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I interviewed Jason Mendelson, Managing Director Foundry Group @NVCA Venturescape. He spoke about how being a musician has helped him connect better with entrepreneurs. Music has helped him develop an emotional connection with himself & as a result he finds it easier to relate to entrepreneurs. “Hey look at that dude out there on the stage, hey he’d be a great Board member!” He also spoke about the changes in the venture industry. (1) Fundamental change is the democratization of being an entrepreneur: you don’t have to be in Silicon Valley & raise $5m to start a company. 15 years ago that was the paradigm & you had to be in Boston or Silicon Valley. Gone! Boom! Anybody can start a company anywhere! The venture industry has had to adapt & react to that both moving earlier & doing smaller deals & spending a lot more time mentoring (that’s what the Office Hours is about). VCs are spending much more time mentoring even people that they’ll never invest in just because its the right thing to do. The way that the industry is reinventing itself is really understanding that the customer is the entrepreneur not necessarily the investor. Our clients are the investors & obviously we need to make sure that they get a good return on their investment but the customer is the entrepreneur.
