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Initially published on Medium — February 1, 2016

It’s not every day that you get the opportunity to work for an early stage venture firm. It’s even more rare to have that opportunity in the location you love the most — Detroit, MI. So…when an opportunity like that “knocks,” it’s hard to not answer the door. With that being said, I’m extremely excited to announce that today was my first day as a full-time Associate at Ludlow Ventures.

After having the opportunity to intern with them last year, it was hard to not fantasize about getting to work alongside them full-time. It definitely wasn’t an easy decision to leave Google, but I know the skills and relationships I made there — will be invaluable throughout my career. However, venture has always been my dream.

When I was a freshman in college, I reached out to hundreds of venture capitalists and startups, in an attempt to “break” into the scene. I distinctly remember one meeting I had with a founder. The founder asked what I wanted to do when I graduated from college, and I responded with: “be a VC in Detroit.” You could hear his chuckle and disbelief on the phone. It was hard to tell whether he was laughing at the fact that I said I was going to be a VC post-grad OR if he was laughing at the thought of a venture firm thriving outside NYC, Los Angeles, or the Bay Area. Both of which seemed highly unlikely given my lack of experience and connections at the time.

Ludlow Ventures has and continues to defy all odds. However, when you take a closer look, it becomes obvious why they have “succeeded” — they are genuine and hustlers. Two characteristics that are rare in venture.

This is only the beginning for Ludlow. I couldn’t be more excited to have the opportunity to work alongside Jonathon and Brett to help build this into one of the greatest venture firms in the world.