Geno Valente

I started a DJ business at thirteen with rented speakers and more ambition than cash. A guy named Frank Beskidniak at Bes Music trusted a kid on a handshake. By sixteen, I'd invested ten thousand dollars in equipment. By the time I graduated from the University of Illinois with a degree in electrical engineering — in the bottom twenty percent of my class — I had seven job offers. Not one interviewer asked about my grades. They all asked about the DJ business.

That was the first time I understood that your combination matters more than any single credential.

Over the next thirty years, I built a career across semiconductors, startups, and enterprise software. Eleven years at Altera (nine Exceeds ratings in the top 5%). Startups at XtremeData and Calxeda. A run at Splunk where I won Global AVP of the Year. And now LiquidMetal AI, where I lead teams building AI-native software systems.

Along the way, I coached my three kids in every sport they played, kindergarten through eighth grade, and built a character program that taught leadership, not just athletics. The same principles that made adult professionals perform made a group of seven-year-olds believe in themselves.

In February 2026, I gave a talk to my son Mario's high school business class about what makes people extraordinary. Eight students asked for a copy of the book before I'd written a word. I started writing that night.

Extraordinary is the result: thirty years of building, selling, leading, coaching, winning, losing, starting over, and raising three kids with the woman I've loved for twenty-four years — distilled into a system anyone can build.