Brad Feld

For some reason, I get a copy of TechComm: The National Journal of Technology Commercialization.  I was thumbing through it where I read all my physical magazines these days (the bathroom) and came upon an excellent article titled Q: How Smart Was Einstein? A. Really Smart.  As everyone spends the next few days praising Lance Armstrong’s Tour de Force, let’s not forget Einstein’s amazing year – 1905 (er – 100 years ago in case your math is rusty.)

• March 1905: Creates the quantum theory of light
• April 1905: Invents new method of counting and determining the size of the atoms or molecules in a given space
• May 1905: Explains the phenomenon of Brownian motion
• June 1905: Completes theory of special relativity
• H2 1905: Extension of special relativity –> E=mc²

All this when he was 26 and working full time as a patent examiner.  I wonder what he could have accomplished if he had access to Microsoft Virtual Earth.

Earlier this week, Scoble called out to VCs to ask whether or not they support .NET in response to an eWeek article titled Is .Net Failing to Draw Venture Capital Loyalty?   The responses I have seen from Rick Segal, Tim Oren, Ed Sim, and Bill Gurley are primarily qualitative, conceptual, and theoretical discussions about VCs, platforms, and how VCs think about (or don’t think about) investing in platforms.

Rather than go down that path (as I generally agree with everything they said), I figured I’d try to be additive to the discussion by providing quantitative information from my active portfolio companies.  All the companies I’m talking about are Mobius portfolio companies – but I’m only going to look at the ones I’m responsible for since I know their technology platforms off the top of my head and don’t have to ask my partners for any information (e.g. I can write this post in 15 minutes on a Saturday afternoon before a run.)
 
I have 15 companies that I’m responsible for (I don’t sit on all the boards – Chris Wand who works with me has several of the board seats – they are all listed on my web site on the left sidebar if you want to take a look.)  6 of them use .NET in meaningful ways.  They are as follows:

• Commerce5: All their back end ecommerce infrastructure and web service is .NET.
• ePartners: They are one of the largest Microsoft Business Solutions partner in the United States and have deep .NET experience.
• Gold Systems: They are one of Microsoft’s leading Speech Server partners and are about to release their first Speech Server-based Password Reset product.
• Newmerix: .NET is the core development platform for Newmerix Automate!Test product.
• NewsGator: .NET everywhere.
• Oxlo: Their products are built around .NET, Biztalk, and Sharepoint.

In addition to my current companies, I’ve been involved with, a user of, and an investor in Microsoft-related stuff for my entire career.  All the software I wrote for my first job at Petcom Systems was written in Microsoft Basic (and Basic Compiler – eek) with Btrieve (10 PRINT “I’m in Hell”: GOTO 10). My first company – Feld Technologies – was in the inaugural Microsoft Solution Provider (SP) program started by Dwayne Walker sometime around 1990.  We developed custom database apps with Microsoft Access and FoxPro.  I sat on the board of SBT Accounting Systems for a number of years – they were (I think) the largest indirect channel for Microsoft FoxPro products in the 1990’s.  I’ve always been a Great Plains (and now Microsoft Business Solution) fan, user, and business partner.  I was an investor and board member in Corporate Software (now owned by Level 3) – one of the largest Microsoft LARs on the planet.
 
While some of my companies use non-Microsoft technologies, plenty use Microsoft technology.  Virtually all of them have lots of Windows desktops, servers, and desktop apps running everywhere.  I’m not religious about this issue and I don’t really think the platform discussion is that interesting (I’m equally comfortable with Microsoft platforms as I am with non-Microsoft platforms.)  As most of my VC brethren who commented demonstrated – we are pragmatic, agnostic, or – in some cases – simply ignorant – about platform issues.

I was sitting in a meeting with Ryan McIntyre and his cell phone went off.  His ringtone sounded vaguely familiar but I couldn’t quite place it.  I told him.  He laughed and reminded me about the story behind Hell Sink Ye.  If you are looking for a new ringtone, try this.  If you want a ring tone symphony, try this.

I was recently asked to write an article on “Work Life Balance” for the MIT Sloan School Alumni Magazine.  I’m an MIT alum (‘87 and ‘88) and – when I asked what they were looking for – they told me “something personal that talks about how you’ve achieved it.”  So – I sat down and cranked out the following.  I hope it’s useful / inspiring / thought provoking for others out there in the world searching for the elusive “work life balance thing.”

The challenge of “work life balance” is a central theme for many people, especially entrepreneurs.  It took me 15 years, a failed first marriage, and my current wife (Amy Batchelor, Wellesley Graduate) almost calling it quits for me to realize that I had to figure out what “work life balance” meant to me.  Today, I can comfortably say that I have a major clue and my life is dramatically better for it.

I started my first company when I was 19 and in college at MIT.  I was obsessive, worked incredibly hard, and – while I generally had a lot of fun – was almost always maxed out.  This manifested itself in many ways, including always being overcommitted, regularly being exhausted, having a failed marriage when I was 24, and physically changing – according to one of my best friends – from “skinny Brad” to FOB (“fat older Brad”).

During this time, I was very successful at the work I did.  I created a company – Feld Technologies – which was acquired by a public company.  I helped start and/or finance a number of other companies which went on to be acquired or go public. I helped create a venture capital firm.  I was well known and respected within the entrepreneurial community – both for what I had accomplished and what I was working on.

However, until about five years ago, I had absolutely no balance in my life.  I was on the road from Monday to Friday, arriving home exhausted at the end of the day Friday.  Amy got “the dregs” over the weekend – I’d sleep a lot, spend time in front of my computer getting caught up on all the crap I didn’t get to during the week, and when we went out, I’d always be tired and withdrawn.  The burnout cycle continued; every six months I’d completely crash from the effort (I graphically remember a vacation to Hawaii with friends where I slept 20 hours a day for the first four days – so much that Amy thought something was physically wrong with me.)  I drank too much, I struggled with my weight, and I felt physically crappy.  I loved my work, but I couldn’t see past it.

At age 34 when – on a long weekend with friends where I was completely absent and struggling to get through a difficult deal (for a company that eventually failed) – Amy turned to me and said “I’m done.  I’m not mad – I just can’t do this anymore.  You either have to change, or it’s over.”

That woke me up!  We spent the rest of the weekend talking about what change meant.  I knew that this wasn’t a warning.  After that weekend, we created a set of well defined rules which have evolved over time.  As I discovered what balance meant to me, the rules evolved into a set of habits which – among others – include (1) Spend Time Away, (2) Life Dinner, (3) Segment Space, (4) Be Present, and (5) Meditate.  Following are examples of each:

• Spend Time Away: Amy and I take a week long vacation each quarter (which we fondly refer to as “Qx Vacation” depending on which quarter of the year it is) where we completely disappear.  No cell phone, no email, no computer, no conference calls – my assistant knows how to find me in case of an emergency; otherwise I’m completely unavailable for the week.
• Life Dinner:  We have a standing date on the first day of every month that we call life dinner.  Occasionally we’ll invite friends; often we have dinner alone.  We have a ritual where we give each other a gift ranging in value from nominal / silly (a fart machine) to expensive / romantic (jewelry).  We spend the evening talking about the previous month and about the month to come, grounding ourselves in our current reality.
• Segment Space: We have two homes – one in the mountains of Boulder, Colorado and one in the small town of Homer, Alaska.  Both have nice office areas which are clearly separated from the rest of the house.  We only have telephones in the offices and, by some delightful fluke of nature, our cell phones don’t work in our Boulder house.  We treat our houses as a retreat from the world and, while we do plenty of working at home, where we do this is separate and distinct from the rest of the house.
• Be Present: One of Amy’s lines to me is “Brad – be a person.”  This is a signal to me that I’m not present in the moment, that something is troubling me, or simply that I’m tired.  Whenever I’m not present, it only takes a short phrase to pull me back from wherever I’ve drifted off to.
• Meditate: I use the word meditate metaphorically – everyone should meditate their own way.  Four years ago I became a marathoner – the 6 to 10 hours a week I run is my current form of meditation.  I’m also a voracious reader and the 10 hours a week I read extends my meditation time.  Do whatever you want, but spend some of your time on yourself.

The habits have created a structure for my life that not only encourages but reinforces a healthy work life balance.  My work – which used to overwhelm everything else I did – is still a central part of my life.  However, it is no longer my singular focus, nor is it the most important thing to me anymore.  The balance that I’ve discovered has helped me understand the value of other things, which has made my work and – more importantly – my life – much more rewarding.

I’m proud of all the companies I invest in, but I’m especially proud of the ones that just crank up the volume and get it done, especially in markets that other VCs say “eh – boring.”  Rally Software is one of these – I’ve been an investor since it was started a couple of years ago and am having a great time watching Tim Miller, Ryan Martens, Don Hazell, and team create a business from scratch.  Tim, Ryan, and Don all had a tenure at BEA and their experience and seasoning shows in everything they do.

Agile software development has gotten plenty of play over the past few years.  Rally is at the forefront of this trend – providing an on-demand software product for Agile development teams along with a broad range of consulting services for Agile development.  This week they announced Release 5 of their product, a web services API for integration with customer management systems, Salesforce.com integration / Sforce Ecosystem authorization, and a formal partner program. 

Serious software development companies such as BMC, Intuit, Novell, Webroot, and CNet are now using Rally’s products as a core part of their software development cycle.  While I acknowledge my role in this play as an advertisement for Rally (I’m proud of my companies, but also shameless), if you develop software for a living (even if you aren’t currently using Agile methodologies), I encourage you to take a serious look.

I can’t remember why Tobias Wolff’s Old School ended up on my reading pile, but I grabbed it and tossed it in my bag for my trip to San Francisco.  I mistakenly thought that Wolff had written a bunch of novels and that this was one of his “classics.”  It turns out that Wolff is actually one of the great short story writers of our time (as well as a master of the memoir – e.g. This Boy’s Life).  Of course, Amy has all of his other books which she just brought to me with a big smile (e.g. Brad – you philistine you).

Old School – written in 2003 – is his first full length novel.  And what a novel it is.  While the pretty silver “Finalist: PEN/Faulkner Award” medallion on the cover is a not–so-subtle hint, I still wasn’t expecting to get sucked in by the book.  After about 30 pages, Wolff had me and I slowed down and started savoring each paragraph.  I realized that I was reading something different.  Unlike so much that I read today – where the writer is telling a story, but hasn’t “crafted it” – Wolff takes his time, tells his story, and gives you a rich, flavorful burst of words with every bite.  The story is simple – that’s part of the beauty of the book – since the story doesn’t get in the way of the words.

It’s rare that you read the word “boner” in the middle of a sentence and thing “that was perfectly placed.”  Robert Frost and Ayn Rand make appearances and Hemingway plays a central role in the plot – none of these things make you think “eh – self-indulgent writer crap.”  It’s mostly perfect.  Yum.

Harry Potter is up next – I’m managed to pry the books out of Amy’s hands since she gobbled them up while I was on my trip.  I never got around to reading the blue one (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix) so I’ve got 1600 pages of Harry Potter ahead of me this weekend.

Niel Robertson – the CTO of Newmerix – was interviewed recently about his “four rules of market timing” (as they apply to creating a company).  Niel is a successful multi-time entrepreneur (and fellow MIT grad) that I’ve known for a decade.  He was an early engineer at NetGenesis, co-founded Service Metrics (I was the lead investor – Service Metrics was acquired by Exodus in 1999) and co-founded Newmerix several years ago (again – I was the lead investor).  Niel is also the proud owner of the nicest Ferrari in Boulder.

In the interview, Niel talks about his four rules of market timing.  These rules help him determine whether the market is ready for an idea and he tries to apply them to any business idea he is thinking about.  They are:

• New dog, old tricks: Look for things where company invest in new technology platforms to essentially do what they are already doing.
• Throwing good money after bad: Look for situations where companies commit to a technology choice and then either scrimps on the initial implementation or poorly scopes the project.  If you can find systemic instances of this, they’ll need to throw new technology into the mix to get what they originally wanted.
• Earthquake: The pain of a problem rarely comes at once – it comes in waves – just like an earthquake.  If the small ones come first, you’ve got an opportunity.  If the big one comes first, forget it.
• Hokey Pokey: This one is my favorite.  Companies inevitably decide to bring things in house or outsource them over and over again.  If you can find a hokey pokey situation, it’s ripe for innovation.

I’m a Firefox fiend (extension count going up daily; Greasemonkey security fears acknowledged) and I just found out that if you have multiple tabs, you can go to tab N by hitting Ctrl-N.  If you are like me and can’t visually scan horizontally for numbers (e.g. I have to count from left to right to figure out which tab I’m at – minor dyslexia-like thing) there’s an extension that’ll number the tabs for you.

In the spring, NewsGator announced its Media Platform and a deal with the Denver Post.  Today, the DenverPost.com released News Hound, their private-label RSS reader built on top of the NewsGator Media Platform.  We’ve got a bunch of other media deals in the works, but this is the first one to ship.  While News Hound is a standalone client (which the Denver Post wanted, vs. a web-based client), the integration with the overall platform (e.g. the NewsGator Media Platform) enables either a standalone client or a web-based client, or both.

Download News Hound and give it a whirl.  We’d love feedback on it in an effort to make it “easier” for the mainstream user to read RSS content, especially around tightly defined local content (e.g. The Denver Post in this case).