Jun 102009

Poking a little fun at VCs

Poking a little fun at VCs

Fred posted a great slideshow this morning of “things VCs will never say.”  I can’t tell if the show is meant to be serious or not — some of the things would be great to hear from VCs, some would be terrible — though Fred’s comment at the bottom leads me to believe he thinks it was serious.

At any rate, it reminded me of the brilliant and hilarious “VC Calendar Calisthenics” post of Dave Hornick from 5-6 years ago, which you can see here.  Even if you’ve read it before, it’s worth a refresher.

Filed under: Entrepreneurship, Venture Capitalists

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Dec 062008

Next One is the Big One, a.k.a. Nine is Fine

Next One is the Big One, a.k.a. Nine is Fine

Today, Return Path turns nine years old. 

What an exciting year we’ve had, too.  As I mentioned a couple months back, we completely reorganized the company this year, marking a major transition and a new stage in the life of the business.  We acquired our largest competitor, Habeas, consolidating our space and further establishing ourselves as the leader in email deliverability and whitelisting.  We marched right past our 1,000th client milestone and now are well on our way to our 1,500th.

Thanks again to our fantastic team and our great group of investors and Board members for another fun and exciting year.  Nine is fine…and now the march to The Big 1-0 begins.

Filed under: Entrepreneurship, Return Path, Venture Capitalists

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Apr 302008

You Have to Shoot to Score

You Have to Shoot to Score

Fred’s recent post called From Messes to Successes left me thinking about the reasons why successful companies often have rough patches along the road to their ultimate success — the times Fred refers to when he says “they’re a mess.”   First, his premise is right.  Good companies are often a mess.  Probably more than most outside Board members (even good VC ones) even realize!  And while his explanation as to why this occurs, which is that the company focuses exclusively on the product to the exclusion of infrastructure, scaling, and planning issues, may be right some of the time, let me offer an alternative explanation.

I always tell people internally that You Have to Shoot to Score.  If you don’t take risks, you’re not a truly entrepreneurial company.  And for companies to move from start-up to high-growth and sustain that growth over time, they have to continually be taking risks.  50+% growth only lasts so many years without it.  Trying new things.  Developing new products or permutations of products.  Making acquisitions.  Making an out-of-the-box hire.  Entering a new market.  Morphing a pricing model or service delivery model.  You get the idea.

It’s inevitable that some of these risks won’t pay off.  They don’t all have to.  Only about 1 in 3 does.  (Sounds kind of like a VC’s portfolio, doesn’t it?)  But the other 2 can often leave you with a mess that has to be cleaned up.  People need to be reassigned.  Some may need to be let go.  Products need to be decommissioned.  Sometimes it takes longer than others to emerge from a clean-up period, but Fred’s right that when the company does emerge, it’s usually stronger for having gone through the experience.

Filed under: Entrepreneurship, Venture Capitalists

Nov 212007

VCs Are Full of It

VCs Are Full of It

…at least that’s what Brad says.  Well, he says a lot more than that, but certainly makes for a good pre-holiday headline, doesn’t it?

Brad’s brilliant advice is not to confuse data – or even worse – anecdotes – with fact.  I’d add to the axiom my own observation that “just because someone says something with extreme conviction doesn’t mean it’s true.”

His whole post is very worthwhile – one of the best ones I’ve read in a long time.  Read it here.

Filed under: Entrepreneurship, Venture Capitalists

Sep 262007

Lighten Up!

Lighten Up!

As with Brad, I love a good rant, and Dave McClure’s wild one this week about how VCs and Lawyers Need to Simplify, Innovate, and Automate is fantastic.  I have a roughly 3 foot shelf in my office that has all the bound paper documentation for the financings and M&A we’ve done here over the years and have always felt like it’s an enormous waste on many levels.  The insanity of the faxes, zillions of signatures, original copies, and triplicates is overwhelming.

But the core of the rant is a beautiful and simple suggestion that those who invest in lightweight technology companies and automation platforms should learn how to use just those technologies in their own businesses.  I couldn’t agree more, and it reminds me of my least favorite answer EVER from a VC about why some piece of legal documentation had to be done a certain way:  “Because that’s the way we always do it.”  That argument doesn’t even work when a parent uses it on a 5 year old!

I think lawyers are particularly problematic to this cause, because even if an innovative VC wanted to do things easier and differently, the lawyers would probably throw up all over it.  But in the end, if the VC is the client, he or she can and should overrule and manage counsel.  The world is now moving at too quick a pace to keep deal paperwork in the stone ages.

Filed under: Email, Venture Capitalists

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