France Digitale presented its roadmap for the upcoming 12 months. France Digitale is an association that acts as a lobbying organization when it comes to defending the interests of the startup community in France. And the organization had a couple of new things to announce. Rachel Delacour first introduced the event. She is now co-president with Jean-David Chamboredon. Today, the association… Read More
While crypto may be obvious to us overlords of digital media, awareness of all facets of cryptocurrency still belongs to a small – but growing – minority. In a large scale survey by SurveyMonkey and the Global Blockchain Business Council, 5,000 responded to an extensive poll about the popularity and use of cryptocurrency. Some interesting findings? First, only 5 percent of people… Read More
First, don’t call it “Vine Two”. Details are starting to emerge about v2, the forthcoming video app built to replace Vine by its former co-founder Dom Hofmann. TechCrunch has learned that v2 has begun reaching out to former Viners and social media star managers in hopes of establishing ties with some top content creators to get feedback and fuel the app’s eventual… Read More
Rainforest QA, an on-demand software QA service, announced a $25 million Series B investment today. Silicon Valley Bank, Bessemer Venture Partners, Sutter Hill Capital, Rincon Ventures and Initialized Capital all participated in the round. Today’s investment brings the total raised to over $42 million, according to the company. The startup, which got its start in the Summer 2012 Y… Read More
January 22, 2018
Iâve been working on my next book, #GiveFirst, again. Thereâs a lot in it about the Techstars Mentor Manifesto and how to be an effective mentor.
Yesterday, I got a note from Jay Batson, longtime Techstars Boston mentor and now the Mentor-in-Residence for the program, asking if I had ever compiled the lists I posts I wrote about the Techstars Mentor Manifesto.
I hadnât. He had conveniently done it in a Google doc so it was easy for me to list out the posts with links. They follow.
2/18: Expect nothing in return
3/18: Be Authentic â Practice What You Preach
4/18: Be Direct. Tell the Truth, However Hard.
6/18: The Best Mentor Relationships Eventually Become Two Way
8/18: Adopt At Least One Company Every Single Year. Experience Counts.
9/18: Clearly Separate Opinion From Fact
10/18: Hold Information In Confidence
11/18: Clearly Commit to Mentor, or Do Not. Either Is Fine
12/18: Know What You Donât Know. Say âI Donât Knowâ when you donât know.
14/18: Accept and Communicate With Other Mentors That Get Involved
16/18: Provide Specific Actionable Advice
17/18: Be Challenging/Robust but Never Destructive (No post)
18/18: Have Empathy. Remember That Startups Are Hard (No post)
Jay also reminded me that I hadnât written posts on #17 and #18. They are now on my list to do. Thanks, Jay!
Also published on Medium.
Andrew Cain McClary, Founder and Managing Partner at KdT Ventures, is a physician-turned VC. The focus of his investment is biology and related fields.
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This report from Gartner presents the top ten technology trends that organizations can exploit. These include AI, conversational platforms, cloud, immersive experiences, and blockchain. For this...
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Sramana Mitra: Where in the grand spectrum of possibilities, in which markets, which segments do you see venture-scale brand opportunities in? Tod Francis: I hate to dodge this question, but I think...
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Amy and I had another wonderful digital sabbath yesterday.
It started Friday at sundown when I put my computer to sleep. Iâm using Inbox When Ready and have locked my inbox from Friday at 6pm to Saturday at 11:59pm. I also put my phone in Do Not Disturb mode for this same time period. While Iâm not committed to doing this every weekend in 2018, Iâm going to do it most of the time.
I woke up Saturday morning and meditated for 30 minutes. Amy and I then had breakfast and then we retired to the couch to read. Iâve decided that in 2018 when Iâm at home Iâll read physical books, since I have an infinite pile of those along with my infinite pile of Kindle books. I scanned my shelves of unread books, picked four that I thought varied widely, and dug in.
I started with Architectural and Cultural Guide Pyongyang. North Korea has been on my mind lately (fathom that), although I had bought this book a few years ago after Eric Schmidtâs trip to in North Korea. It was mentioned in one of the articles I read at the time, but it had been sitting on my shelf since then. It was a fascinating and beautifully done book (well â pair of books). The first was a detailed architectural overview of Pyongyang with official descriptions of all the buildings. The second was a series of essays on different aspects of the architectural and historical dynamics of modern Pyongyang. Everything was otherworldly and mysterious.
I then moved on to If This Isnât Nice, What Is?: Advice to the Young-The Graduation Speeches â a short volume of nine graduation speeches by Kurt Vonnegut. It turns out there is a second â expanded â edition, but I didnât notice that until after Iâd finished and logged the book in Goodreads. I love Vonnegut. One summer over a decade ago I bought all of his books in hardcover, ordered them by publication date, and started working my way through them. In addition to being a delightful writer, Vonnegut was an in-demand and excellent public speaker. Each graduation speech was unique even though there were some lines and jokes repeated. What stuck with me was the contrast between the Beatitudes and the Code of Hammurabi and how Vonnegut applied them to our modern world.
Amy and I had lunch and then took a nap. I went for a run as Iâm starting to ramp up again, although I still have some issues with my left calf.
After a shower, I settled into Playing Hurt: My Journey from Despair to Hope by John Saunders. Iâm not a sports fan and never watch ESPN (unless Iâm at a Ruby Tuesday or other place where itâs playing on the TV during a meal) so I didnât know who John Saunders was. I canât remember who recommended the book to me, but it was in the context of a well-known personâs memoir where they reveal â in depth â their struggles with depression. In a cruel twist, Saunders died before the book was published, but his family bravely supported publishing it posthumously. The book is incredibly intimate, linearly told, but with Saunders going deep on his life. He struggled with depression. sexual and physical assault as a child. continuous racism. endless suicidal ideation, health issues including diabetes, a major brain injury in 2011 from a fall on the ESPN set, and a heart attack in 2014. Through it all, he rose to the top of his field as a sports journalist, with a 30-year career at ESPN / ABC.
After I finished it, I reshelved the fourth, unread book and went to bed. When I woke up this morning, there was snow everywhere.
Also published on Medium.
Sramana Mitra: I hear a theme in what you’ve described – creative ways of playing the gaps or issues in the financial services market. I want to ask you for your thoughts on the small...
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Ira Weiss, General Partner at Hyde Park Venture Partners based in Chicago, talks about venture activity in the MidWest.
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Sramana Mitra: So your hypothesis is that a lot of these surplus IT workers with different levels of IT expertise will get absorbed by, at least a portion of them, the startup ecosystem – the...
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Sramana Mitra: But there are two or three different trends that need to be parsed within that one. Is there is a job loss phenomenon that is going to happen in the white-collar because of the IT...
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Responding to a popular request, we are now sharing transcripts of our investor podcast interviews in this new series. The following interview with Tod Francis was recorded in September 2014. Tod...
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For entrepreneurs interested to meet and chat with Sramana Mitra in person, please join us for our weekly informal group meetups. If you are living in the San Francisco Bay Area or are just in town...
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Yesterday Alchemist Accelerator, best known for working with enterprise startups, held its 17th demo day at the Stanford Research Institute (SRI) in Menlo Park, California. Twenty-four startups pitched ideas ranging from personalized genomics to hard tech spinouts from Stanford’s Linear Accelerator. Rather than expound upon all twenty-four I worked with Alchemist to bring you a top… Read More
Entrepreneurs are invited to the 383rd FREE online 1Mby1M mentoring roundtable on Thursday, January 25, 2018, at 8 a.m. PST/11 a.m. EST/9:30 p.m. India IST. If you are a serious entrepreneur,...
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Cryptomania!This week was rough for HODLers. We took to the halls of CES and then spoke to some folks in the know about the future of crypto, the ever-changing price, and where crypto is headed in 2018. Join me,Jameson Lopp, and Michelle Tsng as we dig into cryptomania.CreditsWritten by: John BiggsHosted by: John BiggsFilmed by: Chris GatesEdited by: Chris Gates Read More
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