🎯 FOUNDER ANECDOTES

Stories That Shaped Liana Banyan

📊 THE MASTER PARALLEL: Chess Statistics

The Lesson

“As you can see, I have lost more times than I have won. Yet my rating is 2118, in the top 0.4% of chess players in the world.

So how do we win if we lose half the time? By playing a different game, and learning from our mistakes.”

📜 THE FOUNDER’S CREED

“For my own part, I feel keenly Jim Carrey’s line in Dumb and Dumber: ‘Don’t you just get tired of eking by.’ But in forging a pathway to success, I must also in good conscience burn a permanent pathway into the jungle of life for any who dare; charting the pitfalls and resources on my treasure map.”

“I don’t know where I’m going, but I know what I’m looking for, and in time, I will find both.”

ANECDOTE 1: THE PAPER ROUTE

Montana, Age 13

“I learned what extraction feels like delivering newspapers in Montana when I was thirteen. Labor laws wouldn’t let me wash dishes until I was sixteen, but I could ‘own my own business.’ So twice a week, after school until after dark, I walked five hours through freezing temperatures in jeans. Buy the paper for sixteen cents, sell it for twenty-five cents. The newspaper company set the terms. I had no leverage to negotiate.”

Key Lesson: Don’t exploit other people, even when you have been exploited.

ANECDOTE 2: THE INTRAMURAL GIANTS

College

“I, 5'6, feinted left — they both shifted left. I feinted right; again, they shifted to block me. The crowd of my social club behind me, the clock running down, I had no other option: I dropped my right shoulder and plowed INTO AND THROUGH THEM.

The best I could do was NOT QUIT and climb them and tip us all forward. We all slammed to the ground, I got the wind knocked out of me.

But my TEAMMATE? In the time I kept the giants busy, he walked over and dropped 6 balls into the goal, 1 more than the other team.

And that’s how we win. By Trying More than Me.”

Key Lesson: You don’t have to win. You have to create the opening for someone else to win.

ANECDOTE 14: PIZZA FOR ICE CREAM

College

“I was the assistant manager at a pizza place across the parking lot from a Dairy Queen. I knew the cost of our pizzas was about 10% of what we charged. So I called Dairy Queen and asked if they would be interested in pizza for dinner in exchange for ice cream for dessert.”

The Math:

• $10 retail pizza = ~$1 cost
• $10 retail ice cream = ~$1 cost
• Trade at cost: Both sides get 10x value

Key Lesson: When you trade at cost instead of retail, everyone wins massively. This is the direct ancestor of Cost+20%.

ANECDOTE 15: THE KURT IKARD CONFRONTATION

High School Freshman

“Faced with daily misery from a bully two feet taller, I told him:

‘Until you stop, I will fight you every single time I see you. And we both know I will lose. And the next time I see you, we will fight. And I will lose again. And the next. And the next. I will do that for as many times, and as long as it takes, until you stop. Because I will not ever give up. Ever.’

That’s when he stopped. Not because I could beat him—I clearly could not. But because he realized I would NEVER stop trying.”

Key Lesson: Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might.

ANECDOTE 29: THE GOLDEN EAGLE’S HEAD

High School Pep Band

“Suddenly two audience members from the opposing side ran across the court during a timeout and grabbed the Golden Eagles head off of our cheerleader mascot.

Seeing this, I unclipped my saxophone and laid it down, then jumped over two rows down the stands, then to the floor, and ran across with the football team, and then crowd, behind me.

They cancelled the game. We got our Eagle’s head back.”

Key Lesson: When something wrong happens, ACT. Don’t wait for someone else. The crowd will follow if you lead.

📝 QUOTES / CATCHPHRASES

• “Expected no, tried anyway.”
• “Never despair at the immediacy of your circumstance.”
• “What your hand finds to do, do it with your Might.”
• “Help each other, help ourselves.”
• “One tree becomes a forest.”
• “Captains wanted. Oars welcome.”
• “I will not ever give up. Ever.”
• “There’s a benefit to losing: You get to learn from your mistakes.” (Megamind)
• “Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.” (Calvin Coolidge)
• “Anger comes from frustration. Frustration comes from lack of control. Take control. Start a business.”
• “Can you hear the bell? The bell still rings for all who truly believe.”

🏰 FOR THE KEEP! ⚔️