The pandemic has been tough on many people. I would like you to fill in your own definition of “tough” as the range of impact is really wide and I am definitely not qualified to define it for you. Even for people who question the pandemic or are anti-vaccine, the pandemic has been tough (again, define it yourself). For clarity, I clearly consider the pandemic to be just that – a pandemic – and I received my first dose of Moderna the other day. Reflecting on the impact for me, I have noticed a few personal behavior revelations that I thought I would share. I typically don’t post personal “stuff ..read more

Here is the list – have some fun and add to this in the comments: Childish Selfish Narcissistic Paranoid Embarrassing Bully Spoiled Entitled Irrational Inability to reason Inability to compromise Wholly unpredictable No self control Unprofessional Obnoxious Vulgar Disrespectful Tactless Who does this sound like ..read more

So this post is not about startups or venture capital. Rather is about the Electoral College. I have been thinking about ways to have it disappear as it truly in my view is a solution to a now non-existent problem. Sure, a problem existed in 1787, but, come on, that problem does not exist now. We should be electing our president by popular vote for, frankly, a ton of reasons. I am happy to debate those with you but not in this post. Getting the Electoral College to evaporate completely would be challenging, and I doubt enough states (38) would ratify that. But how about an amendment to the Ele ..read more

I have been a VC since August 2004.  And I have always gotten a kick out of short company descriptions that I read in VC daily reports (like Term Sheet and Pro Rata).  While I understand most of the descriptions, there are always some curve balls.  Honestly, sometimes I read them and just say to myself “what the heck does that mean?”  I am assuming part is just my lack of understanding/knowledge/expertise.  And I am also assuming part is not related to my deficiencies. Here are some examples of some recent descriptions for you to enjoy (my simple-minded remarks in pare ..read more

Every executive (startup or otherwise) needs to be accountable to the rest of the leadership team and the company’s board.  This is pretty obvious.  It is perhaps even more critical at startups compared to larger companies as larger companies typically have more executives who can mitigate the negative impact of one under-performer. In my experience, lack of willingness to be accountable is one of the leading “business” reasons for executives resigning or getting fired.  I write “business” reasons to set them apart from non-work related matters.  Here are some red flags for ..read more

This morning I read “Dealbook” like I do every morning.  Andrew Ross Sorkin at the NYT created Dealbook many years ago.  He happens to be a Cornell alum (irrelevant to this post but nice to point out), and still is one of the primary writers of Dealbook. Terrible racist acts have stunned most of us over the last few weeks. Andrew reprinted a memo in Dealbook today that Robert Smith, founder of Vista Equity Partners, wrote to his firm’s employees over the weekend.  Robert Smith is also a Cornell alum (also irrelevant to this post but nice to point out). If you have not already re ..read more

I hope you all are staying well, safe and healthy! I recently went through an exercise with the team at Entrepreneurship at Cornell.  We have all been working remotely (obviously), and I wanted to get a very good read on how each team member viewed his/her primary contributions to our program.  So I went back to basics and asked each team member to send a list of bullet points describing their material functional duties.  Importantly, I only asked for bullet points (knowing that sometimes it is hard to be concise) and material duties (so things that are ongoing and not one-off s ..read more

As many of you know, Entrepreneurship at Cornell hosts a big conference in NYC each fall.  The event is called Eclectic Convergence, Cornell Entrepreneurship Summit, and this fall the date is November 13, 2020, again at the TimesCenter.  We hope that the event will go ahead, but only time will tell. I source the speakers for Eclectic Convergence well in advance.  As of today 7 of the 8 speakers are lined up: Michelle Adelman, Accite Holdings Emin Gun Sirer, Ava Labs Polina Marinova, The Profile Ryan Hudson, Honey Katia Beauchamp, BirchBox Steve Hindy, Brooklyn Brewery Jeremy Cohen, NYC Photogr ..read more

I hope that title made you laugh.  There is not much to laugh about recently.  Companies laying off people, companies closing down either temporarily or permanently, people doing stupid things (too many examples), craziness at grocery stores, etc.  I am sure you all have your best “un”favorite example. In these incredibly challenging times, I wanted to pass along 2 articles in case you have not seen them yet.  The first, by Steve Blank, it about the virus and startup survival.  I don’t need to make any comments on it as it really does not need any.  Have a read here.  One of the folks at Entre ..read more

Happy New Year!  Quick post. First Round Capital is literally a treasure trove of valuable information. Its First Round Review repository is outstanding, and should be a go to resource for any startup founder. Today First Round Review published “The 30 Best Pieces of Advice for Entrepreneurs that We Heard in 2019.”  It is a wonderful compilation of advice and tidbits with easy to understand and apply stories.  Definitely worth reading! Enjoy ..read more