Tag: investror

Long Time Coming……

achanmanLeave a comment

It’s funny to see how things progress sometimes.  Since the last post, I’ve gone through and seen a sea ,if not ocean, of change in so many things in my life.  From virtual reality to business structures to emails, there has been no shortage of traveling int circles and ending back at square 1 (but with a better view and experience).

Not all time is lost when going in a full circle.  I now feel better prepared on many fronts although it seems like we haven’t moved at all.

VR has made a several decade loop around and comeback to prominence, which is nice for our portfolio company NextVR.  We are truly excited and believe that the revolution is coming and this time its for real.  It’s also been interesting to observe the track back towards email as the ‘main tool’ and acquisition target of companies from Microsoft to Dropbox.  The window to users seemed forgotten and washed under all the other ‘sexy’ products and businesses JUST to suddenly be shot back into prominence.

As for Vectr, we’ve come a long way to end up where we are now and have never been as confident and excited with our journey ahead.  The team has realigned itself and really coming together and we are ready to rock’n roll.  Some things take time but at at the end and when its done right….. worth it!

Teamwork

achanmanLeave a comment

As we all know, a difference in position can result in significantly different perspectives and outcomes. This is a universal theme that runs deep in daily business, life and sports. Freedom fighter or Terrorist? Creating or destroying? Enthusiastic or annoying? Really hard to say sometimes and even harder to take a step to take it all in slowly and fairly. (feels like a bad sentence)
As an ex-entrepreneur and now investor, it is quite interesting to feel the emotions from both sides. Fresh from taking of the entrepreneurial hat, I fully understand that one must protect their “baby” and not allow outside mofos to run their show all over it. It’s easy to feel protective over ideas and property and hard to accept that an OUTSIDER (how dare they?!?!) could have an interesting and perhaps refreshing perspective. It’s great to be chasing dreams and even better to find supporters, but with how big of a voice?
On the other side, as an investor, I also need to understand that conversations must be held carefully and that we (as a group other than a few) cannot go in guns blazing and lighting up the joint. This is a big turn off for founders and we need to remember that we are supporting a good person+team in pursuing their dreams that in return will hopefully give us returns. This is an interesting and everlasting dilemma and not one that will end, ever.
Pretty similar to teams at school, work, and sports. Some teams start from day 1 with everyone wanting to be the winner and leader. Some teams have members that immediately claim a supporting role for the greater cause. Some teams have leaders and coaches that want a well trained lean mean fighting machine. Which one works best? The great Bulls? The Heat? the Spurs? Germany or Argentina? Do you want the best overall team or the best player? Budding with energy+potential or seasoned+savvy veterans? Dictatorship or Democracy?
I don’t know the answer. Have been involved and seen many of the different situations above (I’m sure we all have)….. Can’t say I have a conclusion……