“Mann Tracht, Un Gott Lacht” (“Man Plans, and God Laughs.”) We hope for the best, but are forced to plan for the worst. Almost all VCs will have companies that fail. The CEO comes to us. She has 3 months of cash left. Existing investors have said they’d be glad to invest…if she gets a...
[Continue Reading]Industrial psychology for CEOs
I’ve personally been a past client of Ben Dattner, an executive coach and organizational development consultant, and head of Dattner Consulting. Ben has an unusually well-developed website, well worth reviewing when you are thinking through management decisions and challenges. I put some links below to some of his articles I thought were most pertinent to tech CEOs:...
[Continue Reading]What’s your VC tech stack? Results from a survey of early-stage VC funds
(written by Philipp von dem Knesebeck, Managing Partner, Blue Future Partners (bluefp.com, @bluefutureteam), and David Teten) VCs are at the forefront of technological disruption, funding many of the latest cutting edge productivity tools. But what tools are they using themselves to automate their own processes? As a globally focussed LP in early stage VC funds, we at Blue Future...
[Continue Reading]Ready to join a new management team? Here’s how to do your due diligence first
I get emails every week from mid-level and senior executives who want to join a growth company. You’re going to be spending 40+ hours/week with your new colleagues, which is more time than most of us spend with our spouses. So I put together some notes on how to due diligence a management team, from...
[Continue Reading]A trial balloon: How large corporates can coinvest with their employees’ angel investing
Many large corporations face three seemingly disconnected challenges; they want: – Better returns on their balance sheet and underfunded pensions; – Access to the innovation economy to stay on top of the early-stage companies attacking their business; and – Unique employee benefits to retain and excited senior talent. So, I have an idea which addresses...
[Continue Reading]How to run your company based on metrics: what, why, how, who, and when
I review a lot of board decks with a beautifully hand-crafted page with metrics for the company. That makes me nervous. I prefer to see a screenshot of an internal dashboard, not something created for the board, and I prefer to see that same dashboard in the same format at every meeting. The reason...
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