Archive | November, 2005

Tips for the first VC Meeting

Nov 29, 2005
in Entrepreneurship, Venture Capital

I had a meeting last week where an entrepreneur insisted on showing me a demo first.  He was scrambling around asking for wireless keys and looking for ethernet jacks, while I sat there and tried to engage him in conversation.  He lost my interest right then and there.  As I started to think more about [...]

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iPod sucks

Nov 26, 2005
in Digital Media

I decided to go for a nice run today in the 30 degree weather to get a little mental relaxation.  I was debating whether or not to bring my ipod mini and checked to see the battery life which showed about 3/4 full.  So I was in the middle of my run charging up a [...]

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The Importance of back channel reference checks

Nov 21, 2005
in Entrepreneurship

As an early stage VC, I spend a fair amount of time helping entrepreneurs build their management teams.  I have written about what we look for (read the A-Player Domino Effect), the hiring process, and other facets of recruiting talent in previous posts.  One area which I cannot overemphasize is the need for companies to [...]

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Spinning your wheels – the new reality in enterpise sales

Nov 10, 2005
in Entrepreneurship

I was in a board meeting yesterday reviewing the sales pipeline for a portfolio company walking through the wins and losses.  As I wrote in an earlier post, it is extremely important (to the extent you can), to get good data on your losses. Many times you learn more from your losses than from your [...]

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Your baby is ugly

Nov 9, 2005
in Entrepreneurship

I admire entrepreneurs for the risk they take and the unerring confidence they have in their product and market opportunity.  However, what separates some of the great entrepreneurs from the average ones is an ability to acknowledge your weaknesses.  As we all know, being an entrepreneur is a difficult job that is 24/7.  Creating a [...]

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