As you may know Highway 12 Ventures is a part of the Village Ventures network of funds and my partners and I are attending the semi-annual Village Ventures Fund Managers meeting this week. It is a couple days where we can meet with other Fund Managers to share best practices, network, etc. Contrary to what […]
Archive for the ‘Wisdom’ Category
Jun
30
Mar
08
Focus, Filter and Forget
Hi, my name is George and I am a recovering multi-tasker. Based on the incredible advances in information and communications technology it would seem that the productivity of business leaders must be skyrocketing. Having access to more and better information and being able to reach out to people around the world and get a near […]
Jan
14
Great Friends, Great Partners
My partners and I just got back from two days at a cabin in the mountains of Idaho. We do this every January to reflect on and capture the lessons we learned over the last 12 months and outline things we’d like to accomplish in the coming year that will make us even better partners […]
Jan
13
Do Something
My partners and I at Highway 12 Ventures are in a two day planning offsite, so in between big thoughts and bad jokes I have been catching up on a little reading. This morning I came across a recent TechStars blog that reminded me of a quote from a childhood idol of mine. His simple […]
Jan
10
The Value Of Face To Face Meetings
We’ve recently issued a term sheet to an exciting company to lead their Series A financing. Over the last few weeks, an issue arose during due diligence that needed to get cleared up prior to funding. We’ve been making some progress but given the complexity of the issue, lawyers and accountants were brought in. Further complicating the […]
Jan
04
Connecting The Dots
One of the lesser known parts of my job is making introductions. It’s something I do every single day and for me, it’s very gratifying to connect two people who might benefit from meeting and perhaps even establish a lasting relationship. Growing up in a Jewish household where my parents and grandparents spoke Yiddish, we […]
Dec
21
Drive | The Great Equalizer
During my time at University Venture Fund and Highway 12 Ventures over the last few years, I’ve been fortunate to have the opportunity to spend time with many highly successful entrepreneurs and investors. I’ve always been fascinated by the common threads that bind successful people and one story in particular on the subject. Chris Gardner’s […]
May
06
Great Products Don’t Require Education
Brad Feld wrote a great post the other day titled “My Obsession With The Product”. I would highly recommend it to all CEO’s and any aspiring entrepreneurs. From my perspective, the gist of it was that to create real value for the customer and to build a successful business, you can’t be satisfied […]
Dec
15
A Startup’s Twelve Days Of Christmas
With Christmas right around the corner, I thought I’d take this chance to give an early Christmas present to all the entrepreneurs I know. I wrote this article for the Idaho Statesman last year and I think it’s worth sharing again. I’ve spent the bulk of my career investing in companies and interacted with hundreds […]
Dec
01
Our American Treasure
Recently I had the rare opportunity to live out a life-long dream. Thanks to the efforts of my partners Mark and Archie, I was able to spend a week on an aircraft carrier. The ship was the USS Ronald Reagan, one of our Navy’s newest nuclear super-carriers and she was on her way home after […]