“Choose Your Investment Partners like You Would Choose Your Spouse” with Michael Harden

I had the pleasure of interviewing Michael Harden, co-founder and general partner of ARTIS Ventures. Mike has been in the venture capital industry since 2001. Prior to founding ARTIS, Mike was with the CSFB Technology Group where he was one of the first mobile Internet and device analysts. He graduated from the Lucent Technologies/Bell Labs Leadership Program where he worked in their mobile division. He is also Chairman of the Board for ChefsFeed and supports, and works closely with, the San Francisco Child Abuse Prevention Center.

Jean: Thank you so much for joining us! Can you share your story about how you got into the VC space?

From a work history perspective, I became interested in public markets and investing from a young age, and really enjoyed devouring 10-Q and 10-K forms. I actually still follow many of those same companies to this day, and watching them make choices and business decisions that affect them months, or even years later, has given me the ability to identify cause and effect in today’s business climate, which is key in the venture capital arena.

As my career advanced, I began taking bigger positions and working more closely with companies. It was then that I became increasingly unsatisfied with the quarterly earnings…