Dream It

APRIL 3, 2020

In addition to his books, Geoffrey Moore assisted in writing “In a Downturn, Provoke Your Customers” for the Harvard Business Review in 2009. His strategy for selling in 2009 is relevant to any economic downturn. Luckily, the strategy can be broken down into 3 steps. What keeps them up at night? What are they ignoring?

pitching 221

pitching strategy advice board 221

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 11, 2022

Starting in 2009 I began writing checks consistently, year-in and year-out. Within 5 years I was on the board of real businesses with meaningful revenue, strong balance sheets, no debt and on the path to a few interesting exits. How’s that advice holding up? Hey, we got to raise again next year. Let’s deploy faster!

VC 466

VC culture sustainability capital 466

Andreessen Horowitz

APRIL 30, 2024

A lot of the things that we ultimately did when I was running Global Payments from 2013 to 2023, a lot of things that we ultimately did were not even like a glint in my eye back in 2009, 2010 when I was just thinking about coming over. Any advice on how you either kept your confidence through that time or recalibrated?

technology 83

technology investing investment board 83

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2009

I would argue that the shut-down of September 2009 was equally severe yet there are signs that this “VC Ice Age” has begun to thaw. They should heed the age old advice that raising slightly more money while you can is always better than trying to optimize future valuations. The best MBA class I took was an investment strategy class.

VC 263

VC board investing investment 263

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 13, 2013

And then I got into strategy consulting, and I wanted to go into strategy consulting, and they said, “Yeah, but you’re a tech guy. We don’t take tech guys in the strategy consulting group.” Probably the internet helped because they needed internet skills in their strategy group. 100 billion idea.

startup 337

startup entrepreneurs consulting board 337

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 10, 2010

I ran a team of 14 people (12 Japanese, 1 German and 1 Turk … both of whom were fluent in Japanese) who produced an Internet strategy for the board of Sony. Next post: two “4-Hour Workweek&# like hacks I started in 2009 to try and take back control of my life that are saving me hours.

advice 295

advice entrepreneurs VC technology 295

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 15, 2010

I asked some of the participating VCs, and they told me their attorneys had figured out a way to keep their stealth-mode companies stealthy.Yes, this strategy is not for every company. Following Microsoft’s addressable advertising trials with NBC in June 2009, many suspect that Google’s investment may have some defensive motivations, as well.

VC 285

VC financing finance advice 285