How many investments a VC Partner makes a year is critical to know. It greatly drives a firm’s strategy–and, the “kill rate” in a VC portfolio. That’s because many VCs are already on many boards (read “The Early-Stage Financing Digestion Problem”) and need to ration time. At Kepha, we believe in being highly selective. Each
Security, Bit9, and Business Models
The persistent and recent security hacks reported in the media remind me that we are unsafe. In spite of many dollars and much effort, the arms race against black-hat initiatives continues. Security is a sector that continues to intrigue me. At my previous firm, I was a founding investor in Bit9, which recently announced a
We Don’t Own a TV
We don’t own a TV. I know that sounds crazy, but we are among the 1% of U.S. households that don’t own a television. Let me explain why. When Mrs. T. and I moved to Singapore after business school, we decided not to buy a TV. There wasn’t (back then) a lot of interesting TV
“Dead” Equity and Founder’s Remorse
I recently had lunch with an entrepreneur. He’s a graduate of one of the major accelerator programs here in town. A very thoughtful person. For his seed round, he raised money from angels. Unfortunately, one year later, he says that only half of them will even reply to emails. The rest have disappeared. This entrepreneur
The VC While Blogging
I was lying down on the couch at home, blogging on my iPad. The Good Wife and the kids started laughing and showed me this New Yorker cartoon. Guess I better do the dishes now!
Off-the-Record Poker
I recently was invited to a private dinner and poker event, involving some VCs and entrepreneurs. The organizer likes to keep it quiet. It was a really fun event at Catalyst, one of the new restaurants in Cambridge, and I was glad to find some fellow Bourbon drinkers at my table. Also, I think I