When the air turns brisk and the leaves here in New England turn into a mélange of brilliant orange, yellow, and red, my thoughts turn to food. Recently, I dug out our bread machine from the basement and have been making fresh bread. The machine does all the work. You put in the wet and
Resilience and Fish
I was so glad to read that Ben Watson is rejoining the Patriots. He’s a favorite player for me, both because of his thoughtfulness (example here) and his resilience. Here is a video of a “never give up” play that he made, which I’ll never forget. Also, thanks to Mrs. T. for letting me go
Our Family Angel Program: Update
We are expanding our “leverage capitalism for altruism” family angel program. I feel a variety of emotions as I write that: gratitude, disbelief, and joy. As I told Mrs. T: “This doesn’t feel real!” I fortunately co-led Carbon Black’s first VC round, back when it was called Bit9 (more here and here). When the company went
Versions
I think people are a lot like software versions. As we grow, change, and develop, we become a different version of ourselves. We can take the best parts of v. 1.0, leave behind the worse parts, and add on new “features” for v. 2.0. Sometimes, the change is voluntary, due to a new job, going
Tipping Points
Gradually, eventually, but inevitably, tipping points occur. They don’t seem obvious ahead of time, but with 20/20 hindsight, they are glaringly clear. I think there are two recent examples. First, is the pulled WeWork IPO. From what I’ve seen over the past 20+ years as a VC, every IPO cycle has the same cadence. During
Angel Investment: Cobu
We’re happy to announce that our family angel program (back 80+ entrepreneurs over eight years and donate all gains to charity; details here) has invested in Cobu. It is our 14th investment so far (portfolio here). We were introduced to Founder Ben Pleat by Bob Preble, who was the first VP Engineering at Bit9 (now