Maybe it is a coincidence, but I recently had two meetings with different entrepreneurs. Each had a father who died very young. Their mothers in turn changed their lives to care for young children as a single parent. One mother cleaned hotel rooms. I don’t know if these life-changing events put these folks on the
What Does Kepha Do?
Here is a summary: “Venture builders”: 80 percent of our companies start as seeds. “Venture banking” (large checks into already-scaling companies) can be a good strategy, but it isn’t ours We have money: only two of us invest, and we manage nearly $200 million in capital across two funds We have time: each of us is on
New Banking App (and Ripple Effects)
My bank just started offering a cool new feature on its mobile app. I can now deposit checks via my iPhone or iPad. I take a picture of the front of the check and the back and upload the images through the app. That’s it. I think this simple feature changes a lot of things.
How to Retire Early
I met with an entrepreneur. He almost has enough money to retire early, but he loves what he is doing. He loves the freedom to work on a company with substantial potential. He is having fun. He is working for upside. He also mentioned that a key part of his financial freedom has been his
Keeping VC Simple (like Foundry)
The older a VC firm gets, the more complicated it can become. Like any business, complexity can arise over time as a company grows. More staff, more investments, bigger funds. “Managerial overhead” grows. It’s why I’ve always been impressed with Foundry Group. They minimize managerial overhead, by plan. They do not want to add to
Why VC Is Important
I’m an unabashed fan of venture capital. Frankly, I think it is a job-creation machine. You may have read about Rhode Island’s $75 million loan guarantee to 38 Studios, a video game start-up that went bankrupt. Or, you may recall the $535 million of loans to the now-insolvent Solyndra, and for which the U.S.