I had a Skype video with an entrepreneur last week. His company isn’t in a space we know well, but he came referred by a highly-regarded friend. So, I wanted to connect and try to help. I’m glad I did. Our conversation delved into sports. He used to row a lot. Think of large crews
A Nice Tweet and Why I Do VC
Daniel McCarthy (@SirDanielMac) sent me a nice Tweet: Love your mission for Kepha, by the way. Not many VCs these days with a strategy to help so early when the startups really need it. It made my day, and so, thank you, Daniel. And, we do have a Mission and Operating Principles. I love my
How I Blog
I’ve received quite a few emails of encouragement from people who read my blog. To all of you, I say thank you very much! One question I get is how I blog. So I thought I’d write about what I do. I find that I blog best in the morning. Maybe it’s the caffeine and
My Taxes (and How Did My Congressman, Barney Frank, Become a Millionaire?)
Our marginal income tax rate will be 54.1%: 35% Federal, 5.3% State, 3.8% Medicare and 10% for charities (we give away 10% of our pre-tax income; see “A VC’s View on Charitable Giving”). And, if the Bush tax rates expire, add another 5%. This all just covers wages, and it excludes the coming 3.8% investment
An Entrepreneur from the 16th Century
Last week, I went on a business trip. I had some time in the morning, and so, I went to morning Mass. I am glad I did. That day, the Church was remembering St. Vincent de Paul. He lived in the 16th century. He was a man with a very explosive and bad temper. But,
Meeting One of Our VC Firm’s Investors
I really enjoy meeting with our investors. Last week, Eric and I went to visit one of them. A third-party database says that they have the best returns among all private equity investors. Top dog. The Big Kahuna. While VC returns have lagged for most, these folks are absolutely crushing it. On the VC side,