I’m researching an idea for how large enterprises which are not technology companies can promote innovation in their areas of interest. My proposal: hire a true Enterprise Entrepreneur in Residence, whose defined KPI is: Quit my job. (No, that’s not a typo). This idea would have a trivial cost: just the person’s compensation. The...
[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]Why venture capitalists are investing in international startups
Why are more US VCs investing in international startups? Take a look at The Fortune Unicorn List: of the top 100 most valuable unicorns in 2016, 39 are currently based outside of the United States. While fundraising of US VCs has dropped slowly as a percentage of global limited partner allocations over the last decade,...
[Continue Reading]How to organize a conference (and panels) that add value
As part of being a VC, I speak at a fair number of conferences. I summarize here my counsel on how to organize a conference that creates value: How to Keep the People Attending Your Conference Alive CB Insights’ Conference Rant How to Run a Tech Conference I find the most common error at conferences...
[Continue Reading]Seeking a search engine for foreign language movies
I’m looking for a search engine for foreign language movies available via streaming. We tightly limit our kids’ viewing of videos/TV/movies, except for any content in the foreign languages they speak (Hebrew and Russian; they unfortunately are not getting the benefit of my intermediate French). Our challenge is that it’s hard to find professional caliber...
[Continue Reading]The investment committee rejected you; what does that actually mean?
One of the most common ways a venture capitalist rejects you is a variation of, “I love you, I love your company. I brought it up to the investment committee (“IC”)….but they turned it down.” What does that actually mean? Is this the business equivalent of telling a flame, “It’s not you, it’s me”? A...
[Continue Reading]