David M.Coit – 50th Reunion Essay

David M.Coit

30 Reef Rd

Cape Elizabeth, ME 04107

dcoit@northatlanticcapital.com

207-653-1040

Spouse(s): Margaret Gracie Coit (1982)

Child(ren): Charles Morgan Coit (1985); John Gracie Mackay Coit (1987)

Education: Harvard Business School (1975)

National Service: U.S. Navy (1970 to 1972)

Career: Venture Capital for 37 years. Started my own firm in 1986 – North Atlantic Capital Corporation in Portland, Maine. Before that 6 years in commercial lending at the First National Bank of Boston.

Avocations: Sailing, woodworking, reading, hockey (now retired), non-profit boards

College: Berkeley

Many of us spent our formative years at Yale seeking to find our purpose and our passions. Twice, Yale helped me figure out just the opposite: what I was not going to do with my life. My undergraduate experience allowed me to max out my passion for and achievements in sailing, including two years as an All-American, Captain of the U.S. Collegiate Sailing Team (which toured the U.K. in the summer of 1969) and landing the head sailing coach job at the U.S. Naval Academy to satisfy my military service obligation. Thanks to Yale, I learned that sailing would remain an avocation and not a career choice.

After being honorably discharged from the navy, I returned to Yale to explore a career in medicine. Given my modest academic record as an undergraduate, I consider getting readmitted to Yale to pursue premed requirements one of the most significant sales jobs of my lifetime. However, I soon realized that I did not possess the commitment necessary to navigate the long passage from premed to practicing medicine.

So, with few commercially viable skills, I headed off to graduate school to acquire some marketable credentials. Harvard Business School took me in (another impressive sales job!), setting the stage for a career in finance. The first stop after business school was technology lending at the First National Bank of Boston, but that work did not inspire me.

After 6 years in banking, I was able to merge three significant passions in my life, setting the stage for the next 36 years. In 1982, I got married, I moved to Maine and I started a career in venture capital, founding North Atlantic Capital in 1986. This was the beginning of a good long run, from which I never looked back. The crowning achievement of that period has been two extraordinary sons, now launching their own families and both happily engaged in exciting careers of their own.

As we approach our 50th Yale reunion, the passage of time has brought forth another period of transition and an opportunity to contemplate the “third half” of my life. For me, that path is blessedly clear, assuming good health.

North Atlantic Capital is transitioning into the capable hands of the next generation, affording me the time to explore new interests, including some Yale connections. I have joined the Entrepreneurship Advisory Board at the Yale School of Management, where one of my sons recently graduated. And since graduation, I have remained a member of the Yale Sailing Associates, supporting Yale Sailing during its extraordinary run of intercollegiate hegemony.

And finally, my passion for sailing has reemerged with the prospect of building my own “perfect ship” at one of Maine’s very capable boat yards. She will be named Pheidippides, after the heroic Greek warrior who died from exhaustion after running from the Plains of Marathon to the Acropolis to deliver word of the Greek victory over the invading Persian army in 490 BC. Like Pheidippides, I would like to complete my own race on a mission and exhausted.