Investor, Founder
I’ve mentioned previously that I’m working on a research study on disruption of the asset management business. We are now sharing the final draft of our research study with reviewers. If you’d like to take a look, please send me your email ASAP. [...continue reading]
When I meet with executives from large corporations, they’re often worried. And they should be; the feeding frenzy in the innovation economy is in some cases because startups are eating the lunch of more established companies. To quote a friend, if [...continue reading]
The median investor looking at your proposal is in her 40s. Her eyes are going, not to mention her brain. I look at a lot of spreadsheets and analytic reports, and way too many are difficult to read and therefore hard to understand. In an effort [...continue reading]
I’m teaching a class for Founder Institute July 8 on accelerating sales with technology. This has been a passion of mine for well over a decade, ever since I realized how inefficient sales was and how technology could be used to speed up the [...continue reading]
It’s fascinating to be an angel investor, but do most angels actually make positive returns? And even more important, how long until they get liquidity? The theoretical returns look extremely attractive; we’ve identified 12 different studies [...continue reading]
New York, NY --- The Teten Family is proud to announce that we just finalized our investment in a seed-stage startup, temporarily operating under the name “NewBo” or “Peanut”. We are now looking for a dot-com domain name for our corporate website. [...continue reading]
I get more requests for meetings than I can handle. I’d like to say it’s because of my great insights and dashing looks, but really it’s because we give away money for a living. As a way to try to respond to these requests, I’ve donated my time [...continue reading]
One of the core functions of a VC is to identify the next generation of disruptive companies. I presented last month to a Microsoft senior executive offsite on how large corporations can do the same, to inform their investing, M&A, and [...continue reading]
I read a few books over the last year that I thought were worth highlighting/recommending: The book that has had the most practical impact on my life was The Paleo Manifesto: Ancient Wisdom for Lifelong Health, by John Durant. This is a [...continue reading]
I agree with Brad Feld: Most people flake. If you’re not a flake, you are far more likely be trusted, promoted, and funded. If you execute on the steps below, you’re well on your way to being a top quartile performer. I gave a presentation to [...continue reading]
Both founders and researchers in healthcare are spending far too much of their energy in areas where they’re not going to make maximum impact. Most health problems are self-inflicted, but the innovation economy doesn’t reflect the power of preventive [...continue reading]
CB Insights just included ffVC in 13 Micro VCs We’re Watching, along with a (highly inaccurate) superhero graphic. CB Insights has become a very influential data source in the industry. In fact, I recently had dinner with a well-known VC who said [...continue reading]
Ever since I studied Total Quality Management in college, I’ve been a bit obsessed with documenting processes. I was particularly influenced by Dr. Atul Gawande’s “Checklist Manifesto”, which underlined for me the value of collecting, documenting, [...continue reading]
Like a lot of our peers, my wife and I read Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, Professor Amy Chua’s explanation of her aggressive “Tiger Mom” “Chinese” approach to parenting. She makes a strong argument for being a ‘tiger mother’, though her argument [...continue reading]
