A Startup Survival Guide to Tough Times

I remember the day in 2008 when my bank called me and asked for a meeting. I was running a startup that was gaining incredible traction — until 2008, that is. My startup was focused on the construction industry. The bank gave me notice on our line of credit…

On being an investor.

I’ve been a full-time investor for the last three years. I do some paid speaking and advisory work here and there, but I make my living generating returns for myself and my co-investors. It is hard — very hard, actually — but it’s also the most fun I’ve ever had. It barely feels like work…

Breaking News: Venture Capital is broken.

Venture capital is broken. It’s broken because fund managers don’t understand what it takes to succeed. They likely entered VC because it was trendy and they saw big money in tech, but they don’t know how to dig in and execute on the work.

We are a reflection of our Limited Partners

Yesterday, I had a typical day for a seed-stage venture capitalist. 6 calls with our incubator company CEOs, 1 call with an investment that we are trying to get over the goal line, and 2 calls with corporate venture capitalists. Then a myriad of meetings…

The Cap-Ex : Op-Ex Conundrum

I had two significant calls yesterday. One was with the owner/developer of a 10M+ square foot development and the other was with a president of a multi-billion-dollar building products manufacturer. There was a single theme to both conversations: How do we start optimizing the…

The truth. A machine will take your job.

AI is overused and applied incorrectly 90% of the time, but it’s still real. And it’s here now. We’ll start to see real AI solutions hit the market in the next two decades. Artificial intelligence isn’t new — it’s just that we’ve reached a point in time where…

Employee, Contractor or Consultant. How to hire the best fit.

I’ve built a dozen companies in my career, and I know that human resources decisions can be complicated. In my early businesses, I used contractors because payroll was a pain. It wasn’t just the tax burden; it was that…

So Immature: A Digital Transformation Maturity Model

Last week I was talking to a friend about digital transformation in the construction and real estate space. We agreed that the market is…

Venture Capital and Carbon Neutrality

When I read an article yesterday criticizing the venture capital community for not being…