---

WE ARE ALL MINNESOTANS TODAY.

We haven’t been able to shake what’s happening in Minnesota.

We spent Saturday watching the videos of a federal immigration agent killing Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old Veterans Affairs intensive care nurse. Like many of you, we are still trying to process it, understand it, and figure out what, if anything, we can actually do.

A Minnesota artist named Noval Noir, whom we met at the very first VeeCon in Minnesota, captured the feeling perfectly in a text to Mike.

“Minnesota has been heavy lately. Not the kind of busy heavy. The kind that sits on your chest. The kind that makes you pause, second-guess yourself, or feel like you are waiting for someone else to lead first.”

Noval did not wait.

In freezing temperatures, she went to the South Minneapolis site where Renee Good was killed by an ICE agent on January 7 and painted her portrait. Not for attention. Not for press. She just wanted to help her community heal.

“Art has always been a form of therapy,” she told CNN. “It might not be words, but you can put power in pictures, in color, in a stroke of a paintbrush.”

In her text to Mike, she added, “I wasn’t trying to create a moment. I was just answering what felt like a responsibility, like something I had to do.”

That question keeps echoing for us. What is our responsibility right now? And is this even something we are supposed to talk about at work?

Your business depends on people, their trust, their safety, and their ability to show up whole.

Your business depends on a government that upholds the Constitution to protect your rights.

Your business depends on law and order ... employees who feel safe and customers who don't fear buying from you.

So yes. This is 100% a business issue, as well as a human one.

Fear does not clock out at 5pm. When ICE shootings happen, the impact does not stay on the news. Communities are shaken. The country is polarized. People are carrying it with them, just like we are.

Most companies respond with distance. Silence. Neutral language. Carefully scrubbed statements.

But neutrality, in moments like this, does not feel neutral to the people who are hurting.

None of us has the answers. But all of us can choose courage. The courage to acknowledge the moment instead of stepping around it.

So what can you actually do?

1️⃣ Lead like a human. Not a brand. Not a lawyer. A person. Start the conversation. Ask people how they are doing and listen.

2️⃣ Speak out. Share how you’re feeling. Vulnerability creates permission.

3️⃣ Act and make it visible. If you aren't called to do something specific like Noval, call your senators. Then tell everyone in your company you did, and invite them to do the same, and ask them to ask their friends and family to do so as well.

Call 202-224-3121. That is the U.S. Capitol switchboard.

Ask to be connected to your senators. When someone answers, say:

Hi, my name is ___ and I am a constituent from ___. I am calling to urge the Senator to oppose additional funding for ICE enforcement without strict accountability, transparency, and safeguards for human life. What happened in Minnesota makes it clear that unchecked funding causes real harm to real people. I am asking the Senator to push for oversight, de-escalation standards, and alternatives that protect communities and due process. Please record my concern.

That is it. Your call is logged. Enough calls change the math.

Noval did not wait for permission. She answered what felt like a responsibility.

Will you stay silent, or will you show up in your own way that feels right to you? That's all our responsibility.

---

INSIGHT

🤝 Always Be Networking — Potential clients are everywhere.

❌ Don't Play By The Rules — In the age of AI, the world moves too fast for old playbooks.

🏆 Celebrate Your Wins — It'll help remind you of your purpose.

---

CHEAT CODE: OWN YOUR ORIGINS

Your origin story is not a marketing fluff piece. It's the single clearest signal of who you are, what you will tolerate, and who belongs on your team.

Craft it carefully, tell it often, and make it the backbone of how you recruit, onboard, fundraise, and lead. But what makes a good origin story?

First, keep it to under a minute. Start with the concrete problem, the human moment that made you care, and end with the unfair advantage that explains why you're going to win. No jargon. No features. Emotion plus clarity beats cleverness every time.

Then, follow these three rules:

1. Write the story down. Trim it until every sentence earns its place. If you can't tell it in under a minute, you're losing attention and recruits.

2. Teach it to the team. Onboarding, interviews, investor meetings, sales pitches — the origin story should be audible everywhere.

3. Use it to hire for fit. Cultural fit matters more than skill early on, and stories are how culture travels.

If you're unsure whether your story works, test it like any other product. Tell it ten times. Watch faces. Do people nod, smile, and reach for their wallets or resumes? If they do, you have something real. If not, rewrite it.

A clear origin story makes culture obvious. When it's missing, everyone knows.

Want more of our cheat codes? Follow along on Instagram.

🆘 Access the 49 other cheat codes every entrepreneur needs to know from
Shoveling $H!T: A Love Story

🚜 Have you dived into building a business? Jump into the Founders Farm and share some stories.

---

FOUR FAVORITE FINDS

🌎 The World Economic Forum released its 2026 Global Risks Report recently. Top concerns include the potential of an AI bubble and a decrease in multilateralism.

👩‍💼 This is the playbook for how CEOs have been navigating the new Trump era.

🎓 In this increasingly skills-based economy, Google co-founder Sergey Brin says the company is hiring more and more people without college degrees.

📈 Inflation hasn't yet cooled down. Here's the latest on price hikes.

---

AROUND THE FARM

♟ We sat down with Stifel's Brad Ellis to talk about the tactical aspects of startup success.

🤩 We're honored that the Goody Business Book Awards rewarded our book Shoveling $h!t: A Love Story as a winner in the Entrepreneurism and Small Business categories!

🎙 Listen to Mike's takeaways on the difference between being a founder and an investor on the We Live to Build podcast.

👏 Mike sat down with Swagger to discuss how he makes life meaningful.

🤔 We were interviewed by Forbes on how we use the V2MOM framework to make investment decisions.

💸 CNBC shared our story of how we dealt with our company going bankrupt.

📚 Shoveling $h!t: A Love Story debuted on the New York Times & USA Today bestseller lists!

---

FINALLY, WANNA GET INVOLVED?

📖 Get bulk copies for your team.
⏰ Invite us to speak at your event.
🤯 Share your thoughts on social: #FoundersFarm
⏩ Forward this dispatch: Latest issue link

---

STAY CONNECTED!
Email: info@kassandmike.com

Follow on LinkedIn:
Kass Lazerow | Mike Lazerow

Social:
Instagram •
TikTok •
Facebook •
Website

---