Welcome!
I'm Clayton Mooney, an Iowan who lived abroad before winding back up in Iowa. And I'm thankful I did.
During my teens, I frequented numerous house games for poker, played the early days of online poker at Ultimate Bet, and qualified here and there for Magic: The Gathering championships and Pro Tours.
Upon transferring to Iowa State University for business economics in 2008, with the plan to become a patent attorney some years later, I found myself obsessing over online poker. Early tournament success on PokerStars and Full Tilt led me to drop out of Iowa State University in early 2009. I then played and coached online poker full time, with the occasional summer trip to Vegas for WSOP cash games. During my time playing poker, I started blogging about travels, strategy, and the math behind the games I played.
When online poker was shut down in the US in April 2011, I made what I believed at the time to be the adult decision. I returned to Iowa State University, and switched to an English major because I wanted to become a better story teller. In 2012, I graduated and needed to put my degree to use, so I accepted a marketing and technical writing position in Denver, Colorado, with a Fortune 500 company. Cubicle City. Corporate America. Suited up. Not happy.
Early on in my Denver days, I went through a horrible breakup, slipped back into a state of depression and anxiety, and would often find myself with little to look forward to. My cats (Cotton and Bay), Tim Ferriss and James Altucher podcasts and books, and The Office episodes helped me through those earlier tough times where I felt entirely alone and doomed. But then I discovered boxing; at the old age of 25.
The training and discipline around the sport helped me to fight my depression and anxiety. It gave me hope. Then one cold day at the beginning of 2013, friends visited Denver for a Magic: The Gathering tournament. I was far removed from the game by that time, but they asked me a question, triggering an Aha moment.
"If you're not happy with your job or place in life, why don't you move abroad to play poker again? You have nothing tying you to Denver."
I started researching best locations. After 3 months of planning, I finally made the decision and had the paperwork in order. I was moving to Ireland for 12 months. Most poker sites were available. The country was English speaking. And Dublin had been on my list of places to visit for years, so why not live there?
In early July, I gave away and sold everything I had that wouldn't fit into 2 suitcases. I then rented a car, and drove back to Iowa. My cats were in good hands with my parents' so I jetted off to a country where I knew only 1 person; my very first online poker coach.
Upon landing in Dublin, I found a good room and even greater roommates on a Craigslist site, and began the wait for my online poker accounts to be reinstated. I found early success by winning the 2nd live tournament I played in at the Fitzwilliam Card Club. I was introduced to amazing and genuine poker players and others, who had skill sets of various sorts well beyond me. I was able to reinvent myself, with no baggage, and a new minimalist look on life.
After 1 good year of life, traveling throughout Europe, and poker, my time in Ireland was up. I didn't want to leave, but the government saw no reason for me to stay.
In late July 2014, I returned to Iowa, with the plan to stick around for a few months, and then jet off to another country to continue playing online poker. And then a string of major family health concerns popped up, all in a span of 60 days. I made the decision to stay in Iowa, but wanted to move back to Ames.
I tried to jump into an ESL certificate program at Iowa State University but had missed the registration deadline. I then discovered a global economics program, and my love for travel and living abroad somehow brought me to be a student again. But so much had changed since last living in Ames. I knew I didn't want to go find another regular job upon completing the program. Online poker was out of the question. Thankfully my curiosity led me to startups, and 1 of the 2 classes I was taking was agricultural entrepreneurship, taught by 2 serial entrepreneurs and now mentors of mine.
Just 3 weeks into the fall 2014 semester, I lucked out and met a group of first-time undergraduates who were entering a global business plan competition, which focused on food security for a growing population. I flipped the switch to startup mode, and we jumped into working on a business model canvas and creating our minimal viable product. That business plan competition propelled us into winning funding, more prototyping, more prototyping, and more funding. That venture is the agtech startup, KinoSol, and we just celebrated our 3-year anniversary last month.
In late 2015, I co-founded a once-per-year event called Young Entrepreneur Convention. Our 3rd event takes place in Des Moines, Iowa, next April.
Also in late 2015, I co-founded another agtech company, combining the advanced plant growing technology of High Pressure Aeroponics, with artificial intelligence. That company is Nebullam, and we're right in the middle of our seed round of investment.
You may be wondering how a poker playing writer stumbled into startups and ventures such as those above. I don't have a good answer, but I strive to be an expert generalist, in addition to a minimalist and practitioner of stoicism.
For me, I thought playing 40 tables of online poker was a rush, not easily topped. Startups, though, are an entirely different rush. More about impact and disruption than money.
Nowadays, I can be found at the office at the Research Park in Ames, or on Iowa State University campus, meeting with students who are working on their businesses (I dropped out of the last program in spring 2016, as classes were my opportunity cost when continuing pursuit of business ventures). If I'm not in either of those locations or sleeping, I'm likely traveling (for business) or at the gym, volunteer coaching students who are learning the fundamentals of boxing, where I'm often a human punching bag.
A common question I receive is how am I able to keep up with everything?
Teamwork is the most important element. My philosophy is to hire and team up with those smarter than me. I'm the dumbest person on each team, in every venture. One of those teams include my girlfriend and KinoSol co-founder, who constantly puts up with my antics, and supports my every decision.
I also haven't owned a television since 2013. Or had Netflix in 2 years. That frees up A LOT of time.
Then there is boxing and obstacle course races to keep me in shape for 14 and 18-hour work days.
My contrarian belief is that being comfortable limits one to never reaching their full potential in life.
2 final notes.
I first heard about cryptocurrency in 2012. I sold all my bitcoins in 2015. In July of this year, I dived deep down the blockchain rabbit hole and cannot wait to see it reshape industries, as well as growth of alt coins. My love for blockchain brought me to Steemit.
To assure you that I am as crazy as you're thinking, I kicked off a personal challenge to myself this past July, on my 30th birthday. That challenge is to climb 4 mountains over the next 4 years. More on that if you search social media for #4yrs4mts.
Thank you for reading this pile of words. I hope you have and find Grit and Gratitude in life.
Cheers