Dearest Reader,

North of 200 days has passed since we last spoke. I know: 1727 is a quarterly magazine; four editions per annum are expected. However, I promised myself, our team and you, our readers, to only publish ideas, stories and conversations that were genuinely evergreen. 

That’s not to say we weren’t exposed to anything evergreen in the last 200 days. We certainly were, thanks to extraordinary minds like Kyna Leski. It’s just that the consilience in the ideas presented didn’t feel fully baked in either my mind or those of our writers, and pumping out issues to adhere to editorial timelines isn’t what we’re here for.

Sorry, we’ve been MIA, but we’ve certainly been busy since we published Issue No.2 in May. Let me catch you up on what’s gone down since and what you can expect to find in Issue No.3. 

Breakouts is everything graduate school should be but isn’t — everybody you’d wished you met, everything you’d hoped you’d read and all the places you’d wished you’d travelled. 

We kicked off the summer in style with a sold-out artist night in Chicago. Seattle-born artist Zoe Rain got her start as Macklemore’s tour photographer. Since then, she’s effortlessly captured some of the biggest stars in the world today. Her iconic prints of Kanye West, Chance the Rapper, DJ White Shadow and Steven Tyler flew off the walls after some intense silent auction bidding battles among our attendees. Ribs from Funkenhausen’s Mark Steuer and delicious natural vino from Red & White Wines eased any ongoing tensions in a group of venture-backed CEOs, filmmakers, investors, creatives and educators.

I headed to Red River, NM, in July for a vacation. Red River was founded in 1895 by miners hunting for riches. Today, it is a popular ski and vacation destination, especially among Texans desperate to escape the summer heat via the mountains. Red River’s official population is ~400 people in the winter, making it difficult for the town to cope with the demands of the 4th of July festivities. Despite a 4-hour daily waitlist for tables at the only brewery in town, I still managed to watch every second of the 3 Lions’ charge to the European Championship Final. After several weeks of severe FOMO at the prospect of England’s first win since 1966, I was, in the end, thrilled to be 5,000 miles away from Wembley.

I used August to shake my Euro’s heartbreak by diving straight into work. I worked diligently to refresh our Breakouts curriculum ahead of our 5th (BV) and 6th (BVI) cohorts. Working day-in and day-out with artists, songwriters, options traders, investors, medical residents, engineers, newly minted college graduates, military leaders, product managers, and wine savants is such a buzz. Our Fellows tell me that Breakouts is everything graduate school should be but isn’t — everybody you’d wished you met, everything you’d hoped you’d read and all the places you’d wished you’d travelled. 

When I wasn’t working, I snuck in a few rounds of golf capped by a visit to Milwaukee Country Club (#70 ranked course in the US). Don’t miss the bar and restaurant in the MCC’s men’s locker room. Next, post-pandemic wedding SZN went into full swing. I attended weddings in Chicago (x2), Detroit, Connecticut, Rosemary Beach, New Orleans and Grand Rapids. And I even caught 12 fish on a guided trip at Yellowstone National Park and drove my first sailboat in Jamestown, RI. Hard alee!

Before there was universal access to higher education, the dinner table was the primary vehicle used by people to share ideas, connect and have conversations. Why did we ever stop doing that?

EE hosted three retreats in Rhode Island (August), Washington D.C. (October) and Denver (November). Our members describe our retreats as the most well-balanced vacation they’ve ever had. They are designed to make any local feel like a guest in their own city, punctuated with early morning workouts, killer workshops, live podcasts, chef’s table dinners, hikes, immersive art experiences, and plenty of delicious wine.

Off the back of several amazing chef’s table dinners at Matunuck Oyster Bar, Rose’s Luxury (1*), Maydan (1*) and Safta, we launched a dining club. We revived the Saturday Club (TSC) — the infamous conversation and dining society that began in Boston in the 1850s and founded the Atlantic Magazine. Ralph Waldo Emerson, Cornelius Conway Felton and Henry David Thoreau were early members. 

Before there was universal access to higher education, the dinner table was the primary vehicle used by people to share ideas, connect and have conversations. Why did we ever stop doing that? Unlike most, TSC isn’t focused solely on food, wine or cocktails. But instead, the pursuit of hospitality in truest form; as a conduit to paradigm-shifting conversation and relationships. 

We launched TSC back in November with an all-natural wine club courtesy of the wonderful Chris Lingua, who you’ll read more about later in this issue. Over 80 people attended our tastings, which took place simultaneously in 7 different cities — Boston, Providence, Chicago, New York City, South Bend, Memphis and Nashville. I’m excited to expand our monthly TSC experiences into the world of food and cocktails, courtesy of Funkenhausen’s Mark Steuer and Death & Co’s Jon Feursanger in Q1 of 2022.

So much of our vision and work makes sense to people retrospectively but doesn’t necessarily make sense upfront. Why is that? 

What can you expect from Issue No.3?

Well, after more than 20,000 miles of travel, countless dinners, drinks, inspiring podcasts and late-night conversations, I’ve become fixated on this idea of what it means to be understood, hence this issue’s theme. So much of our vision and work makes sense to people retrospectively but doesn’t necessarily make sense to them upfront. Why is that? 

I believe the answer is connected to this idea of underemployment being 1) a problem of understanding rather than effort or desire and 2) an issue that entrepreneurs also face. Underemployment is defined as skilled workers working unskilled jobs. But that strikes me as too narrow a definition. Underemployment exists for entrepreneurs just as much as it does for workers. Almost all entrepreneurs face long periods of underemployment that get brushed under the ‘product-market fit ‘bus — either the market misunderstands what they need, the entrepreneur misunderstands what they have or what they want. 

Entrepreneurship, therefore, is just a battle of 1) how long the entrepreneur is willing to be misunderstood 2) learning what it takes to make sense to their market and 3) figuring out 1 and 2 quickly enough that you can create something viable that you want to bring into the world.

Each of our contributors — Cole Feldman, Mark Steuer, Joe Buckner, Chris Lingua — tackle this issue of understanding from the vantage point of their entrepreneurial journeys. Some of these journeys are external, and others are internal. Some require a sabbatical. Others the pursuit of an easier paycheque. All are vying to better understand themselves, their businesses, and their relationships to work, life, wine, fighting and food. Each makes for a profound read, and I hope their writing helps you figure out where you can or need to be better understood in 2022 and beyond. 

As I tap this out on an American Airlines flight from Chicago to London for Christmas, we’ve finished putting the final touches on our line-up of retreats, dinners and events for 2022. For more on EE’s 2022 calendar, click here, where we’ll give you a snapshot of what’s in store.

I do hope to see you in person over the coming months for a drink, cup of coffee, or both. If not, pop a note to cornelius@everydayco.us. I wish you all the best for the Christmas season and a very happy, healthy and prosperous 2022.

Cheers — and thank you for your support.