[Photo Credit: John Werner]

Seth Birnbaum 1973-2020

 

This is by far the most difficult POST I have ever published on the Internet…

 

I have decided to publish a CELEBRATION of the life of Seth Birnbaum online for all of posterity.

 

I am posting this submission by sending an Email to CelebratingSethBirnbaum@abovo.co, which will POST to this new ABOVO GROUP: https://CelebratingSethBirnbaum.abovo.co/

 

If you are copied on this Email, I would ask you to Reply-to-All so that CelebratingSethBirnbaum@abovo.co is one of the recipients and thus you can post and share your own contributions to CELEBRATE Seth’s life and the impact of Seth on your life as an individual.

 

If you are reading this post on ABOVO.co, I would ask you to either click the “Reply” button at the top of this post or simply send your own Email post to CelebratingSethBirnbaum@abovo.co to contribute.

 

Once everyone who wishes to contribute has a chance to do so, we will port all of the content over to the www.CelebratingSethBirnbaum.com domain that we registered earlier today so that the Celebration of Seth Birnbaum can continue for decades. Forever.

 

 

 

Prologue:

 

For the rest of my life, I will vividly remember where I was on Saturday 11/28/2020 around 2:30PM – that was around the time I received a call from my friend Rob Fisher (CEO of Cogo Labs) to inform me that our mutual friend Seth Birnbaum had peacefully passed away in his sleep the night before, at the age of 47.

 

I was instantly shocked and thoroughly grief-stricken. I will miss Seth dearly for the rest of my life.

 

I have known OF Seth since 2009 and I have known Seth personally since 2012.

 

In the time since then, I have come to know Seth Birnbaum as:

 

• A brilliant MIT Grad (Mechanical Engineering 1996)

 

• A fellow Serial Entrepreneur – Everquote f/k/a AdHarmonics representing Seth’s THIRD startup business (the other two being NeoGenesis [1996], and Verdasys [2003]), along with his lifelong best friend and closest ally, Tomas Revesz

 

• One of the friendliest souls to have ever walked the planet, radiating a special form of positive energy that magnetically and naturally attracted others

 

• A business partner:

 

·         In the early years of AdHarmonics, Seth worked closely with my previous business DoublePositive – a relationship that blossomed while being managed by then-DoublePositive exec Brian Ocheltree

 

·         Seth added me to the Everquote Advisory Board in 2015

 

·         I added Seth as an advisor/shareholder to Abovo42 Corporation in 2015

 

·         A fellow member of YPO (Young Presidents Organization)

 

• Friends & Kindred Spirits – ever since meeting each other in 2012, Seth and I have remained in fairly regular contact through the years, via text, Email, calls, and sharing meals, events, and other experiences together.

 

I’m copying words written by our mutual business partner Dave Blundin about Seth here below, and adapting them to my own voice in this post:

 

They say, "we are the average of the five people we spend the most time with," and for me Seth Birnbaum was one of those five. 
I suspect many more than five people consider Seth to be one of their five best friends, which is probably the greatest tribute a person can get.

 

 

 

Reflections & Celebrations

 

In 2009, I became close friends with Dave Blundin – Head of Cogo Labs and Link Ventures – via golf, fine dining, and philosophizing about the future of technology together. We instantly became kindred spirits.

 

It wasn’t until years later when Dave’s businesses and my former-business DoublePositive were all gaining traction in the insurance lead gen and performance-marketing space (in a non-competitive way) that Dave and I started doing business deals together. I introduced Dave to Brian Ocheltree who was building up the Insurance vertical for DoublePositive, and Dave subsequently introduced Brian to Seth – Founder/CEO of his fastest-growing new startup AdHarmonics (before changing the name to Everquote in 2015).

 

For months, Brian O would report back to me that working with Seth/Tomas/Dave was like a dream come true – their performance was superior to any other business we worked with and he would also add comments about how “brilliant” they were in using analytics to drive the top-tier performance.

 

Both Dave Blundin and Brian O kept encouraging me to meet Seth in-person. The first attempt to do so fell victim to a delayed flight into BOS from my home airport at BWI:

 

[references to BlackBerry and Airtran make this Email thread historically authentic]

 

However, the second attempt to meet in-person for the first time EVER was February 2012 – an attempt to meet at the www.LeadsCon.com tradeshow in Las Vegas:

 

 

The proposed get-together developed into a dinner scheduled in one of the fancy restuarants at The Mirage (where the LeadsCon tradeshow was taking place), but I received a note from Seth about an hour before dinner saying that he could not make it because of a ruptured disc in his back sent him to the Las Vegas emergency room :-O

The note continued that he was sending his co-founder, lifelong-best-friend, and closest-ally, Tomas Revesz in his stead. Thus, I actually met Tomas BEFORE meeting Seth. Tomas and I had a lovely dinner and I learned a lot about Tomas, Seth, Dave Blundin, Cogo Labs, and the insurance industry.

 

Later that night, however, Seth was discharged from the ER and joined me and Brian O at the after-hours party in the Mirage, where I finally got to meet Seth Birnbaum for the first time in my life. I will remember the moment vividly, and NOT JUST because Seth still had his hospital band on his wrist and a bandage from where they inserted an IV :-O

 

I immediately observed an ethos of focus, perseverance, persistence, and stick-to-it-iveness in Seth that I have greatly admired ever since.

 

There was a quick follow-up after LeadsCon in March 2012:

 

 

Seth brought Tom Ellis with him to Baltimore for that meeting in March 2012 mentioned in the Email above. At the time, Tom was the Cogo Labs analyst who was essentially responsible for all the wonderful AdHarmonic traffic growth and performance, and was a member of the AdHarmonics/Everquote Board until 2017. Tom is currently GM of the Autos Vertical at Everquote.

 

I met with Seth and Tom first in the DoublePositive board room, where we shared countless Founder/Entrepreneur war stories and grew even closer through these mutual bonds and shared philosophies. It was Seth’s advice to pursue a sale of the DoublePositive business during that meeting in Baltimore that prompted me to propose a sale process to the DoublePositive board.

 

 

After the meeting, Seth, Tom, and I enjoyed a wonderful dinner together at The Blue Hill Tavern, near the DoublePositive office in Baltimore. I vividly remember being completely charmed by Seth and his gregarious nature during that dinner.

 

The DoublePositive+AdHarmonics relationship blossomed into an important partnership in the coming years after that meeting.

 

Later in 2012, I began working closely on a deal between DoublePositive, Dave Blundin, and Cogo Labs, which would include having Dave join the DoublePositive board as an independent director.

 

Dave organized a sort-of “Welcome to the Keiretsu” dinner for me in Cambridge, along with Seth, John Giordano, Fred Goff, Tony Deigh, Tom Ellis, Jonathan Shapiro, Marty Wells, and Jeremy Levitan. In the scheduling Email thread, Dave Blundin jokingly asked which alcohol I like the LEAST, and I quipped back a reply:

 

An IV drip of alcohol into the bloodstream is what I like least, closely followed by a Pan-galactic Gargle Blaster. ;-)

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JH_CY1Mahr8

 

Cheers.

 

SPF

 

Pan-galactic Gargle Blaster was a reference to a book/movie/miniseries that I have been obsessed with for years – Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. Although obscure, it is a geek cult classic so I wasn’t surprised that it was recognized by folks on the thread. What WAS surprising though was how Seth INSTANTLY replied about the Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster with the EXACT quote from HHGG:

 

“Best Drink in the Galaxy. Its effects are similar to having your brains smashed out by a slice of lemon wrapped round a large gold brick.” :-)

 

Our shared passion for Douglas Adams and HHGG added even more gravitas to my attraction to Seth as a friend and colleague.

 

There were countless other fun times and encounters with Seth while I was running DoublePositive, and in almost every encounter, Seth would gush over how amazing the people around him were, including Tomas, Dave, Tom Ellis, Darryl Auguste, etc. But I particularly remember Seth always re-affirming the ultra-deep and trusting relationship he had with his Chairman Dave Blundin. Seth would often compare the nightmare of having hostile investors as partners in his previous business with the bliss of being partners with Dave and his uber-supportive philosophy.

 

In March 2015, Seth scheduled a breakfast with me at the Carnegie Deli in The Mirage during LeadsCon Las Vegas. I already had a working prototype of ABOVO and asked Seth to become one of the first 5 beta-testers, which he prompty obliged right there at the breakfast table with this post which included a pic of the massive Boston snow accumulation from earlier that week:

https://www.abovo.co/seth@everquote.com/10216 -- one of the first 100 posts EVER on ABOVO :-O

 

 

He posted again in October 2015, when I brought ABOVO Co-founder Chad Mathias to the Everquote office in Cambridge to meet Seth and Tomas:

 

https://www.abovo.co/seth@everquote.com

 

 

 

DoublePositive was successfully acquired in March of 2015. In April of 2015, I visited Dave Blundin in Cambridge to pitch him on my next act – ABOVO (you are here) – and a wholly-owned subsidiary business www.Meta42.co – I wanted to become a portfolio company of Cogo Labs and Link Ventures and reproduce Seth’s success and growth with AdHarmonics/Everquote in working alongside Dave Blundin.

 

I am happy to report that we have been happy members of the Link/Cogo family since 2015 – an outcome that was materially shaped by Seth, his success, and his passion for working alongside Dave Blundin.

 

On March 4, 2015, Seth turned 42-years old. “42” is an icon in the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – the “ultimate answer to life, the universe, and everything” according the computer named “Deep Thought” in the story, after 7.5MM years of processing/calculting.

 

So, on Seth’s 42^nd birthday, I shot him this text message:

 

 

Seth wasn’t kidding…

 

Just a few weeks later in 2015, The Boston Globe published this feature on the newly-re-branded Everquote:

 

EverQuote breaks mold of youthful startup - The Boston Globe

 

 

 

From the article:

 

For starters, cofounders Seth Birnbaum and Tomas Revesz aren’t whiz kids fresh out of MIT (though both are graduates). They’re in their 40s, which makes them — in their own words — “elderly Internet entrepreneurs.”

 

Which prompted me to shoot the text message to Seth in delight:

 

 

I was thrilled to see the “Elderly Internet Entrepreneur” line come back around in 2017 with:

 

CEO Interview: Seth Birnbaum, EverQuote - The American CEO

 

From the 2017 article:

 

Maybe these managers are a little jealous of millennials.

 

Seth: There may be a little bit of that. We joke around and call ourselves “elderly internet entrepreneurs.”

 

 

In 2015, after ABOVO & Meta42 joined the Cogo Labs and Link Ventures family, Seth added me to the Everquote Advisory Board and I added Seth to the Abovo42 Advisory Board.

 

During a 2015 trip to Cambridge, Seth invited me out to Area Four in Cambridge after an Everquote Board meeting to meet Everquote Board member Sanju Bansal for the first time:

 

 

I had heard Sanju’s name for years via two of his biggest fans (and former MIT fraternity brothers – the same frat as Seth’s) Dave Blundin and Sid Banerjee, but it was Seth that facilitated the first in-person meeting with Sanju. Seth would later go on to tell me how much he appreciated ADORED Sanju as an Everquote board member since he had the most experience in running a publicly-traded business (as COO & Vice Chairman of Microstrategy).

 

In March 2017, Seth graciously hosted the LeadsCon CEO Dinner at Joe's Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab in Las Vegas. With Seth as the host, it will probably go down in history as the greatest LeadsCon CEO Dinner EVER :-)

 

 

 

During the Summer of 2017, Seth invited me to Shabu Shabu in downtown Boston for dinner with Everquote CIO Gene Suzuki. It was my first time meeting Gene and my first encounter with the Shabu cooking style – I was absolutely charmed by both:

 

 

 

In 2017, I had the blissful opportunity of driving back to Boston from Vermont and the first annual “Friends of Link Ventures” event. We babbled the entire 3-hours about Internet businesses, life, the universe, family, and YPO (which Seth had just joined). I’ll remember that car ride for as long as I live:

 

 

 

As a portfolio company of Cogo Labs, we often get the opportunity to attend the monthly Cogo Labs all-hands meetings, aka CoVergence. Dave Blundin often speaks of Seth and the success of Everquote to the group of young up and coming Internet entrepreneurs at Cogo Labs.

 

Here at a 2018 CoVergence,  I snapped a pic of Dave praising Seth’s instincts in preventing “Lingering Around the Hoop.”

 

 

I was lucky to see Seth a lot in 2018 through a number of meetings, events, and encounters.

In the Spring of 2018, Seth and I brought our respective families to YPO Disney, which could be the greatest family Disney experience EVER:

 

On June 28, 2018 Everquote held its IPO on the Nasdaq exchange:

 

 

I quickly declared it the BEST IPO EVER on Twitter:

 

 

Of course, I was sporting the Everquote colors that incredibly exciting day:

 

 

 

Here is Dave Blundin discussing the Everquote IPO with Cogo Labs during CoVergence:

 

 

The Everquote IPO was such an inspiration for me personally, and for all members of the Cogo Labs and Link Ventures family – to see their first “graduate” go all the way and RING the BELL :-)

 

Later in 2018, Seth and Dave told the IPO story to a group of fellow CEOs at the LeadsCon CEO Dinner in Boston:

 

 

 

A year later In 2019, Seth summarized his experience in the first year as the CEO of a publicly-traded company to the LeadsCon CEO Dinner in Boston:

 

 

Sadly, this 2019 LeadsCon CEO dinner would be the last time I would have the opportunity to spend time with Seth in-person, but we still communicated a good bit throughout 2020.

 

 

 

In January of 2020, the Everquote stock price closed at a level that eclipsed a $1 Billion market cap – a superb milestone. It prompted me to ask Jim Cramer to invite Seth onto his CNBC show “Mad Money” on Twitter:

 

 

 

In Q1 of 2020, Seth and I were trying to coordinate schedules and attend the YPO “EDGE” Convention in San Diego during the first week of March, but the event was cancelled as soon as the pandemic hit :-S

 

We exchanged some text messages during March to make sure everyone was doing OK with the new work-from-home environment – clearly Everquote was prospering.

 

In April 2020, Seth took part in a 20-favorite-albums-of-all-time challenge on Facebook. I was blown away by the depth and breadth of sophistication in his first few selections, including Kind of Blue by Miles Davis. On April 6^th, Seth nominated me to propagate the challenge, but I respectfully declined – something I regret tremendously now in hindsight:

 

 

 

Seth and Dave Blundin in the Ferrari in 2020:

 

 

Seth and Dave Blundin at dusk on the shoreline in 2020:

 

 

 

 

EPILOGUE:

 

Seth Birnbaum 1973-2020 -- in Memoriam

 

[Photo Credit: John Werner]

 

Seth was so many MANY things to all of us that knew and loved him.  A devoted son, husband, father, colleague, and friend – he is my brother from another mother.

 

His heart was immense, his energy seemingly bottomless.

 

He had a brilliant sense of humor. Actually, more than just a “sense” of humor… It was a lock… a guarantee.  If you spent an hour with Seth, you were going to belly laugh at least once – probably countless times. It wasn’t just his sense of humor though – he had masterful comic timing that could turn the most innocuous comment into a comedy routine.

 

But if I had to pick one word to describe him it would be MAGNETIC. And I don’t mean that he had a “magnetic personality.” I mean he was our very own Real Deal Sci-Fi Cosmic Super Hero Magnet with a capitol M.

 

Seth drew the world to him, myself included. He was an ineluctable Force of Nature.

 

Seth had a big heart.  A VERY BIG heart.  A trite and overused phrase, but his capacity to give and share love was genuinely immense. He was never mean. Not a mean molecule in his body. Certainly he could get frustrated by the universe on occasion, but never EVER mean spirited. One of the kindest men I’ve ever known.

 

Seth changed the very fabric of our existence with his incredible zest for life.

 

And one thing is constantly apparent – the myriad ways he has influenced all of us and those around us. The way he… MAGNET-ized us.

He changed our lives.

 

I am a part of the Cogo Labs and Link Ventures family – a family I adore – in no small part because of Seth.

 

And so we go on.

We persist.

 

We persevere.

We keep-on keeping-on.

Just like Seth taught us to do. Although, Seth did set the bar really high, and we’ll spend the rest of our lives trying to catch up to the GOAT.

 

While this is by far the most difficult POST I have ever published online – done with ineffable sadness and grief – I can also say it is one of the greatest honors of my life to assemble this story, recollections, pics, links, etc. to celebrate the life of Seth Birnbaum – on the Internet. Forever.

 

I hope that others will join me in contributing to this CelebratingSethBirnbaum@abovo.co GROUP so that the celebration can grow as large and possible as possible.

 

Your truly,

 

Sean P. Fenlon

 

 

 

Official Announcement

 

 

EverQuote Mourns Sudden Passing of Co-Founder & CEO Seth Birnbaum

https://news.yahoo.com/everquote-mourns-sudden-passing-co-205300046.html

 

EverQuote Inc

 

Sun, November 29, 2020, 3:53 PM EST·2 min read

President Jayme Mendal Appointed CEO and Director

 

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Nov. 29, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- EverQuote, Inc. (Nasdaq: EVER), today issued the following statement: “It is with immeasurable sadness that we announce that Seth Birnbaum, Co-Founder and CEO, unexpectedly and peacefully passed away yesterday at his home. Seth was a sincere and deeply caring husband, father, friend and colleague. The entire EverQuote team mourns his tragic passing. On behalf of our Board of Directors, management team and employees, we extend our deepest sympathies to Seth’s family. Seth was a genuine, dynamic leader whose remarkable passion, vision and tenacity attracted the world-class team we have in place today, which serves as the foundation for EverQuote’s success. We will be forever grateful for his entrepreneurial spirit and the welcoming and caring environment he cultivated.“

 

The Board of Directors implemented the company’s succession plan and appointed Jayme Mendal, the company’s President, as its Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors. Mr. Mendal joined EverQuote in 2017 and previously served as our Chief Operating Officer and before that as Chief Revenue Officer. David Blundin will continue to serve as Chairman of the Board of Directors.

 

Mr. Blundin issued the following statement on behalf of the Board: "We have experienced a great loss at EverQuote, and we are heartbroken by Seth’s passing. We are confident that Jayme and the rest of the EverQuote leadership team will continue to successfully drive forward in executing on the company’s mission. Seth was a visionary leader, thoughtful colleague and dear friend of many. We honor his numerous contributions and will miss him immensely.”

 

About EverQuote

 

EverQuote operates a leading online insurance marketplace, connecting consumers with insurance providers. The company's mission is to empower insurance shoppers to better protect life's most important assets—their family, property, and future. Our vision is to use data and technology to make insurance simpler, more affordable and personalized ultimately reducing cost and risk.

 

For more information, visit everquote.com and follow on Twitter @everquotelife, Instagram @everquotepics, and LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/everquote/