Bike to work day

Today is bike to work day in Boulder. I’ve been meaning to ride my bike into work for a while, so today seemed like a good day to start. Biketoworkday_1 Here are a couple of observations from the road: – Riding in is a fantastic way to start the day. I got to work and felt great. I was completely energized and awake after my roughly 15 mile ride in.- Leave your computer at home. I forgot to do this last night and as a result had to lug my laptop on my back (along with a change of clothes, which would have also been a good thing to have brought into the office the day before my ride). What didn’t feel all that heavy in mile one felt like a ton by mile ten . . . – I live in the sticks. I didn’t realize how many miles of farmland I actually pass on my way to work. Zooming by at 60mph most mornings it fails to register with me. Riding at a more moderate 15 or 20mph I got to take it all in.- God – Colorado is beautiful. For about 8 or 9 miles of my ride I was riding with unobstructed views of the rockies, including Longs Peak – Bike lanes are everywhere here. I probably only rode about a mile this morning that wasn’t in a bike lane – excellent! …

June 22, 2005· 2 min read

Thinking of taking venture capital? Don’t!

Here’s a thought for those of you considering taking venture capital – don’t do it. Seriously. It’s not worth it. Ok – so I’m not 100% serious. I’m trying to make a living investing in companies and would therefore be out of business if everyone followed this advice, however I think that for the majority (50%? . . . 80%?) of entrepreneurs taking venture capital money is a mistake. As I explain why this is the case, please read from the perspective of someone who is actually trying to encourage people to go into the process with their eyes open more so than I’m truly trying to scare people off from raising venture money. The worst thing you can do when you take venture capital is to go into the relationship with a misunderstanding of what each party expects – an example of that in a minute. …

June 21, 2005· 5 min read

Here’s how you do it

I got a great postcard today from Ben Casnocha. It said: Yay, summer has come Business, reading, deep thinking Time to change the world I LIKE YOU! Ben understands networking. He’s thoughtful. He posts comments to blogs that are relevant and interesting. He sends private e-mails in response to things he reads. He forwards articles of interest that are targeted to the people he interacts with. He clearly thinks networking is a priority and does it well. …

June 13, 2005· 1 min read

Your Exit

Here’s an interesting stat from a M&A update I received in my inbox a few days ago: Since 2000, the ratio of technology companies sold vs. going public is 10:1 (1,300 m&a deals vs just 125 IPOs). The moral of the story – be realistic. If you run a software company you are WAY more likely to sell your business than to go public. Time to start planning . . . now.

June 13, 2005· 1 min read

Morality and China

Tony Perkins posted a cautionary piece on China yesterday to AlwaysOn entitled “Chinese Youth, Unite A moral view of China” In it he argues that we (silicon valley) are being perhaps too quick to look past some of the moral and ethical issues with the Chinese government while we give them what he terms a “gigantic money-fisted hug”. My parents just returned from a two week vacation in China and dad sent around his reaction to Perkins piece with his recent on the ground observations as his perspective. I’m printing it here, with his permission. __________________________ I’d like to offer a (limited) bottoms-up view to complement Tony’s top-down view. I strongly agree that the economic, political, and ethical issues are strongly intertwined (or will be in the next decade). I just got back from two weeks of cycling and hiking in China. I didn’t tour factories or get any official presentation about economics or politics. I just met a lot of Chinese people in cities and in the countryside, and I wasn’t restricted in what I could talk to them about. I have three observations: 1. The expansion of the Chinese middle class is real, but superficial so far. Yes, there are a lot of cell phones, and I got excellent coverage everywhere (even on the tops of mountains and on a fairly …

June 9, 2005· 5 min read

M&A Part III – Getting Bought vs. Selling

Perhaps I’m stating the obvious, but one thing that I’ve noticed over the years (and have talked about extensively, particularly with Brad who very much shares this view) is that it’s much easier to have a company get bought than it is to sell a company. Getting bought means that someone comes to you. Selling means you go to them. The former results in a more motivated buyer, an easier (and faster) process for rounding up competitive bids and a higher price. The latter is a pain in the ass, tends to result in fewer options and generally a lower purchase price. When you are getting bought, you by definition have other options (since you don’t necessarily need to sell); when you are selling you are signaling to the market that you’ve made up your mind (whether you’re “exploring your strategic options” or more directly “have decided to sell the business to take advantage of . . . “). So position yourself to be bought rather than to sell. Yes, sometimes this isn’t possible (otherwise all of our businesses would get bought), but I think companies think too late in the game about their exit and as a result end up as sellers. An ongoing conversation at companies should be the list of possible buyers and the right ways to get close to them. Striking “strategic deals” or OEM relationships should be at the top of the list (we’ve had several very nice ‘getting bought’ experiences with significant OEM partners – they understand the business and the fit and can more easily take advantage of owning the company/technology). If those aren’t options, still work at getting into a conversation (competitive or otherwise) with people that might be buyers of your business. …

June 8, 2005· 2 min read

Podcasting on the rise

I wrote a post last month on my way back from some meetings at Feedburner about some trends in the RSS world. In it I noted that Podcasting was on the rise and promised to link to more details once Feedburner posted them. They did that today – you can check out their report here. Clearly podcasting is taking off. To quote from the report: It took us [FB] nine weeks to manage our first thousand podcasts, and we added our most recent thousand podcasts in under a month. As you can see, the rate of growth changes in bursts. We added about 800 podcasts per month initially, then 1000 a month, and now we’re adding about 1400 a month Podcasting is an interesting phenomenon. I’m not sure I completely get it in its current incarnation (I listen to a few podcasts, but its frankly hard to find the time to fit them in). Stepping back. however, I think the technology makes a lot of sense – just an easier way of storing, shipping around and retrieving audio and video files. I can think of plenty of scenarios where this would fit into a corporate infrastructure (i.e., training, compliance, etc.). I’m sure that’s all coming . . .

June 6, 2005· 1 min read

Making your threats real

I wrote a post about a month a go in my M&A series about drawing lines in the sand (see the original post here). In it I argued that people negotiating m&adeals are too quick to dig in and make statements that they can’t/don’t intend to back up. I was reading Ben’s blog today – his latest post references a HBS article on a similar subject that is worth a read. Here’s the quote that Ben pulled from the article that pretty much sums up its contents. When you look at the article pay attention to their point # 5 – it’s exactly what I was talking about in my earlier post. “In the classic game of Chicken, two drivers on a crash course speed toward each other. The rules are simple: Whoever swerves first and avoids collision loses, and whoever is brave enough to stay the course wins. Of course, when both drivers stay the course, they collide and die. Clearly, this is not a game for the faint-hearted. But bravado alone doesn’t guarantee a win. Your opponent has to believe that you’re gutsy enough to stay the course, or he may do the same until the very end. How do you win at Chicken? One approach would be to talk tough beforehand. You might behave irrationally to suggest that you wouldn’t swerve even to save your life. Once the game begins, however, your threat simply may not be credible. Now consider this strategy: Once the cars are headed directly toward each other, you unscrew your steering wheel and throw it out the window, making sure that your opponent sees you do it. Foolish? So it would seem, but your threat is now entirely credible. You can’t change course even if you wanted to. It’s up to your opponent to decide whether to lose the game or die. The odds are in your favor.”

June 3, 2005· 2 min read

Another one bites the dust

By now everyone has heard that Sun has agreed to acquire Colorado based storage company StorageTek. The press release was pretty ubiquitous, but if you haven’t checked out the presentation that accompanied it, it’s wroth skimming through here. Good for Sun . . . good for StorageTek . . . bla bla shareholders . . . bla bla convergence . . . bla bla network and data management. . . bla bla bla. Ok – with that out of the way I wanted to touch on a disturbing trend in the Colorado market, particularly in technology. …

June 3, 2005· 2 min read

Networking 101

Networking – To interact or engage in informal communication with other for mutual assistance or support (from Dictionary.com) I talked about networking in my recent post on How to become a venture capitalist. In it I said that I’d put up a separate post with more detailed thoughts on the subject. I don’t pretend to be the final source on the matter, but I do regularly engage in the art of networking – on both the network-ing and network-ed side of the equation. As with all my posts, comments are welcomed (and appreciated). Sorry in advance for the length of this one – I tried cutting it down, but couldn’t get it to work that way . . . Step 1: Make your list. Good networking starts with knowing who you want to meet – or at least what type of people you want to get in touch with. This can be specific (for example all of the VC’s in town when you are trying to land a VC job) or more general (your peers at other local businesses; CEOs of businesses in a certain industry; all of the patent attorney’s in some market; etc). Either way do some research and make yourself a list of people you want to meet. WRITE IT DOWN. This isn’t a mental list – this is a real list of people you want to get in touch with. Step 2: Exercise your existing network. You know people. They all know people. There is an entire industry that is trying to take advantage of this on-line. Here’s where you need a second list – write down all of the people that you know (i.e., who would return an e-mail and could vouch for you to someone else) who you think could put you either directly in touch with, or one step closer to the people on your first list. Now contact them in a personal and relevant way and ask for their help. Be specific about what you are asking for (i.e., give them names if possible andplenty of background on why you are asking for help and what you are trying to accomplish). As you get introductions, track where they came from. Your lists should start to merge and you should develop something that looks like a network map showing linkages between the people you know and the people you are trying to meet (the more linkages the better). TRACK INFORMATION. This isn’t a time to rely on your memory. Be anal about writing down who is introducing you to whom, any contextual information you gather and any background you have on the people you are trying to meet with. Step 3: Be specific & structure your meetings. Most people generally manage some form of Steps 1 and 2 in their networking efforts – even if they are not being as careful as I’d like about documenting their work. Step 3 is where people make what I think is the second most common mistake in networking: when they finally get a meeting with someone they are looking to network with they aren’t specific about what they want. I hate meetings like this. They generally include statements like “I’m not really sure what I’m looking to do,” or “I’ve got a very broad background and could fit in a bunch of different places,” or “What kind of investments does Mobius make,” or my personal favorite: “I’d like to do something more entrepreneurial.” Not helpful. At all. Do your homework on who you are meeting with. Be specific about what you are looking to do. Have a story to tell and make sure it’s relevant to the person you are talking with. If you are asking for help/advice on something open ended make sure that is part of the context of setting up the meeting (its ok to network for the purpose of figuring out what you want to do with your life, but be clear about your intent and be specific about the ways in which the person you are talking with can be helpful). The corollary to being specific is structuring your networking interactions well. Good networkers are adept at guiding networking meetings in a way that drives the results they are looking for. Whether you are talking to someone at a cocktail party or sitting in their office – know how you want the interaction to go and guide the discussion. Step 4: Take good notes. This is pretty obvious, but I’m amazed at how often I meet with people who don’t write anything down in our meetings. When I’m networking with someone I take careful notes – first, because it shows that I’m interested in and respect what the other person is saying and second because I want to keep a record of what we talked about and specific ideas for follow-up. When its awkward to take notes directly (for instance at a social event), I try to write down information after a conversation has ended – preferably on the back of the business card I just received, but at least on a notepad (which you should always carry along with a pen to any networking event). Steps 5 & 6: Plan your follow up . . . and actually follow up. These next two steps are where people really fall down – they would make for a lengthy post by themselves. By follow-up I’m not talking about the e-mail you send out the day after meeting with someone thanking them for the meeting, telling them how much you enjoyed talking with them and appreciate their perspective, attaching your CV (or pointing them to your blog ), etc. I’m talking about the ongoing communication you have with people. If you’re driving for a specific outcome this can be very structured (i.e., putting reminders in your calendar with specific things you plan to follow up with) – less so if you are engaging in more general networking. Either way, you need to make a plan for how you want to follow up with people and do so. It starts with Step 4 and the natural follow-up to step 4, which is putting this information in some form that is searchable and usable (perhaps a spreadsheet or database if you are networking for a specific outcome, since you’ll be referencing it often, but also potentially notes in your contacts or somewhere else that you store information, but in a way that you can easily separate out people that you are trying to stay in touch with in this way). Remember that networking is a two way street. Good networking is about staying in touch in a relevant way. Sending an e-mail every month asking if any new positions have come open is a bad example of this. Seeing something in the news or an article of interest that you send along to someone with your thoughts is a good example of this. See a person you know in the news – send a note congratulating them on their recent success. Notice that a VC you’ve talked with has just made a new investment – send a note. Find an article that you think would be relevant to that CEO you met with a few months ago – send it along. The idea is to stay top of mind, but in a way that is relevant to the people you are interacting with. Don’t forget to give context in your e-mail (i.e., “Sally – We met two months ago at the xyz event – John Smith introduced us . . . ). I can’t emphasize these steps enough. I can’t believe the number of meetings I have that end with the end of the meeting or a short follow-up note. Even if there were specific follow-up items. People fall down on follow-up and I think expect that they can pop in and out of someone’s network as the need arises. You just accomplished what may be the hardest part of networking (getting a meeting in the first place; grabbing someone’s attention at a party; etc.) – don’t waste your hard work by just entering their contact info in Outlook. …

May 31, 2005· 7 min read