Episode 016 Joe De Sena

Summary

• Joe **** Sena is the CEO and cofounder of Spartan Race and prior to that, he ran the Iditarod, the Vermont 100, the Bad Water Ultra Marathon, and the Lake Placid Iron Man in one week.
• He grew up in Queens, New York and his father was a super aggressive entrepreneur.
• His mother moved them to Ithaca, New York and she was into health and wellness, which influenced Joe and his sister.
• His father lost everything and Joe started a pool cleaning business to make money.
• He applied to Cornell four times and was eventually accepted.
• Joe **** Sena was not accepted into college and was running a successful construction business in New York.
• His mother had a connection with the Head of Admissions at Cornell and she was accepted into the School of Human Ecology.
• Joe **** Sena was encouraged by a judge to invest in a stock, Zyntex, which he did with his entire construction earnings.
• The stock was taken over the next day and Joe **** Sena made $100,000.00.
• He then got a job on Wall Street and learned the entire industry.
• Joe **** Sena then started his own investment bank firm, which was struggling until a friend from Cornell gave him a large order.
• This order saved the business and it grew into a large success.
• Joe **** Sena had an "enormous fire in his belly" that the judge noticed and thought would be wasted in the pool business
• Joe won an entrepreneurship award for a pitch about making a better Champion sweatshirt
• Joe was inspired to create the Death Race after meeting a man in the stairwell of his building who was on the cover of Men's Health
• Joe sold his Wall Street business and moved to Vermont to focus on growing a family
• Joe created the Death Race to get back to the core of life and find people with the same fire in their belly he had
• Summary:
• Joe **** Sena created the Death Race in 20042005 as a way to find people with fire in their bellies. The race was designed to break participants and only 8 of the original participants made it through the first race. Doug Lewis, an Olympic level skier, was the first to finish and the New York Times picked up the story. Joe then created Spartan Race to make the Death Race more accessible to the masses. Spartan Race has grown to 131 events in 17 countries and 1 million participants this year. The Death Race still has 400 participants annually with a 15% completion rate. Joe has also done many endurance races around the world, including the Iditasport, a 350 mile race in 30 below temps and 3 feet of snow.
• Joe **** Sena is a worldclass athlete who has completed the Bad Water Ultra Marathon, the Lake Placid Iron Man, and the Vermont 100 in the same week.
• He is not a methodical trainer, but instead throws everything against the wall and pushes the limits.
• The Bad Water Ultra Marathon is 135 miles, starting below sea level and going up to 8,000 feet of elevation, with temperatures reaching 131 degrees.
• Joe believes that passion and fire in the belly is more important than exact skill sets when hiring people.
• He looks for people who outwork everyone else, including himself, and are usually from Eastern Europe or third world countries.
• Joe de Sena has found a correlation between successful entrepreneurs and downhill ski racers.
• Ski racing requires grit and the ability to withstand uncomfortable conditions.
• Joe recommends the books Atlas Shrugged, Shogun, and The One Minute Manager.
• Joe wrote his book, Spartan Up, to reach people who wouldn't otherwise participate in his races and to inspire them to make something of their lives.
• People can learn more about Joe and Spartan at spartanupthebook.com and spartan.com.