You’re reading this right now because of Kobe Bryant. 

No, I wasn’t some super fan of Kobe’s during his playing career or even of the Lakers, but his passing has had a huge impact on many, myself included. It was devastatingly tragic. I’d had the idea for Caddyshack to Corner Office brewing in different forms for well over a decade. I’d tried to encourage media companies and even a Hollywood producer to celebrate these types of stories, while he was making a related film. But after watching the Lakers’ tribute video to Kobe on Friday,1/31/20, it gave me the push to get off my ass and bring it to life. The next morning, I started working on it at 6AM, with these three Kobe quotes guiding me:

“What I’ve learned is to always keep going.”

“But the most important thing you can do is to pay everything that you’ve learned forward for the next generation to come. And that’s truly how you build something that lasts forever.”

“You have to dance beautifully in the box that you are comfortable dancing in…It’s your job to try to perfect it and make it as beautiful of a canvas as you can make it. And if you have done that, then you have lived a successful life. You have lived with Mamba Mentality.”

This is part of my box. It was something that I knew should exist and that I had the ability to set in motion. It was a substantial amount of work in a tight window, but like Kobe said, it’s about enjoying the process. We’re humbled by the response especially from former caddies who have done incredible things with their lives, whom we’ll soon be interviewing. We hope you enjoy our small way of honoring Kobe’s legacy, especially his love of great stories.

-Kai Sato

Former caddie

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Founder, investor, board member, or advisor to a range of companies across sportstech, media, wellness, and food