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 easy to succumb to that even if you have surrounded yourself with a really strong team. There are decisions which only you can make and have to make. Some of those decisions will decide the trajectory of the entire company for everyone who has worked on it or invested in it. And that is a lot of pressure.

It helps tremendously to have a small group of people you trust who are in the same position or have been in the same position. This is only partially or maybe not at all about getting their judgment as an input. It is about sharing your particular dilemma with someone who fully appreciates its complexity and weight. That’s the emotional resonance from which we draw strength.

I am looking forward to listening in on some of the discussions that will take place today. I will learn from those conversations but more importantly each one is an opportunity for someone to receive and build the support they need as CEO.