You Hacked Life

“You hacked life”. This was what my friend Craig said to me when I told him my new startup idea. At the time I found it cute. Now that XPR is real I can’t help but recognize how accurate Craig’s comment has become. XPR is all about creating access to new experiences. Already in Ottawa, we’ve unlocked never before seen experiences. Take that anyone who says Ottawa is boring.

I’d be seeing a lot of publications and studies stating how, now more than ever, we want experiences over things — moving away from materialism to prioritize creating memories. I’d come to this seemingly obvious epiphany myself, when after my failed marriage, I realized what I was left with: a car, a house, and a condo. I left him everything in exchange for keeping my business— which meant nothing to hold me back. I was free to experience.

Easier said than done. I was somewhat surprised to find that it wasn’t exactly trivial to actually find these experiences. I begun to realize that in reality to access the best experiences you often need to know a guy. So to truly make like an experience I would have to hack this problem.

So if it comes down to who you know, then it is job to find the most interesting people and work with them to create awesome new experiences — for me, and for you. And of course I have to personally vet them. So as Craig predicted, it’s kind of an awesome job. It’s why I started XPR in the first place. Sure the idea is based on my own selfish desire to have the most awesome life I can. But, we all know experiences are best when shared.

Now don’t get me wrong, building a startup is no walk in the park. It’s more like a crazy rollercoaster — or better yet like aerobatics on one of those little two seater planes — doing loops and barrel rolls: incredibly exhilarating in one moment while nearly puking the next. I would know — this is just one of the experiences I had to personally test. Just another day at the office.