Pedro Mendonça
📍Durham, NC | Venture Capital at 1616 Ventures
📝 Editor’s Note
Greensboro recently received huge news. Minor league hockey is coming to town. The Panthers and Hornets keep losing but the Hurricanes keep winning. North Carolina is hoping on the hockey bandwagon hard.
Even better news - the team is having an open naming contest. For someone who thinks they are more creative than they are, this is very exciting.
My team name submissions:
The Greensboro ‘Chilly Pickles’ — no rhyme or reason, I just think this would be hilarious and also fun to throw pickles on the ice for hat tricks.
The Greensboro ‘Loco Liners’ — the city has a long history of being an important stop for trains. Play on locomotives, and ‘line’ being important to both trains and in hockey.
Do we like The Chilly Pickles or can you help us come up with a name (submission link)?
Without further ado….
Why Mendy?
Mendy and I know each other because we were classmates in business school. We recently reconnected when Mendy, who is from Brazil, moved back to North Carolina. He is back in Durham because his wife recently started grad school at Duke. Mendy is a great guy with a sneaky big sense of humor!
Self-Description
I'm a dude, playing a dude, disguised as another dude. Third-culture kid who has spent his life moving between Brazil and the US. Most recently working in startups and VC. Happy to move to North Carolina once again, this time following my wife while she's at business school.
Mendy’s 6 Recommendations
Written in his own words…
1. Chubbies Pants
Yes, I know, Chubbies probably makes people think of frat boys. I found out about the brand after I kept having to replace my torn shorts and pants because, as a fashion-ignorant and apparel-stunted youth with generous thighs, I did not realize that you could buy clothes with stretch in them until I was in college. I have been wearing their khaki and exercise shorts for several years, and they somewhat recently launched their Everywear pants. They are lightweight, stretchy, and functional. They look basic enough so you can dress them up or down, and are comfortable to wear all day long.
2. Annie Duke
Annie Duke is a specialist in decision science, with a very cool background that mixes academia and professional poker. I got hooked after reading her book "Thinking in Bets", and continue to read her writings as well as listening to her speak on several podcasts. She provides different frameworks for decision-making strategy while incorporating the inevitability of unknown variables, which have been and continue to be very helpful professionally.
3. Elite Squad, Tropa de Elite
When this movie came out in Brazil in 2007, it immediately became a cultural phenomenon. It portrays the lives of cops in Rio de Janeiro that belong to an elite unit, and their several interactions with different parts of Brazilian society. For those interested in Brazil or LATAM, it is a very illuminating movie; for those who aren't, it's still a great action and drama flick.
4. ATG App
I found out about this app from following its founder on social media, the Knees Over Toes Guy. In short, he had knee pain all his life, went to school to figure out how to fix it, and now has a methodology to do so. His app has different exercise and mobility routines to "bulletproof" (his words) different body parts. I would be skeptical too, except that by doing his knee-strengthening exercises, I finally don't have the knee pain I've had since I was a teenager playing basketball all day long.
5. Total Recall
When a friend recommended this book, my first thought was "why would I want to read about an actor that stars in action movies?" Just one chapter in, and I was completely blown away. As a fellow immigrant to the US, I can genuinely say that Arnold is one of the most inspirational stories I have ever had the pleasure of learning about. Yes, he is an actor, but he has excelled in several other fields throughout his life, as an athlete, politician, real estate investor, and philanthropist. His story is filled with humor, wisdom, and a rare look into the workings of all these different fields. He continues to produce relevant content, both in his new book (Be Useful) and in his health and fitness podcast (Arnold's Pump Club).
6. The Godfather Cocktail
The Godfather cocktail. I've always been most fascinated by cocktails that have few, simple ingredients, but where the final result tastes and feels much more complex than the sum of its parts. And as someone who likes to have a drink way more often than they like freshly squeezing juice, if it's spirits only, then all the better. The Godfather cocktail is just that: one part whiskey, one part amaretto, and done. For the amaretto I recommend Disaronno, which is the most classic option, and on the whiskey front, it will really be a matter of personal preference. The amaretto definitely pushes things onto the sweet side, so take that into account when choosing your whiskey.
Plug | Networking Opportunities
I just recently moved to Durham, and would love to talk about early-stage tech startups, entrepreneurship, and VC with people in NC and the Southeast more broadly - please shoot me a message at mendy@1616ventures.com
P.S. from Rambull — Apparently there is a run on advent calendars this year? Seems like a rumor Amazon started to drum up sales…Regardless, the scare prompted me to proactively purchase this Lego Advent Calendar for $22. Living vicariously through my 3-year-old continues to be a highlight of this stage of my life.
