Yesterday Sinan Kanatsiz hosted Honorable Gregg Abbott, Governor of Texas, for breakfast at the Lido House Resort in Newport Beach. The meeting included a number of business leaders in Sinan’s network and inspiring stories, none more inspiring than Governor Abbott himself.

Many people probably do not know this, but when he was a young man and recently married, Governor Abbott was out on a run and involved in a freak accident where an oak tree fell on him. Abbott was hospitalized, leaving doctors and medical staff unsure as to whether he would even survive. Fortunately for all of us, the Governor pulled through and refused to let his accident slow him down.

At the breakfast, Governor Abbott shared his story of overcoming the worst adversity possible and working hard to create opportunities for himself, culminating in becoming the Governor of Texas. The Governor used his own story as a perfect analogy for the resources and opportunities available in Texas that afford anyone the chance to succeed should they be ready to put the work in. After recounting his awesome story of success, Governor Abbott keyed us all in on some exciting new happenings within Texas, including investments into cutting edge border technology, Elon Musk’s new mile long facility in Austin, as well as general advancements within the state.

Once the breakfast reached its end, Sinan was able to take the Governor to meet some entrepreneur friends of mine at Anduril’s new offices in Costa Mesa, where Palmer Luckey, CEO of Anduril, gave a guided tour of this brand new, state of the art facility that will play a crucial role in changing the face of defense technology and national security.

This was truly a valuable experience for everyone involved, and we would like to extend our warmest thank you to Governor Abbott for offering up his time and imparting knowledge and encouragement to all of those who attended the day’s events. See below for a few more photos of this highly impactful day.