Ramon van Meer exposed his son Victor to high-stakes business meetings from age seven — bringing him to meetings, asking his opinion afterward — and that kind of intentional exposure is a powerful way to raise a child.
Shawn describes how their friend Ramon brought his son Victor to major business meetings starting at age seven, flying him to China and asking for his opinions after meetings, which Shawn now views as a parenting ideal. ✦ AI generated
Shawn · My First Million · 2026-07-31 · original ↗
starts at this moment · 24:34
He would bring Victor, starting at the age of maybe seven, to these really big business meetings. I remember he sold one company when Victor was something like 10 years old. He sold it for close to $10 million, and I remember he would go to LA from San Francisco, and he would take Victor out of school and bring him. And Victor would just sit like next to him, and Victor wouldn't talk, but he would pay attention to the meeting, and afterwards Ramon would be like, 'Victor, what's your opinion? What should we do?' And then another time, Victor has actually been to China. I think a couple times because Ramon has a company now, Afina, where they have manufacturers in China, and he'll bring him to China, and he'll just sit quietly and be like, 'Afterwards, Victor, Ramon would be like, 'Hey, okay, so what do you think? You think this guy is legit? Should we go with him? Should we do this?' And I remember seeing that, and before I had kids, I thought it was awesome. And then after I had kids, I thought it was like a blessing, a treasure.
verbatim transcript · starts at 24:34
24:34he became a single dad when his son was only 2 years old. And I met Victor when he was, I think, 3. Now, he's actually a sophomore or junior in college. And um he Ramon was crazy. Um partly he did this out of necessity, partly because he's a really amazing dad. And he would bring Victor, starting at the age of maybe seven, to these really big business
25:00meetings. I remember he sold one company when Victor was something like 10 years old. He sold it for close to $10 million, and I remember he would go to LA from San Francisco, and he would take Victor out of school and bring him. And Victor would just sit like next to him, and Victor wouldn't talk, but he would pay attention to the meeting, and afterwards Ramon would be like, "Victor,
25:20what's your opinion? What should we do?" Um and then another time, Victor has actually been to China. I think a couple times because Ramon has a company now, Afina, where they have manufacturers in China, and he'll bring him to China, and he'll just sit quietly and be like, "Afterwards, Victor Ramon would be like, 'Hey, okay, so what do you think? You think this guy is legit? Should we go
25:42with him? Should we do this?'" And I remember seeing that, and before I had kids, I thought it was awesome. And then after I had kids, I thought it was like a blessing, a treasure. I like it changed from like this is cool to admiration. To like you have gone from being a good dad to a deity to me. Like you are like I can't believe how special and how
25:59lucky Victor is to have you. And I remember seeing that, and I'm like, "That is the way to have a kid." >> I I agree 100%. Seen the same thing. He Ramon is an amazing dad, and it's not just I I think cuz I watched that, and in the moment you're just kind of like, well, the if a kid is there, didn't say anything, or maybe even after that, "What do you
26:20think?" "It was good. It was cool." They're not going to give you some satisfying answer as a dad like "You know, Dad, I really learned the like the virtue of hard work today. Actually, what I saw was they're never going to tell you the thing, but like you just have to trust the process and be like it's all soaking somewhere, somewhere in the mind this experience was imprinting somewhere in the brain in