It’s 7pm on a wet Tuesday in Birmingham. My mom is sitting alone in a parked car outside a rugby club on the other side of the city.

She's been there for an hour and a half. She'll wait another 30 minutes before driving me all the way back home.

She did this 6 days a week.

For years, I never asked the obvious question: why?

Why would anyone give up that much of their life for a kid whose rugby career wouldn’t extend past university? What was she getting out of it?

And rugby was only part of it. I was an annoyingly inquisitive kid, and she would patiently answer every question I had like I was already an adult.

Every crazy idea I chased, she found a way to make sure I could give it a shot. For a long time, I filed all of that under "being a good parent."

Now I see it differently. My mom was my first investor.

Many investors put in money. She put in something equally valuable: her time.

Anyone can back a sure thing. She chose to back me before there was any evidence it would pay off.

Rugby didn't become my career. But training 6 days a week meant constantly failing in front of other people. I learned how to fail, get back up, and keep working.

I use those skills every day as an entrepreneur.

But I only got to learn any of that because she believed in me before I'd earned it.

And if we all look back honestly, someone did the same for all of us. Maybe it was a parent, a first boss, or a friend who read our terrible early work. They gave us their time before we’d earned it, and we wouldn't be here without them.

Take 5 minutes this week and send that person a text.

It will mean more to them than you think.

See you next week,

Will

P.S. I made a new YouTube video on how to build a B2B founder brand in 2026. Watch it here.

Will McTighe

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