The quest to 35 Ventures.
By: Ričardas Pakštys
Tags: Hustle, Basketball, Extra Mile, Rich Kleiman, Kevin Durant

When I saw around 2017 that Rich Kleiman and Kevin Durant are building a company I was immediately interested to discover what they are up to.

It’s no secret that nowadays everyone has a voice. If you can see what your childhood heroes are up to from up close and even have a chance to learn something, you’re in a great place.

I did not feel I am ready to contribute and help them, but as time went by, I started feeling more and more confident about it.

2021 came and I saw that they are working their butts off. Plenty of investments, a lot of content, great people around, and stuff like that.

I was like: I want to be part of it and I will do whatever it takes to get the best possible chance to even speak with them.

MAY 2021 :

I started doing research :

What companies are they investing to

What is the content they are producing

Who is working in the company

How they can leverage themselves even better

How they can be known all over the world.

How they can reach even more people.

And even more.

Then I started reading and listening to every article and every video that Rich Kleiman was part of.

Then I noticed that he doesn't have a Wikipedia page. I never in my life contributed to Wikipedia.

Until I started I never realized how strict it is and how deep they look into articles that people write.

I started to document everything, like even small details from interviews like :

Rich hates when people are late. Rich’s favorite cartoon is Scoopy Doo His biggest fear is not being able to do what he loves

You name it. You get the point, right? Those are small details, but in my head, those details are the ones that most people miss and I wrote before :

Attention to detail is the game.

Those small details will be the difference.

I started writing everything that might be useful for the Wiki page and in general.

While creating a Wikipedia page I thought that this will be not enough. What else could I do?

I started creating a deck with ideas both for content and for business development.

I always try to look from other people's perspectives, what they would find useful?

Never had any intent to just jump into DM’s and say: “Hey, man I want to work with you, I did not do anything for you, I just want to work”. It does not work. At least in my world.

I created this deck, and while I was keep getting rejected for Wikipedia I was trying to get attention and a chance to speak.

I realized for the 1000th time that everything takes longer than you want. Everything.

I invited Rich to be my connection on Linkedin and when he accepted few days after I was jumping from my seat like a little kid when getting ice cream. Suddenly I realized it’s real. At the same time, I realized that my job just started. It’s far from finished.

I sent this deck but did not get any response.

I was like: OK. I need to find other ways. It’s not going to be that simple. Noted.

Work for Wikipedia approval continued. I submitted 3rd take and in few days I received this :

Did not have any intentions to do promote. All I do is the extra mile. That’s what I thought.

Found out that my good friend has a roommate who is contributing to Wikipedia for a long time. Shootout to Adam :)

Spoke with him and he told me what adjustments can I do.

After few hours I received this :

I was blocked because they thought I was doing advertising. Then I had to :

Make sure I get my IP unblocked

Make sure I even have access to CONTRIBUTE to Wikipedia.

This went for at least 2 weeks.

In the meantime, the Facebook page that I created for 35 Ventures got some traction which really gave me another boost of motivation to continue with this :

Just Women’s Sports is the company that 35 Ventures invested in.

Slowly but surely people started noticing this page and it started getting traction, it received messages like :

I was like. I would love to. This was one of the ideas on this deck, but I need to reach them first haha.

Time went by and I was continuing working on Wiki. I kept getting rejected for promotional causes, but one day I went on a call with this guy who contributing to Wiki for a long time and he helped me and I submitted for the last time when everything was according to Wikipedia’s standards.

I was waiting for literally no more than 10 hours.

And on the evening I checked my email and saw this :

I was happy but not satisfied. The job was far from finished. Now it was time to make it popular so other people would contribute and it will be on the first page of Google.

Contacted my SEO friends and in 1 day it was on the first Google page. Another check.