deals and pitches
How to make a deal, and how to hear a pitch with a straight face. At fifteen I was buying, unlocking and reselling BlackBerrys and iPhones and talking every deal through with Adam, which taught me margins, sourcing and customers before I knew those words. By 2014 Adam was my partner and CCO at NappyApps, the company behind Duck Run!, my first App Store game, and in 2016 one of the first people I asked to join Insomniapps. In 2019, when Limelight’s investor talks were moving fast, Adam sat in on meetings, checked the claims being made and weighed in on who should be CFO. A friend who checks the claims for you is worth more than a room of people who just say it sounds great.