Jerry Colonna

After I wrote my post on Unhibernating , my long-time, empathetic friend Christopher Schroeder , whom I originally met through Ben Casnocha (that story is discussed in Give First: The Power of Mentorship ), sent me a short note asking, “Have you been ok?” I responded with a long email explaining why I decided to hibernate in the summer of 2023 and why this hibernation lasted almost two years. After writing a long email (which I’ve been doing a lot of during my hibernation), I asked Chris if I could post my response to my blog, and he said, “Of course.” ...

Registration is open for the 2022 Q4 Leadership Bootcamp , which is happening in Boulder, Colorado, on Nov 10-13, 2022. Regular readers of this blog know about my long-time (back to 1996) friendship with Reboot co-founder and CEO Jerry Colonna . What you may not know is that several years ago, Jerry and his partner Ali Schultz moved exactly 0.8 miles away from me (there is one 40-acre parcel of land between us.) In the evening, when we are both in Boulder (well, Longmont), he sits under his Cottonwood Tree, I sit 0.8 miles away on my couch next to my pool, and we text and wave at each other. ...

Jerry Colonna has written a “must read for everyone on planet earth book” titled Reboot: Leadership and the Art of Growing Up . Seriously, go buy it right now. I’ll be here when you return. Regular readers of this blog know that Jerry and I are extremely close friends and have been for 23 years. I first met Jerry when he was beginning his partnership with Fred Wilson at Flatiron Partners. But, I didn’t meet him through Fred. I met him through NetGenesis, a company I was chairman of at the time that had been started by Rajat Bhargava (who we still work with as CEO of JumpCloud ), Matt Cutler (who we still work with as CEO of Blocknative ). I won’t repeat the story of Brad, Jerry, eShare, and NetGenesis , but it makes me incredibly happy to reflect on 23 years of friendship, which nicely lines up with my 23 official years of marriage to Amy . ...

I’ve long written about the stigma around entrepreneurship and depression / other “mental health-related issues.” I was delighted to see two articles in the last day about others addressing this. First, Felicis Ventures is committing 1% on top of every check the firm writes in non-dilutive capital earmarked for “founder development” in coaching and mental health . I love the way Aydin Senkut has characterized what they are doing and why they are doing it. ...

If you are a regular listener of the Reboot Podcast , you’ve heard Jerry Colonna masterfully interview many people. And – if you aren’t a regular listener, go sign up and give it a try . In Episode 78: When Did You Start to Listen to Your Heart , I turned the tables on Jerry and interviewed him. We’ve been close friends for 22 years and I felt like it was time someone interviewed him on his podcast. I suggested it to him and his team, who either rolled their eyes or jumped for joy. Either way, it is now up. ...

At 18 minutes into this awesome talk that Fred Wilson did at MIT a few weeks ago , he finishes the statement “The best time to invest in something is ...” “… when nobody wants to invest in it but you.” He adds “And – you have to believe in it and know why.” Truer words have never been spoken about investing as, or in, VC. Just don’t forget the phrase “and – you have to believe in it and know why.” ...

Jessi Hempel from Backchannel just wrote an amazing profile piece on my close friend Jerry Colonna. It’s titled This Man Makes Founders Cry . Medium estimates that it’s an 18 minute read and I assert that it’s worth every minute. I’ve known and worked with Jerry since 1996. I now get to call him my neighbor as he moved from New York to Boulder a few years ago. If you want a taste of our relationship, I’ve written a lot about him over the years . Following are a few recent ones. ...

On Saturday night I got on a plane and flew to the other side of the planet, where I am now. I’m in Melbourne, finishing my coffee, getting ready for one last meeting here before I fly with David Cohen to Adelaide for the day. When I left, I had the voices and energy of 25 people in my head. Last Thursday evening was the beginning of the second Reboot VC Bootcamp at my house just outside Boulder. ...

I recently joined the Defy Ventures board . If you aren’t familiar with Defy Ventures, here’s a post that I wrote after my first prison trip with them at the end of last year. Early this morning, on my run in Melbourne as I tried to shrug off jet lag, I listened to a Reboot podcast that Jerry Colonna did with me and Cat Hoke, the CEO of Defy Ventures , a few weeks ago. ...

Today’s #GivingThanks post is for my dear friend Jerry Colonna . When I make a list of non-family members and non-partners who I would want to be stranded on a desert island with, Jerry is at the top of the list. Before I tell a story, if you want to participate in #GivingThanks to Jerry, please make a donation to Naropa University where Jerry is the chair of the board . I was going to try to create some kind of complicated matching donation scheme since I hadn’t made a gift to Naropa yet this year but I decided to just gift them $10,000 (which I just did now through the website) so I encourage you to support at any level if you want to participate in my not-so-complicated match. ...