For the past 20 years, Leonard Brody has been living life at maximum intensity as a serial startup entrepreneur.
He co-founded NowPublic.com and GrowLab and he is the former president of Clarity Digital Group.
Brody is currently a venture capitalist who advises other companies and is in the midst of planning his next startup. But he’s now putting the brakes on his hyper-busy lifestyle and taking a different approach to business and life.
“There is a clear disconnect between how people set up companies and the way they want to live their lives, and that disconnect causes huge disruption,” said Brody. “I think that’s why you see really high divorce rates and why you see failures.”
It’s a far cry from his approach at the beginning of his business career.
“I, like every knucklehead that starts out with an idea, went chasing the idea without properly thinking about: ‘How much time do I really want to spend in airplanes? Do I want to have a family?’” he said.
The realization hit him while he was sitting on an airplane. He can’t remember where he was travelling to, because his life at the time was a blur of airports and tarmac.
“I just realized, I’m tired. This is hard,” said Brody. “I’ve designed my life in such a way that I’m always on airplanes, and I’m always moving. I was exhausted and ornery.”
The way he’s designed his next company reflects his shifting views on work-life balance. While many startup founders might start a company within a few months of mapping out their idea, he’s taken a year and a half to carefully plan the business so he doesn’t have to travel as much. He’s also said no to board positions and adviser roles.
But not all of the intensity is gone.
“Between now and April 30, just to tell you how bad I am at it, I’m in New York, Bogota, Buenos Aires, Lima, Santiago, Palm Springs, L.A., Toronto and back to New York,” admitted Brody.
On the most important thing: “The thing I always tell entrepreneurs now is, when you’re thinking of going out and building something … the business and the idea is the least important thing at the beginning. To me the most important thing is setting life objectives and asking really hard questions, like do I want to have kids? Do I want to travel? How much time do I want to spend in an airplane? How many people do I want to have reporting to me? How much time do I want to spend with my family? How much money do I really need?”
