Category: Apprentice VC

Trophy Board Members – AVC

~ michael_msft ~ Leave a comment

Fred. Always dropping knowledge.

I got to this from toady’s Redef :: https://redef.it/2NzxFxT

Trophy Board Members – AVC:

I am a huge fan of independent directors to complement the founders and investors on a board. The quality of the board is highest when there are more independents on it than investors and founders. Try to get that ratio right on your board as soon as practical.

But don’t put “names” on your board. Put operators, ideally very seasoned operators, who have done everything you want to do, ideally multiple times, and can help you spot the issues before they become problems and spot the opportunities with enough time to go after them.

These ideal board members are often not big names and they usually don’t have big egos. They are solid, steady, and worth their weight in gold. They come in male and female varieties and across the racial and ethnic spectrum too. It is true that it takes a bit more work to build a diverse board of operationally focused board members but it is worth it.

Ten things I learned about venture capital in twenty-four years of trying to do it | LinkedIn

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Ten things I learned about venture capital in twenty-four years of trying to do it | LinkedIn

The whole article is good. Hat tip to Chirayu for liking this so I saw it.

When people as me how are things going as a VC I usually answer with #1.

However the whole list is quite spot on.

I don’t think I want to do anything else but ask me in five years how I did.

 

1. Venture Capital is hard

All investing is hard, because the market, as the investor Ken Fisher says, is the Great Humiliator. Venture capital is harder than most. There are 12MM small businesses in the US with more than one employee but less than one hundred employees. Most will stay small. The venture capital job is to pick from that 12MM companies the rare company that can grow to a 1,000 or even 10,000 employees, go public and remake an industry. Identifying an entrepreneur, an idea and a company with that potential is not an easy task.

Focus

~ michael_msft ~ Leave a comment

This post from Fred really smacked me hard :: https://avc.com/2018/07/keeping-your-blinders-on/

Best to read the whole thing for yourself.

In this age of social media it’s always a barrage of seeing whatever everyone else is doing and generally only seeing the good stuff – the stuff that makes you jealous.

In the startup world, when I was a builder, this would happen a bit when I would see another company getting funding or another competitive product doing better than my product.

As a VC, since I have already done more deals than I have shipped products, the pressure feels worse at times. There are tons of deals done per day, there are announcements of deals continuously and there is a feeling that all of them are better than mine.

However, just like social media, I don’t get the details on all the failures, the hardships and the short term pain.

No matter what you do one must focus on the task at hand. Any craft takes time and you have to slog it out day by day.

As Fred says, put your blinders back on and get to work.

Singapore’s Homage, which matches patients and caregivers, raises $4.15M for expansion | TechCrunch

~ michael_msft ~ Leave a comment

Singapore’s Homage, which matches patients and caregivers, raises $4.15M for expansion | TechCrunch:

The goal of Homage is to make it easier for caregivers and patients to connect, whilst also keeping their families updated.

“We’re realizing how much of a need there is for personalized one-on-one care,” Tee told TechCrunch in an interview. “A lot of what we do is actually non-medical, and it’s even more clear that need to help people be mobile, be functional and have the choice to live with dignity as they age.”

First off let me say congrats to the team and leaders at Homage. Amazing milestone but obviously this is just the beginning. I am super excited for the team and their future.

😀