Ramon van Meer's approach of bringing his young son Victor to high-stakes business meetings and asking his opinion afterward is a model of giving a child real exposure to the world.
Sam shares the story of their mutual friend Ramon van Meer, who as a single dad brought his son Victor (starting at age 7) to serious business meetings — from selling a company for $10M to factory visits in China. Victor would sit quietly, then afterward Ramon would ask his opinion. Sam describes this as going from 'cool' to 'a deity' after having kids himself. ✦ AI generated
Sam · My First Million · 2026-07-31 · original ↗
starts at this moment · 24:46
Ramon had a difficult situation where he 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 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?' 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 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. 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.
verbatim transcript · starts at 24:46
24:46he 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 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
25:10out 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?" 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
25:33him 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. I like it
25:50changed 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 lucky 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
26:09it'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 think?" "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.