A question I get quite frequently is “What makes a good leader?” One of the most important aspects of a good leader is that they have values. This may at first sound noncontroversial, but we are surrounded today by leaders who do not have values or whose only values are to get rich personally or to be powerful (or both). Tech investors have been especially guilty of enabling charismatic leaders, and sometimes even non-charismatic but wildly successful ones, who are fundamentally hollow and wi...

A question I get quite frequently is “What makes a good leader?” One of the most important aspects of a good leader is that they have values. This may at first sound noncontroversial, but we are surrounded today by leaders who do not have values or whose only values are to get rich personally or to be powerful (or both). Tech investors have been especially guilty of enabling charismatic leaders, and sometimes even non-charismatic but wildly successful ones, who are fundamentally hollow and wi...

It is a common idea that we should learn from our mistakes. In practice though I see many people making the same mistakes repeatedly. I myself have found that it often takes me making the same mistake at least twice before I really learn from it. Leading a startup is about personal growth and mistakes are that opportunity for growth, so how come it is so difficult to do? The framing of “learn from your mistakes” suggests that this is entirely about a rational process. It is too easy to think ...

It is a common idea that we should learn from our mistakes. In practice though I see many people making the same mistakes repeatedly. I myself have found that it often takes me making the same mistake at least twice before I really learn from it. Leading a startup is about personal growth and mistakes are that opportunity for growth, so how come it is so difficult to do? The framing of “learn from your mistakes” suggests that this is entirely about a rational process. It is too easy to think ...

A startup founder I know likes to say that their leadership style is “frequently wrong, but never in doubt.” Often that expression is applied as a critique, such as in Cheryl Wheeler’s song Driving Home, but the founder meant it as a positive model along the lines of the idea that even a bad decision is better than no decision. Given the high degree of uncertainty inherent in startups, how to lead in its presence is one of the crucial founder/CEO challenges. So should a leader share their dou...

A startup founder I know likes to say that their leadership style is “frequently wrong, but never in doubt.” Often that expression is applied as a critique, such as in Cheryl Wheeler’s song Driving Home, but the founder meant it as a positive model along the lines of the idea that even a bad decision is better than no decision. Given the high degree of uncertainty inherent in startups, how to lead in its presence is one of the crucial founder/CEO challenges. So should a leader share their dou...

Today is our annual get together for USV portfolio company CEOs. A few years back, when we first started building out the USV network, we switched to an un-conference format. Gary Chou who first started to bring portfolio companies in the network pioneered this. Gary’s insight was to create an opportunity to talk about issues in small groups of peers and start a dialog which can then continue throughout the year. Having been a CEO myself, the hard thing is the feeling of being alone. It is ea...

Today is our annual get together for USV portfolio company CEOs. A few years back, when we first started building out the USV network, we switched to an un-conference format. Gary Chou who first started to bring portfolio companies in the network pioneered this. Gary’s insight was to create an opportunity to talk about issues in small groups of peers and start a dialog which can then continue throughout the year. Having been a CEO myself, the hard thing is the feeling of being alone. It is ea...

One of the great privileges of being in venture capital is the ability to observe many CEOs in action – not just at a distance, but close up. One of the lessons I have learned from that is that there are different ways to be effective as a CEO and that very different personalities can make for effective CEOs. I have observed effective CEOs who are technologists and others who are top sales people; CEOs who are methodical and others who are inspirational. You get the idea. But all the effectiv...

One of the great privileges of being in venture capital is the ability to observe many CEOs in action – not just at a distance, but close up. One of the lessons I have learned from that is that there are different ways to be effective as a CEO and that very different personalities can make for effective CEOs. I have observed effective CEOs who are technologists and others who are top sales people; CEOs who are methodical and others who are inspirational. You get the idea. But all the effectiv...

Since I am still a bit typing challenged (but thankfully much improved), today here are two links to posts worth reading. The first is Vinod Khosla’s “The ‘Unhyped’ New Areas in Internet and Mobile.” While I may not agree with each of the twelve areas they all seem directionally interesting and Khosla does a great job distinguishing them from the more generic mobile and cloud which he characterizes as enabling technologies. The second is Jerry Colonna’s guest post over at AVC on “The Crucible...

Since I am still a bit typing challenged (but thankfully much improved), today here are two links to posts worth reading. The first is Vinod Khosla’s “The ‘Unhyped’ New Areas in Internet and Mobile.” While I may not agree with each of the twelve areas they all seem directionally interesting and Khosla does a great job distinguishing them from the more generic mobile and cloud which he characterizes as enabling technologies. The second is Jerry Colonna’s guest post over at AVC on “The Crucible...