Seth Godin

I’ve been enjoying doing podcasts again on the Techstars Give First Podcast . When I went into hibernation two years ago, David carried the weight of the podcast and kept it going. But, … I’m back (for what it’s worth), at least for a little while until I turn into a pumpkin. I had a delightful conversation with Seth Godin . We’ve been friends for 30 years through an initial connection from Charley Lax as part of a diligence project that introduced me to Jerry Colonna and Fred Wilson around an investment that Jerry, Fred, and SoftBank subsequently made in Seth’s company, Yoyodyne (which was acquired a few years later by Yahoo!) ...

Wow did I need that this morning! I was feeling tired and a little down before our call. I slept until the last possible minute before starting a Techstars Managing Director Alumni Network . While that cheered me up somewhat and gave me some energy, I followed it with another call with a CEO/investor/long-time friend where we spent some of the time wrestling with things going on in the US right now. My energy coming out of this was low and my mood was “meh.” ...

Insight Timer popped up this message after my daily morning meditation yesterday. I’ve been meditating on and off for a while. But it’s been an on and off thing, not a daily habit. In April, after some complex emotional dynamics (how’s that for a euphemism), I decided to start meditating daily. I missed a few days here and there and then in mid-May decided to cut the bullshit with myself and just do it first thing every morning when I woke up. ...

I just finished the near-final draft of Cat Hoke’s upcoming book Second Chance. It is incredibly powerful on multiple levels. I’ve gotten to know Cat reasonably well over the past year. I first heard of her through the Techstars Foundation , where we gave her organization – Defy Ventures – one of our very first grants. I first met her a few months later in my office. After hearing her pitch for 15 minutes, I said “Cat – I’m all in – no need to sell me. What can I do to help?” ...

I often get asked how I ended up becoming a venture capitalist. When people ask me how they can become a VC, I point them to my partner Seth Levine’s excellent blog posts How to become a venture capitalist and How to get a job in venture capital (revisited) . But it occurred to me today – after getting another email asking me how I’d become a VC, that I wasn’t really answering the question. ...