Los Angeles:
Lunch with my Emory classmate Ryan Payne (JD / MBA 06) at Marugame Udon in Sawtelle Japantown (West Los Angeles).
Ryan was my upperclassman at Emory. I met him at a Welcome to Emory event hosted for students who were accepted into the Emory MBA program. I distinctly remember first getting to know Ryan, Dante Bellizzi and (I believe) Myron Ho over Billiards in Emory Village.
He and the rest of the Goizueta welcoming team (e.g., Colin Jennings who hosted me in his apartment) provide me with a tremendously positive impression of the MBA program affirming my decision to choose Emory.
Ryan was quite an interesting character at Emory. My first impression was he was exceptionally smart, funny, and a little bit crazy / insane.
Let me explain. During b-school, Ryan really wanted to be a contestant on the TV show: “The Apprentice”. Our other MBA 05 classmate, Rafiq Batcha, filmed Ryan stripped almost naked (with just a jock strap) standing in front of the Emory Law School building giving his taped speech on why he deserves to be a contestant on the television show.
He didn’t get on the show. But he did manage to get a date with an attractive female student passing by the building asking him what he was doing. He said something like he was running for President.
Then there was the time he took one of his girlfriends skydiving. Ryan got hooked onto skydiving after his first dive with our Emory classmates during MBA orientation (thankfully none of our classmates were injured or killed in this optional event). He was working on his Skydiving certification and took his girlfriend once with him on a skydive. The relationship didn’t work out, but they still became friends. Years later, Ryan was invited to her wedding and met the mother who said with a stern face, “I recognize you. So you’re the guy who tried to kill my daughter.”
Like I said … Ryan is a bit crazy. But ridiculously fun. I think this would serve him well as an entrepreneur. He has his own Law Firm now, Hippocratic Law (https://hippocraticlaw.com). Hippocratic Law is part of a suite of interconnected companies (Hippocratic Financial Advisors) focused on serving the needs of physicians and their families (Hippocrates was a famous Greek physician of Antiquity).
I think fun people make better entrepreneurs. You have to be able to stay positive and keep moving forward knowing some of your crazy ideas may or may not pan out.
Ryan is also doing well personally. He’s travelled a lot this year: most recently, hiking with friends in Utah. Just before that, a trip to Croatia. And I believe he said he has another fun trip planned coming up soon.
It was good catching up with Ryan. I really appreciate the time out he took out of his work on Monday to buy me lunch while I was in SoCal. Hopefully, Ryan will find that special lady in 2022.
Hippocratic Law: https://hippocraticlaw.com
