I blogged yesterday about how a venture capital investor needs to persist to succeed. One reader, Michael Byrne, responded on my blog with a very thoughtful comment. For me, he truly captures a major conundrum for entrepreneurs and VCs: how much risk to take–and, which kinds? With his permission, I’m posting his thoughts below. I
Author: Jo Tango
VoltDB
Our company VoltDB just announced a new financing. The Wall Street Journal wrote about it here. The company is doing well, and we think it can be a driver of returns in our first fund. It is still early days, but with 400+ customers and counting, they are clearly finding a groove. I’ve received a
Back in the USSR
A college classmate shared the above photo recently. It was junior year in college, in 1989, and our merry band had just returned from the Soviet Union. We were having a mini-reunion, which I hosted (I’m at the far right in the photo). We were part of the Yale-USSR Project. Every spring, for two weeks,
My IRS Audit
I’m sitting here in my office, literally, with an IRS agent. I am being audited for the first time ever. As a small-business owner, I’ve been told that the IRS often wants to see your record keeping. Fortunately, our CFO keeps great records and is super-organized, and so, I don’t expect any issues. We also
To the Airport
I woke up at 5 a.m. this Sunday morning to drop off at the airport our oldest child, who is going on a school trip for spring break. Their singing group is going to San Francisco. When we met up with the faculty member, he handed out the final version of the group’s itinerary. The
#TBT: Seattle and the Career ‘Jump Ball’
My wife a few nights ago found an old photo tucked away in a book. It’s up top. We were so young then! Back then, we had one child, who was only a few months old. Our small family was in Seattle, as we were debating where I should take a job at Amazon.com. My