David Facey, 28
CEO, SellSwipe Inc.
PROFESSIONAL ACHIEVEMENTS:
- Earning the Series 7 financial license immediately after college.
- Becoming a chartered alternative investment analyst.
- Completing first project as a consultant with PriceWaterhouseCoopers, where the client brought the company in to put out a multi-billion-dollar fire.
COMMUNITY:
Mentoring college entrepreneurs and working with different organizations and entities to create programs for young entrepreneurs.
WHAT IS YOUR BIRTHDATE?
08/23/1990
NAME ONE BOOK THAT HAS INSPIRED YOU PROFESSIONALLY
The Complete TurtleTrader– Michael W. Covel.
WHEN YOU WERE A CHILD, WHAT DID YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GREW UP?
I wanted to be an attorney. It was frustrating having my opinions discounted by adults so I wanted to be in a position where my opinions and interpretations of the truth would have real weight and consequences on the world and people around me.
WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST JOB, HOW OLD WERE YOU AND WHAT DID YOU LEARN FROM IT?
I started interning at a financial planning firm when I was 16. I learned that a little bit of knowledge was worse than no knowledge. Making informed financial decisions is complicated, especially when you’re using investment vehicles that you know little to nothing about. I learned that everything is in the details.
WHAT IS THE STRANGEST JOB YOU’VE EVER HAD?
Working overnight at a grocery store. Every day, well night, felt like a dream curated by the producers of The Twilight Zone. The things I saw in those storerooms changed how I shop for groceries.
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE PLACE FOR A BUSINESS LUNCH IN BATON ROUGE, AND WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE DISH THERE?
“Only a Sith deals in absolutes.” All jokes aside, I like to take into account the personality and background of the person I’m meeting with and make an informed decision from there. Overall, it’s important that we go to a place that facilitates meaningful conversation and doesn’t impair it.
WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER YOUR GREATEST ACHIEVEMENT?
One of my favorite movie lines is from Robert Downey Jr. in “Tropic Thunder”. In the movie, he is a white actor who’s decided to be a black person. He takes an acting role as a black soldier for a movie that’s being filmed in the movie. In one scene, he says “I’m a dude playing a dude disguised as another dude”. This resonates with me because life is all about growth and change. Hopefully, the person I am today is better than the person I was yesterday. I’m constantly changing and I think qualifying a past accomplishment as the “greatest” sets a pervasive ceiling or benchmark that could stunt my growth- so I don’t.
WHAT HAS BEEN THE MOST FULFILLING MOMENT IN YOUR CAREER SO FAR?
I don’t like embracing feelings of fulfillment. I have to start qualifying subjective things and ranking moments against each other and it makes me uncomfortable. I think embracing fulfillment instead of aiming towards it puts you on a path to experience retrograde and stagnation.
WHAT WAS YOUR PROFESSIONAL “AHA” MOMENT?
The training session I had in Chicago when I was onboarding for PriceWaterhouseCoopers. I was the youngest associate there. We went out that night and my older coworkers got me plastered. The next day at training, I was hungover. We had rotating group projects and in each of my groups, everyone put the bulk of the workload on me and I couldn’t keep up. One of my group members walks up in the cleanest suit I’ve ever seen and says to me “You can’t play with the big boys at night, if you’re not ready to play ball in the morning”. I realized at that very moment what responsibility meant.
WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED THE HARD WAY?
See above question: “drink water after every ounce of alcohol.” But really, it’s to live life in the moment and be present. Every moment is a learning opportunity. Wax On Wax Off. You can miss the forest for the trees by not embracing the present and the more you try to run from the present the harder it pulls you back.
WHAT GIVES YOU PROFESSIONAL INSPIRATION?
Seeing perseverance in any setting. How many times can a person face failure or the word “no” and keep going? What excuse can I possibly give when there are others, in worse situations, continuing to fight a fight they know they might not win
WHAT IS THE BEST COMPLIMENT YOU’VE EVER GOTTEN FROM A COLLEAGUE OR BOSS?
Background: My first project at PwC where I had to interface with the client on a daily basis. Compliment: “Are you sure David is only 24? He has an emotional intelligence well beyond his years.” The Why: I felt so inexperienced and wet behind the ears. Hearing that made me feel like I belonged.
ARE YOU ACTIVE ON SOCIAL MEDIA? IF SO, ON WHICH PLATFORMS ARE YOU MOST ACTIVE?
I use Twitter a lot. I have a love-hate relationship with it. I need to embrace my inner Kevin Durant and create a burner account.
HOW MANY TEXTS DO YOU SEND ON AN AVERAGE DAY? HOW MANY EMAILS?
I wonder how many clouds there are in the sky.
HOW LOW WILL YOU ALLOW YOUR REMAINING PHONE OR COMPUTER BATTERY LIFE GET (IN %) BEFORE YOU HAVE AN ANXIETY ATTACK?
Anxiety? I try to avoid it like the plague. If my phone dies, it dies.
HOW MANY UNREAD MESSAGES ARE IN YOUR INBOX RIGHT NOW?
11,059. One day this will be fixed.
WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE APP AT THE MOMENT?
SellSwipe.
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENT OF THE PAST DECADE?
Streaming Video Wherever Whenever. I like being able to unplug, relatively, in any situation.
WHAT TECHNOLOGY DO YOU WISH WAS NEVER INVENTED?
Social Media.
WHAT TIME DO YOU GET UP ON WORKDAY MORNINGS?
It depends on when I go to sleep. Often times I’m up all night working and that carries on through the next day. That said, it’s not abnormal for me to wake up at noon, but that’s usually after working until 5am.
BREAKFAST AT HOME? BREAKFAST ON THE GO? BREAKFAST AT YOUR DESK? NO BREAKFAST AT ALL?
No breakfast. Eating breakfast consistently would most likely be my greatest personal accomplishment.
THE SAYING GOES: “BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE IN THE WORLD.” SPECIFICALLY, WHAT ARE YOU “BEING” TO MAKE BATON ROUGE BETTER?
I’m operating a tech startup, which is difficult to do anywhere in the country, in Baton Rouge. I didn’t plant my company in a tech hub like Silicon Valley, New York, Atlanta, or Austin. I started it here in hopes that it could be a spark that lights a flame of innovation in this city.
WHEN DID YOU REALIZE YOU WERE “GROWN UP”?
Just the other day when I said that the problem with college students is that they remind me they’re college students.
WHAT WAS THE BEST VACATION YOU HAVE EVER TAKEN?
It was Christmas 2002 and my family and I stayed at a beach house in Perdido Key. My uncle forced me to watch the film “Ocean’s 11” and it changed my life.
FAVORITE GIFT YOU WERE GIVEN AS A CHILD?
The first Xbox was the most useful gift I ever got as a child. Kids can be cruel. Halo’s online matchmaking system taught me how to put my big boy pants on and deal with bullies.
WHICH TALENT OR SUPERPOWER WOULD YOU MOST LIKE TO HAVE AND WHY?
I want to fly. To me, nothing represents freedom like being able to fly.
WHAT’S A NICKNAME YOUR FRIENDS OR FAMILY MEMBERS HAVE FOR YOU?
People call me “Facey”. It’s odd, but no one calls any of my relatives “Facey”.
WHAT ARE YOU SUPERSTITIOUS ABOUT?
I call it the law of 3. Usually I get things right on the third time. The third time of anything is usually the best for me. I don’t get it, I don’t want to get it, but the number 3 spooks me in the best of ways.
WHO FASCINATES YOU?
Steve Jobs. He saw life in his own colors and on his own terms. Apparently, he was far from perfect, but he owned his identity when so many people scrutinized it.
WHICH FICTIONAL CHARACTER DO YOU MOST IDENTIFY WITH?
Rorschach from The Watchmen. He craves the truth. He is unyielding. He was amazing. “I’m not locked in here with you. YOU’RE LOCKED IN HERE WITH ME!” He had an edge that elevated his idealism to a level where all you could do is respect it.
FAVORITE DRINK?
Alkaline water.
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE BAND OR SONG?
Don’t Kill My Vibe (the remix) ft. Jay-Z by Kendrick Lamar. That song can get me through anything. HOV hops on the track with some heat as if he’s asking Kendrick to prove himself. I could be wrong about this, but I remember hearing how Kendrick felt that he had to record a new verse after hearing Jay’s verse. That’s the influence and pressure of Jay-Z.
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE MOVIE?
The Matrix is probably my equivalent of the Bible. “You think that’s air you’re breathing now?” The dialogue between Neo and Morpheus is next level. For me, the movie is all about questioning fate and the “reality” around us. Shape the universe in the way you want and rage against the machine(s).
IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME, WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE YOUR 18-YEAR-OLD SELF?
Time travel is a monster; I don’t want anything to change anything, because I believe I am exactly where I need to be. Have you seen “Butterfly Effect”? Steins;Gate? The Time Machine? I’m super straight.
PETS?
Never. My choice of dating partners probably just dropped exponentially.
HOBBIES?
Movies, the Lakers, and more movies.
TELL US ABOUT A MOMENT THAT CHANGED YOUR LIFE.
East Hampton, NY in 2015.
WHAT’S THE NEXT BIG PERSONAL OR CAREER CHALLENGE YOU PLAN TO TAKE ON?
I want to get involved in the artificial intelligence and machine learning space.
WHAT CONCERNS YOU MOST ABOUT THE FUTURE?
How far will we allow technology to engrain itself in our lives? We make concessions for the freedoms technology gives us, but at what point do we draw a line? At what point should the line be drawn? My favorite quote is from Edward Abbey. “Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of a cancer cell.” At what point do we, as a society, determine the limits of technology for the greater good? Or is the greater good the unfettered proliferation of technology? Only time will tell.
WHAT GIVES YOU THE MOST HOPE ABOUT THE FUTURE?
The human condition. Technology has enabled a greater level of accountability for all of our actions. On a societal level, issues that weren’t rarely spoken about in the past are being brought to the light more and more. I like that.
IF NAMED KING FOR A DAY, WHAT IS ONE CHANGE YOU WOULD MAKE IN BATON ROUGE?
Children are our future. I would integrate compulsory mental health education and services at the K-12 level. We have to do a better job monitoring their health. When it comes to how we interact with the world around us, technology has introduced new problems and magnified old ones. We need to equip children with better tools to cope with these changes.
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE QUALITY OF LIFE IN BATON ROUGE; WHAT WORKS AND WHAT NEEDS IMPROVEMENT?
We need to focus on infrastructure. Every city struggles with this in some way, but that is no excuse. We need better transportation options. We need to encourage commerce in untraditional areas. LSU is a major component of Baton Rouge and the surrounding area needs to be immaculate. Also, downtown development is vital. Talent retention is important and we need to do a better job of giving people reasons to stay or relocate. Every city has multiple suburban areas, but there is really only one downtown. It’s a psychological thing, the mystique and anonymity of downtown life. We need to find a way to change the narrative of the downtown area.
DO YOU HAVE A BUCKET LIST? IF SO, WHAT ARE THE TOP 3 THINGS ON IT?
- Fly a jet
- Go to outer space
- Walk across the red carpet for the Met Gala
See the entire 2017 Forty under 40 class
