For the last three years, I've frequently been asked why I don't blog. Here was my typical reply:
- I'm afraid that people would realize that I'm not that smart.
Put
me in a one-hour meeting, and I have can typically impress people. I
can hold my own for an hour -- giving a good performance -- sounding
informed, knowledgeable, funny and generally make a good first
impression. But with the pressure to post frequently -- and sound
really smart on an ongoing basis -- I'm afraid that the world will
learn what I already know...that I'm not really that smart. Just lucky.
- If I did have a unique thought/perspective, why share it?
I
really believe in the power of an elegant, simple idea. Combine the
best of eBay and Amazon and create a marketplace to let people sell
their old books, CDs and movies (half.com). Create an anti-spam router
(Turntide). Sometimes the most "obvious" (after the fact) ideas are
the most powerful. And since it's so rare for me to have a truly
original idea (see item #1 above), I've often wondered why I'd share it.
- You can't say what you really want to say.
Most VC
bloggers can't/won't say what they really want to say -- or what you
really want to read. I've seen some bad pitches, awful term sheets,
and bad behavior by startups and VC's alike -- but I'd never blog about
them. Instead, I'd end up posting yet another "how to give a good VC
pitch" or "how to run a good board meeting post"...when deep down I'd
really want to post about the unbelievably naive entrepreneur who wants
to build a "tropical fish vertical search engine."
- I don't have the time.
There are currently 364 unanswered
emails in my inbox. I have 14 phone calls to return. Six meetings a
day. I'm currently sitting on the redeye flying back from SFO to PHL.
I have a wife. Two kids. If I had an extra hour a day, I'd rather
spend it sleeping.
So why start blogging now? Candidly, I'm not sure. Maybe, it's
because I hope it will provide me with a way to maintain an ongoing
dialog regardless of which coast I'm currently on. Hopefully I'll
conclude that the benefits of a public dialog/discussion outweigh the
invested time. Perhaps, I'll realize that I do have something
interesting to say. Perhaps not. Maybe this will end up a "New Years
Resolution Blog" -- starting out
with the best of intentions, but getting abandoned after a few months.
Or, perhaps this blog will end up being a hype-blog for our growing
portfolio companies (although I hope not). For now, call it an
experiment.