My Father Ended Up Giving Me a Deeply Moving Gift Today

One of the most meaningful conversations of my life

So, my father and I met up for lunch today to celebrate father’s day. It’s never been a big deal in my family, but we both made the time. We had a lovely conversation as he is a deep intellectual. We caught up all about various legal cases (he was a practicing attorney for 40+ years), commercial real estate, and other deep topics.

Then we got to talking about my new company, Sibble & Associates. He told me he had a concern.

But before we get into that, some history. My father worked at one firm from law school through retirement. For a long time, he pushed me to be loyal to employers even when my working conditions and compensation were not commensurate with what I felt I deserved.

He also viewed my first two startups with a lot of well-deserved doubt, especially the first one. Admittedly, they were also technology and markets that he didn’t understand so it was hard for him to relate.

My new company though is something he finds very fascinating. He not only sees huge potential and understands the value of the service we deliver, but he sees why I’m the right person to do it. It’s been delightfully refreshing to have my father be so involved and take such an interest in my work.

So when we met up today, after a long and wonderful time connecting, he told me I should be wary of something with my startup. At first, I thought, “Here comes him saying it won’t work” as he did about the previous companies (I don’t hold it against him, don’t worry).

Instead…he said I should start considering how to handle the name of the company when we exit in a few years. Specifically, if someone wants to keep using Sibble & Associates, since it has my last name in it, I would be giving up a lot of my own personal brand if we are acquired.

I…didn’t know how to react. My eyes swelled with tears.

To hear such an incredible vote of confidence from your own father that you company will eventually sell for a significant amount and that I should be worried about something so trite as how it will affect my naming rights in such the distance future…I was deeply moved.

And while he had a point that it’s something I should consider, I quickly told him I’m worried about one thing right now: revenue. I’ll worry about that later and planning for an exit so early is, in my mind, bad luck.

But I have never gotten such an incredible compliment from my father…that he has so little doubt of my success that he’d tell me to worry about the naming rights?

Honestly: what more could a son ask for?

I told him directly how much what he had just said meant to me. He actually seemed confused.

“Isn’t everyone telling you this is a great idea?”

“Well, yes, but they aren’t you. The only person’s opinion that really matter to me is yours.”

And then, he teared up too.

Happy Father’s day to every great man that makes their son feel so special.