2024 Wrapped
Here's Why I Hated 2024 and Here's What I'm Doing About It
2024 Wrapped
Passed down Moso Capital, the VC/GE club I founded at Penn, to an incredible successor
Created a new personal content creation committee for creators at Penn
Started creating content with 14K followers and tens of millions of views
Worked with some of the smartest investment bankers on some of the biggest deals on Wall Street
Started investing in some of the hottest companies on the market at HOF Capital
Started investing again in public equities
Co-founded Lawnstack, which became backed by a leading B2B accelerator
Joined the growth team at Unriddle, helping grow the company 10x
Gymming again
Started writing on Substack
Met hundreds of new founders, investors, creators, and overall incredible people
Strengthened relationships with people I cared about
Hosted a lit boiler room party :)
Saw John Summit live at MSG
… and a bunch of other accomplishments I can’t remember
But I Hated 2024
That was sorta a “clickbait” header — sorta not.
For me, 2024 was a year of professional growth and exploration. I don’t think there’s going to be ever a year where I grew and explored this much professionally. I worked my first real, corporate job as an investment banking intern at BofA. I explored a career path in social media creating content, which coincidently led to a job at Unriddle. I explored growth equity investing at HOF, analyzing some of the hottest companies on the market like Revolut. But this growth and exploration wasn’t as la la land as I thought.
Trying a gazillion different things, while balancing relationships and school, was a struggle. Nothing felt quite “cohesive” for me throughout this year - especially near the latter half of 2024. I told myself that this fragmentation is fine.
“Allen, it’s fine that you’re not accomplishing as much as you would’ve hoped to in these experiences… it’s good to dip your toes wet first,” I kept telling myself.
I was probably coping.
I’ve always grown up to be a goal-oriented, achievement-driven individual. Ivy league school, high paying job, etc. But after a while of not achieving anything because I’m constantly trying, it takes a toll mentally.
Trying different things means to dip your toe and taking it out. I dipped my toe in a lot, and failed even more. Did I successfully raise my pre-seed round for my startup? Nope. Did I hit 20k followers like I said I would? Nope. Did I lose out on thousands of followers and millions of views because I got too lazy to film one day? Yup.
I took my toe out too many times, and felt like life was at a stand still.
To put it in plain old English, I was taking too many Ls in my life even though it appears that I’m not. Shout out to all my friends who I’ve ranted this to…
But that said, I think the silver lining is that I figured out my priorities. I dipped my toe in, took it out, and now I know where to dive deep. For me, 2025 will be a year for me to dive and achieve. (I hope at least lol)
My Priorities for 2025
That said, I wouldn’t consider myself super happy this past year. Certainly, I learned a lot, had my happy days, but it felt like a lackluster year for me. But - I think this was very much needed.
Every decision comes at a cost.
Figuring out what we enjoy and trying new things comes at a cost.
But I think I figured it out.
So here are my goals and priorities for 2025:
Focus on relationships: Though I strengthened relationships, I also lost a lot. I want to make more of an effort on my relationships this year in 2025
Discipline and consistency: I was “inconsistent” this past year (with the gym, work, everything). I want to rebuild this discipline and consistency that I once had
Achievements: I spent this entire piece ranting about my lack of achievements. Hopefully, 2025 becomes a year where I start achieving my goals. Everything from startups, social media, and investing goals — I want to hit it