Over the last few years there has been an ongoing dialogue amongst pension funds on whether or not actively managed funds are better than passively managed funds. This has been an ongoing topic in the pension world for several years now. Having observed and participated in these conversations I have noticed there are usually two sides to this argument: On the “pro” side there are fund … Continue reading Mutual Funds, Index Funds, or VC Funds?
I was in the middle of reviewing some of our VC investment managers and I started to think about the difficulty VC managers have in finding and selecting good companies to invest in. Having worked with individual companies before, I can attest it is an extremely difficult task. Entrepreneurs have tough jobs too. For first-time entrepreneurs, starting a new company can be like driving a … Continue reading Picking Winners is Hard
In the last week and a half, I have been on four separate airplanes and in three different airports. One of the things I tend to notice more when I’m traveling is how people behave when they’re in large groups. When you observe a large group of people, say, walking through an airport terminal, you begin to notice patterns. Such patterns include speech, gestures, tones, … Continue reading What I Learned From People-Watching
Every entrepreneur who’s ever been through the experience of raising money knows it is not easy. Not only is it not easy, at times it can be very humbling. Especially when you believe wholeheartedly in your idea and you have to beg and plead with other people to believe in your idea as well. While raising money can be fun and rewarding, it is still … Continue reading Is having access to too much upfront capital bad for entrepreneurs?
The global reach of the internet is grossly unrealized. Although it’s hard to find a reliable source of information for this, most reputable sources state that nearly 60% of the world still does not have access to the internet. There are a number of companies who are developing and creating technology that might cost effectively bring the internet to the most distant and remote regions … Continue reading Internet of Everything
My first job out of college was in the field of engineering (Structural Engineering, to be precise). I wanted to build buildings and work on complex job sites where I would wear a hard hat and boss people around. For some strange reason I thought this was what engineers did……..right out of college. After college, when I sat down at my desk for the first … Continue reading Can You Be a Good Investor If You’ve Never Been an Entrepreneur?
I have been doing a lot of thinking about risk, reward, and probability and how these things affect our decision making processes. I often wonder if there is a direct and proportionate correlation between risk and reward and how much probability has an impact on the risk/reward relationship. Risk has many different variations and is usually defined as something that “could” occur. Probability is the … Continue reading Risk and Probability
I enjoyed this graphic a friend of mine sent over in his newsletter. Continue reading The Emotional Journey of Creating Anything Great
It’s the first day of the New Year and now that 2016 is over it’s probably appropriate to look back and reflect on all the positive things that happened last year. Professionally, I was able to work with a stellar team to create a new investment fund for our company. I got a title change from Manager to Director. Our firm had two portfolio companies … Continue reading 2017 Goal Planning
One of the most common issues pertaining to startup companies that comes up in venture investing is whether or not the existing leadership team could benefit from a change in leadership at the top. If the title of this post didn’t give it away already, yes, I am talking about the CEO position. The CEO position – it is either the least or most coveted … Continue reading What makes a good CEO?
TheJCurve 