I am not on any boards but there has been a lot of talk recently about how to create an effective one.
Here's a first pass at some links and material to start with:
- http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2006/11/how_to_build_a_.html
- http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2008/02/thoughts-on-cho.html
- http://www.feld.com/wp/archives/2004/07/boards-that-are-not-bored.html
Thing I've noticed:
1) Boards require reporting and reporting requires you to be more rigorous about how you operate.
VC and entrepreneurship blogs:
-avc.com: Terrific resource for all issues that surround the VC and entrepreneurship ecosystem. avc.com is run by Fred Wilson, a Partner with Union Square Ventures. Many of the other websites listed here have been found through this website.
A couple weeks ago I was watching the Discovery Channel show "Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking" where he made a bold claim - if aliens were to discover earth, they would most likely destroy us and take all of resources.
A few weeks ago I read an article describing that more and more colleges are dropping humanitarian degrees, such as philosophy, in response to demand for more technical degrees, such as finance, accounting, engineering, etc. The idea being that the latter disciplines are more likely to land you a job after college than the former. Upon reading the article, my immediate response was that the employers that are driving the demand for highly specialized employees are completely off the mark.
Reading Ishmael and Thinking in Systems (covered in my last post) I was immediately reminded of the philosophy of Nietzsche, particularly of "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" and the idea of the Overman. I took a Nietzsche class in college and don't pretend to be a Nietzsche expert on any level. But from my basic understanding, the Overman recognizes the system of modern culture, recognizes that there is a value system that we are born into and are suppose to follow.
In the last couple months I've gotten in the habit of reading two books concurrently: a non-fiction book in the mornings on my commute to work, and a fiction book in the evenings before I go to bed. In the morning I can stay engaged with the more fact based non-fiction books and I feel that most topics covered are good 'brain calisthenics' before I start the day. Fiction takes your mind to another place, and I like to think gives your mind some solid raw material to dream about.
Thanks to a friend of mine, Chris Everly, I was able to walk on the field after yesterday's (horrible) Phillies game. It's pretty cool being at the Stadium after everybody is gone and the lights are dimmed. This is a photo from center field looking in towards home plate.
This is also the first post I'm creating through email. Thank you Drupal...
From my limited experience in the VC industry, there seems to be two sides of the coin in order to truly excel at what you do. First, you need to have excellent financial skills. At the heart of it, venture capital is an investment tool and there's just no getting around that. Second, you need to have deep industry knowledge of the sector in which you're investing. What makes a truly great VC is one who can assist in his/her portfolio companies' day to day activities, expand their network, and increase their business opportunities.
This is the first post I'm creating via email. With my new iPhone should mean I update the site far more often
There is an interesting article in the NYT today about the government's role in innovation. In the past few months I have been thinking a lot about this topic, as my senior thesis was about venture capital's role in innovation and I currently work at a VC firm. It seems to me that the government has always played an active role in innovation through R&D. However, as the public sector works to solve global problems such as climate change, the government's role in innovation is coming into the limelight.
