Author, Investor, Speaker, Mentor
Every day, the Internet brings me an endless stream of news about good things happening to other entrepreneurs and investors–product launches, VC financings, acquisitions. I’m faced with a choice in how to react to this news. A) “Dammit, I’m falling further behind!” B) “It’s wonderful how progress keeps opening up new possibilities!” A lot of … Continue reading Support, Don’t Envy Your Fellow Entrepreneurs
We live today in am impatient world. In many ways, that’s good. We’re unwilling to wait for the world to change; instead we go out and change it. But this impatience has a cost. People tend to view startups these days as overnight successes. Nothing could be further from the truth. Most successful startups had … Continue reading Impatience Kills Startups
With the 2010 World Series about to begin, a lot of attention has been focused on Texas Rangers pitcher Cliff Lee, who has been historically dominant in the playoffs over the past two years. Only two pitchers in history, the Dodgers’ Sandy Koufax and the Giants’ Christy Mathewson (both Hall of Famers who are considered … Continue reading What Entrepreneurs Can Learn From Baseball
When entrepreneurs come to me, I always point out the following: 1) The chances of a venture-backed startup being a hit and returning meaningful wealth are about 1 in 10. 2) You’re likely to have about 20-25 years in your career where you can found a company. 3) Each time you found a company, you’re … Continue reading Entrepreneurship is about happiness, not wealth
John Edwards and Tiger Woods. Both famous, powerful men who projected one public image while living a completely different life in private. Both certainly deserve our scorn for their behavior. But the lesson to draw here is not that politicians are scumbags (though, by and large, they are) or that famous athletes are philanderers (though, … Continue reading John Edwards and Tiger Woods in the Boardroom
When I hear a high-tech entrepreneur tell me, “If I can just raise $250K to build a prototype…” I know he or she is never going to make it. You used to be able to raise venture money based on an idea and a team, but those days are long gone unless your name is … Continue reading Build Product, Not PowerPoint (Even If You’re Non-Technical)
Vivek Wadhwa has a guest post up on TechCrunch, “What Have VCs Really Done For Innovation?” It’s obviously meant to court controversy. Mission accomplished.This post is my refutation. Wadhwa’s post claims:1) VCs have little to no impact on startup success, and in fact, may have a negative impact2) Venture capital slows the innovation processThis is … Continue reading VCs Are Useless? That’s Bullshit.
When I heard about Mint’s sale to Intuit for $170 million, I never imagined that it would be controversial. I posted my congratulations to the friends who made money in the deal, and moved on. It’s been a busy week, and I haven’t been keeping up with Twitter and RSS, so imagine my surprise to … Continue reading 21 Million Reasons For Mint To Sell
Another TC50, another set of startups, and just like clockwork, the haters will come out and troll the comment boards. “It’s all luck,” they’ll rant. “Founders are just lottery ticket winners.” What a load of crap. First of all, there’s nothing wrong with being lucky. I’d rather be lucky than good. As I’m fond of … Continue reading If Startup Success Is All About Luck, Why Aren’t You Starting More Companies?
A hearty congratulations to Rob Hayes and the First Round team, Jeff Clavier, and Mark Goines–three friends, three great investors, who got a great result from their investment in Mint (acquired today by Intuit for $170 million). Lost in the hoopla around the announcement was this very telling quote from Rob about the Mint team, … Continue reading There Is No Right Answer–And Smart VCs Know It