In this clip from Who Got Me Here, three-time founder and Qualified CEO Kraig Swensrud reflects on the people who changed the trajectory of his career—and how he now tries to do the same for others.

Kraig shares stories of the leaders who “bet on him” early on:

* Norm Gennaro, who took a chance on a rookie sales engineer at Oracle

* Philip Merrick, who hired Kraig off a single cold email during the dot-com boom

* Chris Halligan, who mentored his first startup out of a tiny San Francisco apartment

He talks about why those acts of belief created a lifelong sense of loyalty, how your early peers often become tomorrow’s CROs and CEOs, and why real networking is built through shared work—not cocktail receptions. Kraig also explains how he now looks for that same “X factor” in his own team and intentionally invests in future superstars.

If you’ve ever had someone take a chance on you—or you want to be that person for others—this conversation will hit home.

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