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Investor Winter: Lessons from Nature

Investor Winter: Lessons from Nature

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Ten months ago, a feral cat showed up in our backyard. He’s a young cat: Harry can’t be more than a few years old, doesn’t meow like felines who are raised by humans. A veterinarian member of the family told us it’s a sign that he’s been feral since birth.

We have no idea where Harry calls home. When we first spotted him in Spring, we started leaving him food. Despite the fact that he’s shown up almost daily since, he hasn’t warmed up to us at all. He shows up for food at least twice a day – very early morning and evening – but always keeps his distance.

And won’t eat any processed food, mind you: he knows better. And hisses at us if – heaven forfend! – we don’t bugger off and give him his space while he’s dining. Read More...

How to Blow It At an Investor Meeting

How to Blow It At an Investor Meeting

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Image by Tumisu from Pixabay

We were recently approached by a potential new client, who wanted feedback on his pitch deck, a rewrite and assistance with reaching out to the appropriate investors.

We liked him and his product and decided to take him on as a client.

An investor friend called us a few days later, and asked what we were working on, meaning was there anything in our pipeline that might be of interest to him and his fund. We gave him the broad strokes on the software that our new client had built, and which already had some traction in the market, knowing full well that it was in his sweet spot. Read More...

How to Prioritizing in the New Normal

How to Prioritizing in the New Normal

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Image by Piyapong Saydaung from Pixabay

Haven’t heard that term in a while, eh, and not like we all have it all figured out.

We had a conversation with a successful serial entrepreneur recently, who began by filling us in on his history:

Started and built his first business: sold it. Started and built another business: acquired. Was about to undertake his next startup when his wife told him that he was going to be a dad for the first time – and not to a singleton. Read More...

That Seldom Discussed Reason Why So Many Startups Fail

That Seldom Discussed Reason Why So Many Startups Fail

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We visited NYC recently and stayed at our apartment for the first time in over 18 months. We all know that the city has changed. Many people left, and have no intention of coming back, from what they’ve said to us, including founders, investors, developers and everyone in between. Their reasons are varied. The weather. The lifestyle. The changing school curriculum – and the policies in place for their children to be able to even show up. Not easy keeping rambunctious younger children in masks all day – what to speak of the possible long-term health effects. Ironic, since if you enter NYC from downtown, you’ll see New York Harbor where the Statue of Liberty stands as a welcoming beacon, with the words ‘yearning to breathe free,’ inscribed on the base. And thanks for playing.

Even though we’d lived in NYC since our college days, we were on terra incognita. Even our apartment felt foreign.  After having imbibed in only artisanal water for well over a year, the NYC tap water tasted horrible. Salty, with a distinct chemical-y flavor. Isn’t NYC tap water supposedly among the best in the world? Had that changed, too?

In-person networking events are back, and although we didn’t have time to attend any, papers required? Echoes of Nazi Germany and while it may be the new normal in NY, not required where we are and it felt disturbing. We’ve also gotten feedback from investors and readers who’ve attended the in-person events, commenting that they’ve changed. Not the same energy. And not the same level as they were prior to the exodus. Read More...

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, Life, Investor Pitch Decks and All That

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, Life, Investor Pitch Decks and All That

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Image by PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay

The subject line references a book by Douglas Adams: the second in his Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy trilogy.

We’ve been out here in the countryside for over a year now, in the woods, not far from a small town. Quality restaurants are few and far between, if not basically non-existent, compared to the NYC restaurants to which we are accustomed.

We were doing errands a few years back and stopped for lunch at a restaurant right next door to one of the shops we’d visited. The décor was very ‘50s, and they did have a salad bar, which we took as a good sign, so we agreed to be seated. There was ‘50s and maybe early ’60s memorabilia everywhere, including in the salad bar, which offered up iceberg lettuce, onions, canned olives and what appeared to be cucumber and tomato slices. The latter two were the appropriate colors and shapes for said vegetables, so we’re assuming that that’s what they were. As for the lunch itself: all the vegetables came out of cans. In the middle of summer, in the midst of farm country, and where farm stands abound. Next, or as Oscar Wilde said, “Once is an experiment; twice is a perversion.” We never returned to that establishment. Read More...