The Pursuit of Discipline in Venture Capital
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
Understanding Risk and Uncertainty: Making Wise Decisions As An Entrepreneur
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
Measuring Investment Performance by Measuring Deal Flow
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
Caught In The “Dead Zone”
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”
The Few Things I Admire about My Dog
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
The “Un-Pitch Deck”
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”
Mutual Funds, Index Funds, or VC Funds?
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?
Picking Winners is Hard
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
What I Learned From People-Watching
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
Most Goals Are Non-Linear
After I graduated college with my civil engineering degree, I knew deep down inside I was likely to change career paths at some point in the future. It wasn’t that I didn’t like engineering, it was just a lot slower in the real world than I had pictured in my head. Nearly two years after working as an engineer job I had transitioned to a … Continue reading Most Goals Are Non-Linear
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