This article has caused me to finally get the Substack App. I hate the politics and what SubStack has enabled and supported, but I love the DIY publishing and empowerment features. Typical a16z investment.
All my kids are grown, and now I'm “watching” my grandkids being raised. There is a strict 100% ban on any posting of photos in any social media on my grandkids.
Your lessons and issues raised are typical David Yi: insightful, pause to ponder, rejoice in enlightenment based! With each new day, I discover something new coming out of you!
Here we are on Xmas day, and I assumed that from your family first approach, you'd be opening presents, drinking egg nog, playing with the kids and acting like any other good Christian on this day of the Savior’s birth.
But instead, I'm reading lessons on parenting, and applying those lessons - after the fact - on my 35 years of married life and my upcoming start of family 3.0.
I am in awe of your energy, vision and focus. Quite inspiring. As I read about the Gifted Children playground evolution and failure, what my conscious mind focused on was - business model, pivots, packaging with content, meat space vs cyberspace - and all the other subjects my 40+ year entrepreneurial mind brought me. But instead, you bring in the value added insights of - learning from mistakes, understanding what you’re doing to your kids and the ultimate goals and reason for parenting in the first place - raising healthy human beings who will need to think and choose and decide for themselves.
This article allowed me to look back on what my life has accomplished - 5 productive members of society. Yes, we all have issues, but on this Xmas day, can I ask “who doesn't have issues?”
Certainly baby Jesus was born with expectations and issues to bear, which would carry with him his whole life. But Mary and Joseph did a pretty good job. They had help, like the three Kings of “the Orient”, who traveled far, just to be at that birth.
First, small confession 😊: I actually wrote this piece a couple days before Christmas. Right now I’m very much in family mode...presents, noise, mess, laughter, the whole thing. Planning ahead, not virtue.
What you shared here is exactly why I write Unicorn Parents. Not to give answers, but to create moments of pause, where formation can keep doing its quiet work.
You’re right: life isn’t really about arrival. It’s about formation. And even sanctification, as you said, is never “done.” It’s more like a fountain than a finish line: always flowing, always shaping. The moment we stop growing, something in us starts to harden.
What struck me most in your note is your humility. To look back on decades of marriage, children, and now grandchildren (and still reflect, still learn, still grow) that’s rare. And deeply inspiring. Five productive members of society is no small thing. None of us are without issues (certainly not on Christmas), but formation is visible in fruit, not perfection.
And yes, Mary and Joseph had help too. Wise men showing up, not with advice, but with presence. That feels like a fitting image for parenting across generations.
I’m grateful you’re here, Marc. And grateful for the wisdom you bring into spaces like Founder Chapel. Thank you for reading so attentively, and for sharing so openly.
My second wife decided to kick me out the night the 49ers lost the SuperBowl Feb. '24. For almost two years I have been looking for Family 3.0, and have become polyamoruos along the way.
I'm telling you this upfront, bc if that's a problem, I need to be honest and transparent with you at all times, and the relationship I need with my investor is just another kind of "marriage."
I'm not a religious man, but I am deeply spiritual and believe in higher powers, fate and Mycelium patches being conduits and amplifiers for our collective unconscious.
There's a reason why I saw your tagline "VC who hates VCs" - I truly believe John Doerr was trying out and Beta testing various techniques that he, and the rest of the VC community would "pull" on us founders, back - starting in '87.
They gave MacroMind a $1.8m valuation. I had no clue at the time, that the ripoff had already started. I fell for every line, hustle. Power grab and manipulation they threw at me.
JVC offered me to head up and run JVC US, but my board talked me out of it. We had deals with IBM, MSFT, JVC, NEC, Fujitsu and Sony. All bc of me.
I got thrown out of Macromedia for being a marijuana smoker, back when that was as bad as being a pedophile. The excuse "you don't wanna ruin the IPO now. Do you?"
So everything you talk about. I was user #1. I've been getting ripped off by VCs, since the beginning. We were KP's 3rd software investment.
Ok - no more negativity.
We're both getting a good idea who each other is. Instigate.ai is it.
And that feeds into a Solar System of interconnected efforts. I'd like you to help me change the world - again.
That's why God put us together.
Ho ho ho - THIS relationship - is our Xmas present, to the world!
This article has caused me to finally get the Substack App. I hate the politics and what SubStack has enabled and supported, but I love the DIY publishing and empowerment features. Typical a16z investment.
All my kids are grown, and now I'm “watching” my grandkids being raised. There is a strict 100% ban on any posting of photos in any social media on my grandkids.
Your lessons and issues raised are typical David Yi: insightful, pause to ponder, rejoice in enlightenment based! With each new day, I discover something new coming out of you!
Here we are on Xmas day, and I assumed that from your family first approach, you'd be opening presents, drinking egg nog, playing with the kids and acting like any other good Christian on this day of the Savior’s birth.
But instead, I'm reading lessons on parenting, and applying those lessons - after the fact - on my 35 years of married life and my upcoming start of family 3.0.
I am in awe of your energy, vision and focus. Quite inspiring. As I read about the Gifted Children playground evolution and failure, what my conscious mind focused on was - business model, pivots, packaging with content, meat space vs cyberspace - and all the other subjects my 40+ year entrepreneurial mind brought me. But instead, you bring in the value added insights of - learning from mistakes, understanding what you’re doing to your kids and the ultimate goals and reason for parenting in the first place - raising healthy human beings who will need to think and choose and decide for themselves.
This article allowed me to look back on what my life has accomplished - 5 productive members of society. Yes, we all have issues, but on this Xmas day, can I ask “who doesn't have issues?”
Certainly baby Jesus was born with expectations and issues to bear, which would carry with him his whole life. But Mary and Joseph did a pretty good job. They had help, like the three Kings of “the Orient”, who traveled far, just to be at that birth.
Marc,
Thank you for this. Truly.
First, small confession 😊: I actually wrote this piece a couple days before Christmas. Right now I’m very much in family mode...presents, noise, mess, laughter, the whole thing. Planning ahead, not virtue.
What you shared here is exactly why I write Unicorn Parents. Not to give answers, but to create moments of pause, where formation can keep doing its quiet work.
You’re right: life isn’t really about arrival. It’s about formation. And even sanctification, as you said, is never “done.” It’s more like a fountain than a finish line: always flowing, always shaping. The moment we stop growing, something in us starts to harden.
What struck me most in your note is your humility. To look back on decades of marriage, children, and now grandchildren (and still reflect, still learn, still grow) that’s rare. And deeply inspiring. Five productive members of society is no small thing. None of us are without issues (certainly not on Christmas), but formation is visible in fruit, not perfection.
And yes, Mary and Joseph had help too. Wise men showing up, not with advice, but with presence. That feels like a fitting image for parenting across generations.
I’m grateful you’re here, Marc. And grateful for the wisdom you bring into spaces like Founder Chapel. Thank you for reading so attentively, and for sharing so openly.
Merry Christmas to you and your family!
Dude
My second wife decided to kick me out the night the 49ers lost the SuperBowl Feb. '24. For almost two years I have been looking for Family 3.0, and have become polyamoruos along the way.
I'm telling you this upfront, bc if that's a problem, I need to be honest and transparent with you at all times, and the relationship I need with my investor is just another kind of "marriage."
I'm not a religious man, but I am deeply spiritual and believe in higher powers, fate and Mycelium patches being conduits and amplifiers for our collective unconscious.
There's a reason why I saw your tagline "VC who hates VCs" - I truly believe John Doerr was trying out and Beta testing various techniques that he, and the rest of the VC community would "pull" on us founders, back - starting in '87.
They gave MacroMind a $1.8m valuation. I had no clue at the time, that the ripoff had already started. I fell for every line, hustle. Power grab and manipulation they threw at me.
JVC offered me to head up and run JVC US, but my board talked me out of it. We had deals with IBM, MSFT, JVC, NEC, Fujitsu and Sony. All bc of me.
I got thrown out of Macromedia for being a marijuana smoker, back when that was as bad as being a pedophile. The excuse "you don't wanna ruin the IPO now. Do you?"
So everything you talk about. I was user #1. I've been getting ripped off by VCs, since the beginning. We were KP's 3rd software investment.
Ok - no more negativity.
We're both getting a good idea who each other is. Instigate.ai is it.
And that feeds into a Solar System of interconnected efforts. I'd like you to help me change the world - again.
That's why God put us together.
Ho ho ho - THIS relationship - is our Xmas present, to the world!
Have a great one!
marccanter@gmail.com
925-876-0475
P.S. I can't wait to go to Vietnam!