Archives / September, 2013

The New Foundry Video Is Almost Here

You may have seen the video that Foundry Group produced a few years ago – a hard hitting glimpse into the life of a VC told in SNL style. The video (and more importantly the song) was written and directed by my very talented partner Jason Mendelson. That’s his voice. That’s also his playing every instrument you hear on the track. Awesome Well…we’ve been hard at work on another video (again written, produced and directed by Jason). This new one takes a look at some of the ways technology has changed our lives and asks the deep questions about whether we’re better off today or if things were simply better before all this gadgetry. It will be out in a…

Helping our Community with $100,000 from Foundry Group. Please join us.

I don’t need to tell you about the devastation that has rocked Colorado over the past week. The rain started and it just wouldn’t stop. I’ve lived in Colorado for 17 years and I’ve never seen anything like it. People have lived here for their entire lives and haven’t. Our house and property only sustained minor damage (and we spent a few days without power and water; neither particularly difficult compared to what others are facing). It was heart wrenching to be glued to the news and local reports seeing pictures of our community – all around where we live; our neighbors; the places we go every day  – become ravaged by floods. We have many friends who sustained real…

Branding Colorado

Last week at the conclusion of the COIN Summit Colorado released an new brand for the state. The new branding effort was lead by Aaron Kennedy (of Noodles fame) with the help of a brand ‘committee’ (I was a member) and, importantly, a large network of ‘brand ambassadors’ around the state. The process was an interesting one and was designed by Aaron to be inclusive of opinions and ideas from around the state. The idea was to identify a unifying brand that could represent Colorado across a wide variety of uses (both inside the state and outside). The result is the image in the upper left of this post and the tag line “IT’S IN OUR NATURE”. The logo draws…

Hacking Hardware With A Dragon On Your Side

For years, many of our most high profile hardware investments have had a quiet partner. Dragon Innovation – experts at helping hardware ideas actually happen – have helped companies like Makerbot, Sifteo and Orbotix (all from the Foundry family) move from product idea to product reality. As the startup world shifts from an intense focus on bits to celebrating atoms and the “maker movement” of hackers who give those atoms life, there is bright light being shined on the ability of those makers not just to come up with cool ideas, but to take those projects from ideas, to prototypes to delivered product. This is where Dragon shines, and where they aim to completely change the way great ideas are planned, funded,…