I’m finding myself increasingly giving the same advice to entrepreneurs, who are looking for funding. I tell them: “Shop for values.” Many of them are in sell mode, trying to convince a VC to invest. But, I hope they remember they are also in buy mode: they’re looking for people with whom they can work,
Category: Entrepreneurship
Remaining Calm through ‘The Cycle’
I had coffee with a friend who has been at a few VC firms. We talked about today’s frothy environment and how some of the Unicorns’ valuations are at risk. They’re in a race to go public, raise more VC money at a higher price, or face a painful “down round.” Eric and I ran
Learning to Fail
I am still thinking about the talk I gave yesterday at Brown, about which I wrote here. A student from Brazil, Gabrielle Bufrem, asked me a question about decision-making after college. I told her that the most important thing to learn for making better choices was this: learning to fail. You see, if you get
Creating an Exodus
It’s Good Friday, and I’ve lost my voice. So, it’s a pretty introspective day for me. I’ve been thinking a great deal about power and how to make change. And, Passover. Let me explain. A few days ago, Curt Woodward of The Boston Globe called me regarding the Ellen Pao discrimination lawsuit (article here). I
What Is the ‘Business of Your Business’?
I often meet with entrepreneurs with some great product ideas. In fact, I just finished speaking with a NYC start-up with a really cool idea. Great founder. I asked him about his potential product’s use cases. I think such hypotheses really drive strategy and go-to-market. One product can have multiple use cases, each of which can pull
And, the $1 Million Turing Award Goes to….
I just got off the phone with Mike Stonebraker. It was a very special and somewhat emotional conversation. You see, it was just announced that Mike has won the $1 Million Turing Award. It is the “Nobel Peace Prize of Computing.” Every year, for about ten years, Mike has been nominated for the prize and