A Leap for the Life You Want: A Fireside Chat on Chasing Your Passion

How do you know when to follow your passion? Join us for a fireside chat on taking a risk and jumping toward the life you want with When to Jump CEO Mike Lewis, Weebly co-founder and CEO David Rusenko, and Airbnb co-founder & CPO, Joe Gebbia.

If you’ve got a passion you want to chase, this is the evening event you’ll want to attend. Snacks, drinks, and an authentic and unscripted conversation highlighting the different challenges and opportunities that accompanied the decision to “jump” across three unique perspectives: Joe leaving his graphic designer job to co-found Airbnb, David dropping out of college to start Weebly, and Mike leaving venture capital to play professional squash. The evening will focus on the intensely human experience that relates to chasing down a dream, and what you should know as you prepare your own journey.

For complete bios on Joe, David, and Mike, see below.

Joe Gebbia is the co-founder and CPO of Airbnb, serving on the Board of Directors and Executive staff, while leading Samara, Airbnb’s in-house design and innovation studio. An entrepreneur from an early age, Airbnb’s groundbreaking service began in his San Francisco apartment and spread to 3 million+ listings in over 191 countries, creating a new economy for thousands of people around the world. He is involved in crafting the company culture, shaping the design aesthetic, and innovating future growth opportunities. Joe has spoken globally about both entrepreneurship and design, and received numerous distinctions such as the Inc 30 under 30 and Fortune 40 under 40. His lifelong appreciation for art and design led him to the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), where he earned dual degrees in Graphic Design and Industrial Design. Gebbia now serves on the institution’s Board of Trustees.

David Rusenko is the founder and CEO of Weebly, a powerful and easy way for anybody to create a site, blog or online store. Over 30 million people have created a site with Weebly, and 33% of the United States visits a Weebly site every month. David has the most experience writing code in perl, PHP, and Javascript. He was born in Paris where he lived for 7 years, and then lived in Morocco for the next 11 years. He attended Penn State where he studied both Information Sciences and Technology and Management Information Systems.During his free time, he also enjoys DJing, traveling (he's been to 30 countries and 45 states), scuba diving, stunt driving, and playing racquetball. He is an angel investor in Zenefits, Parse (acquired), Cue (acquired), Exec (acquired), CruiseAutomation, Eligible, Phil, KeepSafe, Churchkey, Streak, Incident Technologies, Adioso.

Mike Lewis is the Founder and CEO of When to Jump, a global community featuring the individuals, stories, and ideas relating to leaving something comfortable in order to pursue a passion. Launched in 2016, the platform has attracted millions of impressions through digital and print media, in-person experiences, and brand collaborations. In January 2018, Mike’s book, When to Jump: If the Job You Have Isn’t the Life You Want (Henry Holt Macmillan) will release worldwide. Goldman Sachs named Mike one of the 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs of 2017. Mike graduated magna cum laude from Dartmouth College, and developed When to Jump from his experience leaving his job as an investor at Bain Capital Ventures to chase a dream of competing on the professional squash tour—an adventure across 200,000 miles, six continents and nearly fifty countries.

About When To Jump:

When to Jump is a curated global community featuring the individuals, stories, and ideas relating to leaving something comfortable in order to pursue a passion. Founder Mike Lewis developed When to Jump from his experience leaving his job as an investor at Bain Capital Ventures to chase a dream of competing on the professional squash tour—an adventure across 200,000 miles, six continents and nearly fifty countries.