Andrew Goldner is the co-founder of GrowthX, and while he had a passion for technology very early on in life, it wasn’t until later in his career that he decided to pursue his first love.  After initially studying law with the idea of going into politics, Andrew was able to use his technical knowledge to his advantage and build a brand for himself in Internet-based law. Eventually, Andrew gave up life at the law firm and, after a quick detour in the restaurant business, he landed in the world of technology.  He initially worked at DoubleClick, helping salespeople and operations close deals with new partners and customers. In doing so, he learned that making deals was all about personal relationships and finding congruity, two lessons he brought with him to GrowthX. “When I was doing deals, I would encourage the salesperson, no, put down the keyboard,” Andrew says. “Put down the phone. Let's get on a plane, and yes, it's going to cost us a little money and time. Let's go and meet those people in their hometowns. Let's get there the night before. Let's take them out to dinner. Let's start building relationships with them, human interactions, because we're going to build up political points from that, so the next day when I am negotiating with the lawyer I can be more casual. I can be more human.” On Part 1 of his interview with Mission Daily, Andrew talks about his journey from law to tech, entrepreneurship and venture capital, and everything he went through in between. — Mission Daily and all of our podcasts are created with love by our team at Mission.org We own and operate a network of podcasts, and brand story studio designed to accelerate learning. Our clients include companies like Salesforce, Twilio, and Katerra who work with us because we produce results. To learn more and get our case studies, check out Mission.org/Studios. If you’re tired of media and news that promotes fear, uncertainty, and doubt and want an antidote, you’ll want to subscribe to our daily newsletter at Mission.org. When you do, you’ll receive a mission-driven newsletter every morning that will help you start your day off right!