I am not even sure where to begin. I cannot fathom the loss of a 23 year old child.
My close friend and stalwart startup community leader, Jason Cole, shot me a text while I was overseas about the terrible news.
Ben Cole had been killed in a car wreck.
My mind went straight to “Why do terrible things happen to such good people” and “It’s not fair” and all the normal human emotions after a sudden passing…..
But in all his wisdom, Jason asked that we not mourn what could have been, and instead cherish on the remaining time WE have together.
You can read his full eulogy for Ben here.
Ben Cole was, by all accounts, the brightest light and the funniest person in every room he entered. At his memorial service, more than ten of his friends were on stage at once, and every single one of them said with conviction that Ben was their best friend. I’ve never seen that before, but it was incredibly real.
I met Ben a handful of times in his younger years, he was always gregarious, and eager to follow mom and dad on the next adventure with a can-do attitude and an infectious, warm smile. He was passionate about sports; baseball and football in particular. He was genuinely happy to be anywhere that he could exercise his oversized frame and magnetic personality. At his core, what I’ve seen and heard from those that loved him most, was that Ben was incredibly kind, just like his parents.
I have spent the most time with Jason in bringing folks together in the startup community, in our common dedication to the Give First ethos. A simple philosophy espoused by Brad Feld, David Cohen and Adam Grant, alike. Give without expecting anything in return. Give of yourself, your time, and sometimes your resources without expecting a thing. It will all come back to you in time, some way, somehow. Just keep giving and lifting others up and the rest will come. It’s been a fundamental shift in building community and doing business but it’s been incredible and it works.
Both Jason and I were so taken with this simple but beautiful idea that we built the Give First ethos into our DNA as small businesses. Jason even went as far as to call his business Da Primus – or Give First in latin. It’s been a magical and powerful formula for success in building trust, helping others and doing business the right way.
Jason wrote in his year of giving dangerously blog “It’s counterintuitive, but the more I give the more I have to give”.
Jason’s beautiful interfaith household dedicated themselves to helping others financially as well as dedicating his time and energy to the community. Their giving philosophy started with a 3500 year old tradition called tithing. In his case his family puts aside 10% of their income into their “blessing fund” and in my experience with Jason and his family, they weren’t afraid to give well in excess of that.
From paying for friends’ cataract surgeries, to where we really got to know Jason’s massive heart was after the Aurora Theater shootings in 2012 – we helped him and his family buy 1300 movie tickets so people would feel safe going to see the movies again. From filling homeless shelters with food to giving out hundreds of cups of coffee to strangers to the biggest bear hugs you’ve ever gotten. Jason Cole and his family live large in our community- literally and figuratively.
Since dedicating himself and his family to ‘giving dangerously’ many years ago- Jason has become a bit of an authority on the topic.
He gave a powerful talk on Intentional Giving at Ignite Boulder in 2017 On giving that is a must watch
After Jason gave this talk and continued his community building and giving initiatives and I had a friend who was looking for some advice and this is what Jason shared;
- Be intentional; make giving part of your lifestyle instead of a “special event”
- Look for the opportunities that uniquely come your way
- Go for impact and don’t be afraid to go “over the top”
So, here we are.
My offer to Jason was to help him go ‘over the top’ in raising a $25,000 scholarship fund in Ben Cole’s name at his alma mater, Colorado School of Mines.
My goal is to blow this target 25k out of the water alongside the Colorado Startup community that the Cole’s have given so much to.
I’m hopeful we can come together to give them a gift in honor of their son, Ben.
We made a donation to push us toward this audacious goal – will you join us in supporting Jason and his family?
– Dave
