Patrick Sweeney

Sweeney has authored three books: Fear is Fuel - the Surprising Power to Find Purpose, Passion and Performance which was ranked #5 on the Wall Street Journal Best Seller list in March 2020, RFID for Dummies (2005) and CompTIA RFID+ Study Guide: Exam RF0-001 (2006).

In 2018 Sweeney won the Race Across America (RAAM) in the Mixed 4-Person under 50 Category riding a bicycle non-stop from Oceanside, Californian to Annapolis, Maryland.

In 2012, Sweeney started DwinQ, a company that matched RFID technology with social media. On April 22, 2017 Sweeney gave a TEDx talk at Eaglebrook School (Deerfield, Massachusetts) named "The Surprising Power of Fear".

In 2016, Sweeney teamed up with endurance mountain biker and adventure racer Rebecca Rusch to summit Mount Kilimanjaro and raise funds and awareness for World Bicycle Relief. The journey started on February 21 and lasted for six days. Sweeney and Rusch started their ascent at 6000 feet, went to the top both by foot and on a bike and rode bikes down to the bottom.

During summer 2016, Sweeney climbed Mount Elbrus with his 11-year-old son. His son was not able to make it to the top, but Sweeney reached the summit becoming the first to bring a mountain bike to the top and descended to the base camp on a fatbike.

In 2015, Sweeney started an attempt to become the first person to summit the highest mountain on each continent and then ride down. On February 24, 2015 after a 6-day ride starting from Lukla, he reached South Base Camp in Nepal by bike, setting a world record. The record was questioned by other mountain bikers, but Sweeney argues that he is the first mountain biker to reach base camp on the "more difficult" Nepali side.

In July 2014, Sweeney's nine-year-old son attempted to break the record for the youngest person to summit Mont Blanc. They hired British mountain guide Kenton Cool to lead the crew. On their trek toward the summit they were caught in a sliding snow avalanche and decided not to continue. Sweeney filmed the attempt and the video was shown on Good Morning America, leading to criticism for taking children on dangerous trips. Sweeney said he had no regrets and that the trip was "a heck of a lot better than having them sitting at home wasting their minds on Minecraft or TV or something like that".

In February 2014, Sweeney participated in 350 miles in the Iditarod Trail Invitational race in Alaska on his fatbike.

In November 2012, Sweeney and four other American tech entrepreneurs formed CoreCo/dwinQ team to compete in a three-day La Ruta de los Conquistadores race. In September 2013, Sweeney participated in Haute Route Pyrenees. DwinQ sponsored the event and provided RFID-based auto posting of racers' content to Facebook.

In 2002, Sweeney and the inventor of EPC protocol Daniel Engels started ODIN technologies. It became dominant in RFID technology. In January 2013 the company was acquired by Quake Global.

Sweeney did an internship at Trammell Crow Company. In October 1999, he started a company, ServerVault, with $750,000 from angel investors, including the Dave Matthews Band. In 2000, the company opened data centers in the US and Ireland. In 2002 it was sold to Western & Southern Capital and later in 2009 to Carpathia Hosting.

In 1998, Sweeney earned an MBA from Darden Graduate School of Business Administration.

Patrick J. Sweeney, II (born November 9, 1970) is a US adventurer and tech company entrepreneur. He is the author of Fear is Fuel - The Surprising Power to Find Purpose, Passion and Performance , which rose to #5 on the Wall Street Journal Bestseller List for week ending March 14th 2020. He is also the author of two books on RFID technology. He was the first person to attempt cycling the Seven Summits, and holds a world record for being the first person to officially cycle to Everest Base Camp and the first person to cycle Mount Elbrus.

Patrick J. Sweeney II was born in November 9, 1970 in Boston to first-generation Irish immigrants. His father worked three jobs while his mother took care of the children. In 1982 they settled in Keene. Sweeney enrolled in the University of New Hampshire where he took up rowing and was crew captain. He participated in two Olympic trials and finished 14th in 1992 and 2nd in 1996 in the single scull (one man rowing). He retired in 1996 after winning the Royal Canadian Henley Regatta in the "Men's Elite Single" category.