CJ Dunne, Co-founder of SageSpot

CJ talks about the day he decided to quit investment banking and pursue his start-up, why he doesn't drink alcohol, and something his brother texted him that he thinks of every day

For the first Shelf Space feature, I want to highlight CJ Dunne. CJ and I grew up playing beach flags together at summer camp. He was always, and still is, an incredibly warm and personable guy. And when I stepped onto Notre Dame’s campus as a senior in high school, CJ set aside a substantial amount of time to give my dad and me a tour. It has been incredibly neat watching CJ turn from the summer camper into a start-up founder. I hope you find him as interesting as I do. 

Name: CJ Dunne

Source of unconventionality: Quitting a job in investment banking at Goldman Sachs to start his company, SageSpot

Can you talk a bit about yourself and why you decided to start SageSpot?

I was at Goldman Sachs, and I still think it was an incredible job. But one day, I was looking around and realized that there were people there that were absolutely in love with the job, like they wouldn't want to be anywhere else. And I kind of came to my own private conclusion that there were certainly aspects of it that I liked. But there were people there that loved every aspect down to the nitty gritty. And I would never be able to compete with those people in the long term. That’s the only way you’ll ever be absolutely fantastic at something – if you love everything about it. So it launched my journey of trying to figure out what I loved every part of.

I knew I wanted to be part of creating something. I knew I loved that from starting a company in college. And I realized I could go to a big tech company or to a Series A company with a visionary founder. But would a great entrepreneur tell me to do none of those things? To, instead, get out there and just start solving the problem, start falling down and getting back up.

I wished I had a Sage, someone I could ask those questions to, and that’s when the first idea for SageSpot came to me. I could offer a Mentorship as a Service program where someone could buy time and advice from people who had been there before. I worked on that concept for a couple of months, and then one of my co-founders Will Crager, joined me. He showed me an article about how current platforms don't really facilitate ways for individuals to meet each other and how creators can represent a great way to align people's interests. We read the article together and looked at each other like, “wow, hold on a second. This Mentorship as a Service thing is cool, but this other topic is fascinating.” Sometimes an idea hits you and your mind spins. That was one of those moments for me.

Can you describe the day you decided to take the leap?

For a while, when I was working at Goldman and I finished work, I would teach myself to graphic design in this old system that I found but that no one I’ve ever talked to in the design world uses today. It was my birthday, and my friends had planned a dinner for it. And I basically faked sick so I could stay in and keep working on my graphic designs. And I had this thought: “I don’t think that’s normal behavior to keep working on projects and fake sick on your own birthday.” And I realized that if that’s how much I loved this [idea], I had to just dedicate everything towards it. That’s when I really went all in. I quit a week later.

Can you tell me about a phrase or idea — maybe from a book, a song, a life motto — that you repeat to yourself often?

[The phrase] is something my brother told me when I first started at Goldman and everything was going wrong. I didn't intern there, and I didn't know all the lingo and where everything was. It was a full meltdown situation. I sent him a text telling him all this. It was a long text from me and a short text from him. Just two words: Gradatim Ferociter. He didn’t explain it, and so I Googled it. It’s a Latin phrase that means “step by step, ferociously.” I tend to focus on the latter and going all in on things, but the step-by-step is so important. You can only really attack problems if you truly understand them. In that moment, it meant a lot to me, and [the motto] has stayed with me every step of the way. I love the fact that my brother said it because he's my older brother and my idol and anything he does I think is the coolest thing in the world.

You stopped drinking a few years ago which I realize may be socially unconventional for someone in their twenties. Can you talk about why you stopped and what your life is like now?

It was a combination of things happening at the same time. One aspect was a goal of trying to become more physically fit but another was a questioning of whether I loved [drinking] culture. I don’t know if anyone loves themselves after they’ve had a few drinks. And so I started to think if this was something I needed in my life. It was an idea I had for some time, but it really came to a head when I read The Four Agreements that talked about how the relationship with yourself is the most important thing in the world and that if you start flaking on yourself, if you say you are going to work out tomorrow and you have a beer or two and the next morning you don’t exercise as planned, you let yourself down and enter into a state of anger with yourself. If I didn’t have these drinks, I could do everything I wanted and have a great relationship with myself.

How has that been socially?

I try to only go out to places I really want to go to with people I really want to spend time with, and I give myself permission to have a really great time. Some of the most fun anyone’s ever had is when they’re six years old, in a superhero costume, running around in a bouncy castle with cake on their face because they’re not thinking of social implications. Some people need alcohol to be carefree, but I don’t need it to do that. I’m going to give myself that amount of permission.

So, where do you go from here?

I really feel like the first couple of years [building SageSpot] were just unbelievable learning moments for me as I transitioned from the life I had to the life I wanted, and I really feel that I have the tools now to really be a core asset to the company and where we need to go. But I also want to feel the same way about these next three years. The real fun of this job is that you’re learning so much at such a rapid pace, and I’m so excited to keep learning. I’m excited to change the way people consume content. 

**Interviews have been edited for length