My son has 38 fidget spinners! In fact, his collection of fidget spinners practically doubled on Christmas day because my wife and I bought him a large box full of them as Christmas present. About a year ago, purchasing a box full of fidget spinners and not breaking the bank, would have been impossible. Now, every store we go to there are piles of fidget … Continue reading The Rise and Fall of Fidget Spinners
At the end of each year I like to reflect on things I’d like to improve on in the following year. As such, I’ve decided to perform a SWOT analysis on myself to thoroughly assess where I am and where I want to go. A SWOT is an acronym for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. No matter the industry, all businesses and organizations regularly perform … Continue reading Self S.W.O.T Analysis
At the beginning of every day, I usually spend an hour or so reading a variety of different newsletters, articles, and blogs on the latest and greatest happenings in venture capital. It’s been a great way to stay current and keep a steady pulse on things. In the line of work I’m in, knowing what’s going on at all times is important for maintaining credibility … Continue reading My Perspective on Hot Topics in Venture Part 1 – Bitcoin
It’s been maybe three weeks since I’ve posted on my blog, but I have a good excuse. For the past several months I’ve spent a fair bit of my free time working on a book. The book is coming along well and has been exactly as hard to write it as I thought it would be (and then some). The subject of the book pertains … Continue reading Progress Report: Book Update
Over the years, I’ve become more and more convinced that what sets apart great venture capitalists from the not-so-great ones is investment discipline. By default, most all people who work in venture capital are intellectually brilliant and have strong entrepreneurial backgrounds. As such, if everyone is smart, it makes sense to suggest that brilliance alone isn’t a true competitive advantage. Another competitive advantage is having … Continue reading The Pursuit of Discipline in Venture Capital
I was listening to a Freakonomics podcast this week about the major difference between risk and uncertainty. Like most people, I previously assumed risk and uncertainty were essentially the same thing. But after listening to the researchers on this podcast it became blaringly apparent how different the two are. Webster defines risk as the “possibility of loss or injury” or “someone or something that … Continue reading Understanding Risk and Uncertainty: Making Wise Decisions As An Entrepreneur
In the past week or so I’ve been asked by a couple up-and-coming VC fund managers what investors really want to know before they’ll invest in a fund. Without much concentration, I think it’s easy to say that most investors want to know about current and past performance. But if you think about this question from a different angle, I believe investors also want to … Continue reading Measuring Investment Performance by Measuring Deal Flow
My wife and I went out with a group of friends and family last night to celebrate my birthday and had a great time. We spent a fair amount of time standing around waiting for our table because the restaurant was crowded and there were several in our group (like 11 or so). Once we finally sat down I decided to sit in the middle … Continue reading Caught In The “Dead Zone”
Let me start off by saying that I have nothing against dogs and that in general, I think dogs are great. In fact, ever since we got our dog two years ago, I’ve noticed patterns in his behavior that suggest he might make for a great CEO. To set the stage, I never had any pets growing up. Sure, I had a few animals, but … Continue reading The Few Things I Admire about My Dog
Over the last week or so, I have seen quite a few pitch decks from VC fund managers who are either raising a new or follow-on fund investment fund. One of the interesting things about the majority of these meetings is not going page by page through the firm’s pitch deck in its entirety. It’s a small observation, but meaningful in a lot of ways. … Continue reading The “Un-Pitch Deck”
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