I was raised on all manner of stories. My namesake, great grandpa Sam, and my grandparents were Holocaust survivors, whose astounding stories made history and heroism personal. All my life, I have watched my mother and father, a Rabbi, inspire and educate through storytelling.

At Penn, I studied Politics, Philosophy, and Economics, and at some point realized I was just one course shy of an accidental minor in creative writing. SoI enrolled in a course called “Entrepreneurial Journalism.” In each class, we met and heard stories from founders while working on our own startup ideas. I ended up winning the class pitch competition and graduated with a small bit of funding earmarked for my startup, a news site and betting market to harness the wisdom of the crowd and run predictive analytics. Later that year (2015), I met and pitched Vivjan, John, and Brendan (Hyperplane: Chapter 1).

I am convinced that our lives, work, experience, beliefs, and entrepreneurial dreams are incoherent until they are shaped into story. My hope in doing this work, is to support founders, as you build, to shape the narrative, choose characters, and determine the arc of your adventure.