Rodrigo Barros, CEO of Handson.tv, argues that true fulfillment comes from giving value without expecting return, not from money or milestones. He tells venture capitalist Tim Draper directly that he didn't seek funding, and shares how shared values connect people and inspire collaboration. Once you achieve a goal, new ambitions emerge, whether it's helicopters, jets, or Mars.
Chapters
It's going to happen. It is going to happen. Tim Draper has not given me a penny. And believe me, I would love his dollars. Tim Draper, where are you, man? Give me some dollars, man. Come on. I'm asking now. You see? I'm asking. I've asked before. He has not given to me, right? And I'm still giving his value. I'm still giving him value. I'm here today. I don't get paid to be here. I'm here because I'm giving value. I'm here because if I, John, can collaborate with your life right now, today, in this exactly, in this specific moment, maybe right now it's like 11 AM, I'm happy. That's part of my legacy. And if I call Tim Draper in 3 months and he say, no, I'm not giving you the penny now or the dollars, I say, it's okay. I go, I come back here next semester if he wants. Okay? Because what I care about is giving my value because I know I have value to give to people. So if I am influencing you right now today in a positive way, I'm happy for it. And I'm sure it not might be you, it not might be Tim Draper, but you will come back for me. That's the way I think. And that's the way my life has been. That guy Tommaso, he's a very good friend of mine. And he tells me, man, how can you be like this every day? Because I'm like this every day. He can tell, right? I'm like this every day. I mean happy every day. I wake up happy every day. I love living. I think people like they just don't enjoy life enough, and I do because I don't think that the big thing in life is how you start your life or how you finish your life. The big thing in life is how you live your life, and that's a great message for you here. You need to live your life with passion. You need to love your life every day and not when you accomplish something. Because I can tell you, I've accomplished a couple of things. After you accomplish, you don't even like that anymore. Really, right? I was like dreaming about having a helicopter. With 28 years old, I was riding helicopters. I was riding jets. So what? Did it change my life? No. But believe me, if I was thinking about, wow, one day I'm going to ride a helicopter, one day I'm going to buy a helicopter, when I go and I do it, it doesn't matter anymore. Because then I'm not thinking about a helicopter, I'm thinking about a jet. And then I'm not thinking about a jet, I'm thinking about, I don't know, Mars. Like, you know. Like Elon Musk, right? So if you live your life every day with passion, if you give value every day to people, you're going to be happy. And this happiness and this energy will make people follow you, will make people believe in your values, believe in what you believe. And when we believe in the same thing, even though we have different skills, even though we have different talents, because I'm sure looking at you, you have very different talents than I have. But we believe in the same thing. We're connected, and now we can do something together. Even just have some beer. The first time I was here, Jose and Jack came to me after I speak because the group was like giving me so much energy, and I really expect more energy from you in couple minutes. Yeah, just like you laugh. So he came to me and said, you know, Rodrigo, man, I don't know, you can accept or not, but I'm skydiving tomorrow. Would you go with me? I said, yes! He was like, oh, fuck. Are you serious? I was like, yes, I'm serious. So I went with them. I needed— I had something to do. But, you know, I always wanted to skydive. So the guy came with the right message in the right time and gave me the opportunity to live something that I was dreaming of and I had never done.
