We’ve announced four initial Foundry investments (Lijit, Memeo, Oblong and Zynga) – in press releases by the companies, on our personal blogs or on the new Foundry web site. Truth be told, we’ve made a fifth investment which we’re not talking about much. That’s because it’s in "stealth" mode (shhhh). There are varying degrees of…
I don’t write much about my kids on this blog – a little too personal and ultimately my wife and I think they should decide what and when they want to share online. I couldn’t resist this one, however. A few years ago I wrote about my own overwhelming feelings of love for my kids. …
There are a couple of very key dates in the history of Foundry Group. The day when Brad, Chris, Jason, Ryan and I actually formed the legal entity that is Foundry . . . the day last fall of the first close on our first fund, Foundry Venture Capital 2007 . . . the day…
Dacher Keltner (Psychology prof at Cal) has written a fascinating article that describes some of the important attributes of leaders. He discusses these attributes in the context of obtaining and maintaining "power" – really leadership if you’re reading the article from the eyes of a VC or entrepreneur. The title of his article refers to…
This post is going to sound like an infomercial except this is 100% true and I’m not trying to sell you anything. About 8 months ago my doctor told me that I had high cholesterol (242 in total) and that it needed to come down or he wanted to put me on a statin (Lipitor,…
In case you’re looking for this season’s latest VC styles. Note that Brad’s "treadputer" made the cut. Hat tip to Jason for sending this over
Regular readers of my blog know that I’m a big fan of deliberate action. And while I’m not a huge "make a daily list and check the items off" kind of guy (since like many VCs I’m somewhat scattered in my day to day work) I’m a huge fan of regularly checking in against a…
I hate failing. But in the world of venture capital it happens – and on a somewhat regular basis with between 1/5th and 1/3rd of venture backed companies failing to return capital invested (see a great Union Square Ventures post on the subject here). It’s an excruciating experience. While the actual “failing” part generally happens…
I have no idea why Fraser, CO (our adopted 2nd home) would want the tag-line "the icebox of the nation" given its focus on outdoor activity (its next to Winter Park, has a great fishing stream running through town and has miles and miles of back-country skiing, hiking and cycling trails). But apparently that is…
John pointed me to a Peter Ireland blog post and asks whether VCs really do co-opt businesses on a regular basis – investing with a plan to replace founders and bring in their own management. "[S]ounds kinda scary," he writes, "the thought that a ‘clever’ VC could take away one’s company just like that…" Scary…