I was recently interviewed by Larry Nelson from w2w3.com. That piece is now up on the w3w3 site, and is (in my humble opinion) worth a few minutes to check out. I talk about what it’s like to work at Foundry Group with Brad, Ryan, Jason and Chris as well as about the role of company advisors (inspired by recent posts from this blog on that topic – here and here). Enjoy!
Posts By / seth levine
Plugging my partners – Soul Patch in Boulder on June 21st
While I’ve always dreamed of being a rock star (who hasn’t?!?), my partners Ryan and Jason actually are (at least when they are done with their day jobs). I wrote about their recent Soul Patch album here. The guys are playing a gig on June 21st at Redfish Brewhouse in Boulder. They start at 930pm – sharp. It’s a onetime event, as the band resides in Boulder, San Francisco and Los Angeles. I told them that I’d shamelessly plug their gig on my site as payment for missing the show. Like Brad, my wedding anniversary is the 21st and I won’t be in Boulder that night. If you go, take pictures so I can see what I missed!
Life without email?
For most technology professionals (really most professionals of any kind) email is so integrated into our work that we can hardly imagine life without it. Sure, it can be a distraction at times and – especially if you carry a wireless device – hard to escape from. But it also greatly enhances productivity, allows us to communicate quickly and effectively and to have asynchronous interactions with a great number of people. I know in my own work life I send and receive between 200 and 300 emails a day. And since I’m already tied up on the phone or in meetings for at least 5 or 6 hours in any given day, email allows me to be significantly more productive…
The role of company advisors (Part II)
Part II of a series of guest posts by Gerald Joseph on the role of company advisors. If you missed it, see Part I here. There are various types of advisors with differing skill sets and motivations. The key is to work with Advisors that have skill sets that help solve your company’s current and near-term problems. Here is a fractional categorization of the various types of Advisors Startups usually encounter in the Venture community. The Researchers – these are the inquisitive minds we find in Academia. They are our professors, faculty advisors, and fellow students. They ponder the proverbial "What if’s?" and "Why not’s?" that are responsible for much innovation. They are best utilized during the product/service development, design,…
7th Annual Bard Center Business Plan Competition
I’ve been on the board of the Bard Center at CU Denver for several years now. One of the things I enjoy the most about my work with the organization is our annual business plan competition (in fact it was through judging this competition that I first connected with the Bard Center). Each year six finalists are selected to present to a panel of judges and $25k is awarded among the 6 finalists (in addition to prizes for 1st-6th place there are also cash awards for the top plans in specific categories (bio-science, non-profit, etc.). The event will take place on June 11th at the Hyatt in downtown Denver (finalist presentations from 8:30 – 12:00 and the awards lunch from…
Jason Mendelson Blogs!
I know what you’ve been saying to your self: “Self – I’ve been looking to read a blog written by a reformed drummer, software guy and lawyer who is now a venture capitalist. Where can I find one of those?!?” All joking aside, I’d encourage you to check out the blog that my partner Jason Mendelson (who is all of those things and many more) has just started. Jason is actually a long time blogger – writing regularly on Brad’s blog and as one of the founders of and main contributors to AskTheVC. Mendelson’s Musings will have a more personal flair (although will continue to cover investing and venture capital topics as well). Along those lines be sure to check…
Grandpa
My grandfather passed away 5 years ago today (I can’t believe it’s bee that long…). I think about him a lot, but especially today on his Yahrzeit. I wrote a post a few years ago on one of my favorite sayings of his here. Today I’ve been thinking about the approach he took to his career. I recently wrote a post offering some suggestions about getting a job in venture capital. While I think its great to have career goals and an eye toward the future, my grandfather is a great reminder that sometimes the right path involves following the path that lays out in front of you. He left school to help raise money for his family during the…
Guest Post: The role of company advisors (Part I)
One of the things I enjoy the most about writing this blog is the discussion I engage in with readers – both through blog comments and in direct emails. Over the past month I’ve had a particularly enjoyable exchange with Gerald Joseph. One of the topics we’ve discussed is the role of advisors in the life of a start-up. I generally think of advisors as non-paid "friends of the company" and as you’d probably guess, advocate a pretty deliberate organization and use of advisors. Gerald’s view is a little more expansive as he thinks of "advisors" as the larger ecosystem that surrounds (or should surround) a start up company – one that includes people you pay (attorneys, CPAs, etc) and…
Your company should have a blog
I participated in a panel presentation last week on corporate blogging. While each of the panelists brought a slightly different perspective, the overall message to the group of a few hundred local small business execs that were in attendance was that blogging can help their company. Specifically blogging can allow them to participate (or lead) conversations in their industry; increase significantly the meaningful content on their site; provide a way for them and their key customers to evangelize their products; help their search rankings across their site; allow a platform for talking about corporate culture (to both an internal and external audience) and in many cases save hard dollars spent on press releases and certain marketing activities. Here are a…
Saying "no" can be hard to do
At the risk of opening myself up to a landslide of snide comments expressing sympathy for the "difficult" job a VC has saying no to so many potential investments, but in the interest of being open about the experience of venture capital from the inside I offer up the following thoughts: Sometimes it’s very easy to decide to decline a company’s request for financing (and we see literally thousands of plans a year, so we’re pretty well practiced at it). Many times the company simply isn’t a fit for our investment focus (we get a few "invest in our [pick one] manufacturing/car wash/custom painting/etc business" requests ever year). Or the business plan is clearly off base (my personal favorite from…