Hint: Nobody Has Any Idea How This Thing Works
In Venture Capital, we have lots of rules of thumb for assessing entrepreneurs. Some such rules are: Invest in guys who are already rich, because they have fewer distortions in their motivations....
View ArticleThe Downturn, REAL vs. FAKE VCs, and REAL WEALTH
In early October 2008 I was asked by a local entrepreneurial booster group for a quote giving VCs’ take on the state of the financial world. Here’s what I wrote (but was too busy/lazy to blog) at the...
View ArticleOne-click Unsubscribe: For ALL Your Emails
I sign up for (let’s call it) 5-10 new web sites a week. It’s an occupational hazard. (In fact, there’s an even weirder effect where sometimes there are web sites I know only from Webex demos or slide...
View ArticleNewest source of entrepreneurial financing: the dole
From the VC grapevine comes word of a new innovation in startup funding in Portland (and elsewhere), Oregon: the unemployment department From...
View ArticleVCs passing for “soft” vs. “hard” reasons
I recently made the choice (mistake?) of telling an entrepreneur, whose business I actually liked and respected, the real reason why I was passing on investing at the time. In this case, there was a...
View ArticleCan a VC sit on more than 10 boards without f***ing up?
[Update: the conversation referenced below was with Scott Austin of the Wall Street Journal; he has written an article about the subject. In it, he quotes some VCs that have well over ten board seats,...
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The Secret Trick of Portfolio Effect Dominance
Smart-as-a-whip VC Sim Simeonov did some math and some simulations and came up with the conclusion that a large “portfolio effect” has a major, almost overwhelming, effect on the financial returns of...
View ArticleRevenueLoan meets Disneyland, capitalism, America, and God.
A family trip caused me to end up at Disneyland, the old-school Anaheim original, on the day of a Disney-sponsored half-marathon. (The surreality of that event, with its mouse-ear-bedecked joggers and...
View ArticleDanielle Morrill is mostly right about VC deal sourcing – here’s how she’s...
Danielle Morrill has put out a fascinating TechCrunch article about the art vs. science of how VC “source deals” (find investments). It’s a rare candid peek into a side of venture capital, and from a...
View ArticleWhen you hear “The Blockchain,” grab your wallet
All the “thoughtful” executive types (VCs, C-levels, analysts) now seem to share the same low-risk opinion about crypto-currencies. (“Superficial contrarianism,” perhaps) It goes like this: “Well,...
View ArticleExchanging thoughts on a Thoughtexchange investment
I’m very pleased and excited that Thoughtexchange is Voyager Capital‘s first investment in British Columbia out of our new Fund 5. The press coverage has been great, and the company’s mission and...
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