Dan Diaz helped fund a technology company with an autographed Tom Brady jersey and a lucky run at the roulette table.
Diaz began collecting sports memorabilia in 2016. His collection included pieces signed by Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Randy Moss and Brady.
When he needed money to launch F3 Technologies, Diaz sold a framed Michigan jersey featuring three Brady signatures. The sale helped cover the company’s first payroll.
Then a canceled service call brought Diaz to a casino outside Chicago. He sat down at a roulette table with $300 and eventually won $36,000 over approximately six weeks.
“That covered our insurance for the first year,” Diaz said on the Digital Hospitality podcast.
Diaz joined host Shawn Walchef at the CREATE conference to discuss F3’s growth, the technology keeping restaurants operational and why entrepreneurs cannot stop when momentum begins to build.
Protecting the Technology Behind Restaurants
Restaurant operators depend on technology throughout their businesses, even if they do not understand everything happening behind the scenes.
F3 manages restaurant technology systems, including point-of-sale platforms, networks, loyalty programs, guest Wi-Fi and employee Wi-Fi. Its technicians also address menu issues, install hardware and respond when critical systems fail.
Diaz believes networks are among the most important and overlooked parts of a restaurant.
“You don’t realize how important that is until it goes down,” he said.
A damaged cable or internet outage can prevent a restaurant from processing orders and payments. For businesses that generate much of their weekly revenue during a few busy hours, the disruption can cost tens of thousands of dollars.
F3 shares these problems through videos showing its technicians transforming tangled restaurant network closets. The content educates operators while helping the company recruit technicians who discover F3 through YouTube and social media.
Continuing Through the Dark Times
F3 began with Diaz handling nearly every part of the business himself, including restaurant technology installations.
He also spent long hours building the internal systems the company needed. During his first trip to California, Diaz packed for Los Angeles weather without realizing he was traveling to Palm Springs, where temperatures reached approximately 120 degrees.
Unable to spend much time outside, he remained in his hotel room and worked for approximately 18 hours to code a billing sheet. F3 still uses it today.
Those long days helped the company grow to approximately 180 employees, with that number continuing to rise.
Diaz said business owners eventually become so familiar with difficult periods that another crisis can feel like an ordinary day.
“You get so used to the dark that it’s like, ‘Oh, that was just a Tuesday,’” he said.
His response is to keep moving forward, a philosophy inspired by Nipsey Hussle’s message that the marathon continues.
“If you keep going, you will get through,” Diaz said. “You will win.”
Building on the Momentum
F3 is now expanding beyond restaurants through a partnership with Skydio, a drone company whose technology supports organizations ranging from fire and police departments to entertainment companies.
For Diaz, the partnership represents F3’s first major step outside hospitality while allowing the company to bring its hospitality mindset into a new industry.
The opportunity is part of the momentum Diaz believes entrepreneurs must protect.
“You do not stop because that momentum keeps building and building and building,” he said.
That drive helped Diaz turn F3 from a business he operated largely by himself into a growing company responsible for approximately 180 employees and their families. It has also taken him around the world, including a business trip to London that caused him to pause and recognize how far he had come.
Those moments of reflection do not always come naturally. Like many entrepreneurs, Diaz often begins chasing the next opportunity before appreciating the last one.
“You’ve got to take that moment and celebrate those wins,” he said.
F3’s growth started with persistence, restaurant technology expertise and an unconventional combination of sports memorabilia and roulette winnings. Its next chapter is being built with the same willingness to keep betting on what the company can become.
