Laurie Owen is a founder and former professional basketball player. He runs Refinery Media, where he works with venture capital firms on their content, marketing, and branding. He’s worked with first time funds all the way to some of the biggest and most well-known funds in the world. His professional athlete background has given him an above average baseline for his health, along with the intangibles you get from being an athlete: the discipline, the intensity, and more.

Laurie had worked with multiple startups before becoming a founder himself, so between that and his current work with VC firms, he has seen both sides of the table. He shares his insights on momentum, reps, force vs optimization, and the mindset he has that has made him thrive in his business and personal life.

INTRO:

What does success look like to you?

Laurie: Success for me is doing work I find interesting and being motivated every day. Internally, enjoyment is my number one metric. Externally, it’s about reaching more people and working on impactful projects

ROUTINES & HABITS:

What is a non-negotiable part of your routine?

Laurie: There are none. I played competitive sport for 13 years, and gave up a lot of my life, my schooling, and my college experience for that. But I'm very grateful for those many years, because I've built up this incredible base of fitness compared to the average person. I don't mean that in an arrogant way, but without that foundation, it’d be nearly impossible to keep up, at least until my kids are older. I think a lot of health optimization is just pretty much impossible to do with kids.

Do you have any specific routines on your sleep, training, or recovery?

Laurie: No, not really. I think I'm generally quite healthy. I guess a lot of that comes from just eating normal food and walking to my office. I don't really think about this stuff anymore, to be honest.

Now, my obsession has been filled by business; it’s what filled the void of what sports used to be for me. With basketball, there were diminishing returns on the hours you put in, but in business, more volume is always the answer. I know it sounds really bad and unhealthy, but the answer is always intensity. Whatever the problem is, I think it's always solved by intensity. If sales aren’t working, just send more emails, make more phone calls; it’s the same on the content side. My content does well because I care about it, and I post it every week.

In the business sense, performance is such a different thing. It actually just comes down to having a higher standard and caring more. I'm sure if you have your nutrition or sleep dialed, there are days that you would be more effective. But I think a lot of business is just about exceeding expectations and doing a better job than other people are going to do. And that really is just brute force.

MINDSET:

What is a mindset shift that had the biggest impact on you?

Laurie: The biggest frame break for me was realizing there’s no permission. You can just do whatever you want to do. In basketball, everything was gatekept and people would wait for opportunities to come to them, but I cold emailed every NCAA coach in the US and got the opportunities myself. I even got sponsorships by just asking, from local governments to Nike. There are things that you could do that other people can’t because they didn’t ask for it.

That carries into what I do now: you have to be unafraid to ask for what you want. People often overestimate how much others think about you and hold others in a higher regard that is limiting to themselves. You can do stuff then figure it out. You get a lot of imposter syndrome as you’re doing this stuff, but the people on the other side don’t feel that about you. The secret is just showing up and doing the work.

Do you have days when you feel off or unmotivated? What do you tell yourself on those days?

Laurie: I have those days all the time. But momentum is everything. You have to keep rolling and find little wins. Big projects from clients give you bursts of motivation, but most days it’s just about consistency and pushing through.

TOOLS & TRACKING:

Do you track anything or do you not think about it?

Laurie: No, I think the tracking thing is a bit strange. I tried early versions of trackers in college and found them counterintuitive, sometimes they said I shouldn’t feel good when I did. It messes with your head.

Where I did track a lot was in basketball. I never really dribbled the ball, my role was the three point shooter, so I was very meticulous on shooting practice. But again, there’s diminishing returns on overdoing it, you can really only shoot at your elite level for 45 minutes to an hour before fatigue starts to kick in and you mess up your rhythm.

CLOSING:

What is something you’re looking to improve in your business, health, or personal life?

Laurie: Sleep more and work out more. Sometimes I trap myself thinking I have to work late or do more, but usually, things don’t fall apart if I don’t. In business, I want to leverage people and my own assets better. It’s hard in a service business, but I’m always pushing on that.

Which habits or routines truly move the needle for you? And what’s one thing you would advise others to do that could move the needle for them?

Laurie: Reps. If you want to be better, do more. If ads work, run more ads. If sales need help, send more emails. In basketball, if you want to shoot better, you get in the gym and shoot more. We always overcomplicate things but there’s no secret, just consistent practice. People look for hacks, but there is no secret, it’s just reps.

REFINERY MEDIA

Refinery Media specializes in content, marketing, and positioning services exclusively for venture capital firms. Refinery Media helps VCs build niche, high-impact media that resonates deeply within the venture capital community. Their work is defined by a high standard of care, consistency, and deep understanding of this specialized market.

What Laurie is Looking For: