Chris Koerner tells a childhood version of the same habit: collecting golf balls at 8 because they were money other people had left behind. The family did not have much. He learned to notice what was unused.

After a church mission in Hungary he came home at 19 and started. Rentals came first. Later he built and sold phone-repair shops and wholesale operations. He says he has been in more than 75 businesses.

The part he wants to talk about now is a fund that backs university students with ideas, if the student will actually work. He puts the wider portfolio around $25 million. The episode treats that as his account of a career of small sales, not a single invention.

Golf balls, then shops, then students

On Upflip he walks through how he picks a student deal and what he expects in return. The through-line is spotting a small opening and staying on it.

The portfolio figure is his. The start he offers is an 8-year-old with a pocket full of golf balls.