Eyes closed . . . head first . . .

I spend a reasonable amount of time on-line (or in my RSS reader) and more recently have begun to read an increasing number of web logs. It’s a fascinating phenomenon – a voice for everyone (although not necessarily a listener, but more on that in another post). I work for Mobius Venture Capital and have been interested in the emergence of some prominent VC’s in the blog world (my boss, Brad Feld, has a very popular and I think informative blog; other blogs, including some of the venture blogs I read are listed here on my site). One thing I’ve noticed is that most of the VC bloggers seem to be partners (two notable exceptions are Ryan McIntyre and Robin Bordoli – both colleagues of mine at Mobius). I’m not entirely sure why this is. My initial assumption is that those of us non-partners who work in VC are simply too busy (trying to become partners) to put anything together; or perhaps it’s because in the world of VC people care a lot about what partners think and say and not as much about what the rest of us say. So I decided to test this theory by starting a blog of my own. I’m calling it “VC Adventure (you are in a twisty maze of passageways, all alike”) because I’m intending to muse about the twists and turns of the VC world (points to the first person who gets the full reference). I’d like to talk directly about my view of the world – the triumphs and frustrations I go through with my companies and in my firm as I try to figure out what kind of venture capitalist I’d like to be.

I’ve been at Mobius for just over 3 years – joining just in time for the downside of the bubble. I’ve worked with about 25 companies during my time at Mobius – my current active investments are listed on this site. Before Mobius I worked for what turned out to be a failed internet/datacomm company – Verado Holdings (formerly FirstWorld Communications). I did a bunch of stuff there (m&a; corporate development; investor relations; corporate planning), but most importantly I had the opportunity to run a large portion of their business (at a time when the company had decided to focus elsewhere) while I sold them. This was a fantastic experience – I was responsible for a 350 person, $40m business; a business that was going through significant turmoil. I was pretty green and certainly way over my head but leaned through the help of some outstanding colleagues and by making lots of mistakes. Eventually these businesses were sold and I moved on from Verado about a year before they finally shut their doors.

So . . . there you have it. At least a small snapshot of my business background and a perspective of what I’m hoping to accomplish by writing this blog. There is, of course, a lot more to me than Mobius or business – I’m a new dad; an avid reader; a rabid mountain biker and snowboarder; etc. I’m sure some of these topics will sneak their way into my blog from time to time. I hope you’ll enjoy reading about (and commenting on) my perspective on being a young VC; on business and life.