I grew up with little training on the benefits of difficulty and failure.
I was a very good basketball player as a young child. In fact, I was the proud winner of the Most Valuable Player Award at the Rollins College Basketball Clinic at age 10 in Winter Park, FL, my home town. When it came time to try out for the Junior High Basketball Team, I was cut in the first round of tryouts. I cannot overstate how difficult of a moment and period this was for me at the time. This was a devastating blow to me, and I would not touch a basketball for at least 10 years. Even now, at age 44, as I rarely pick up a basketball, I am forced to remember an astonished despondency of being cut from that team. As a 12 year old, I was crushed and embarrassed by this important event in my life - and I remember the intricate details of it so clearly today 32 years later. Yet, I learned nothing from it at the time, did not try out again, did not work harder. I just quit.
A few successes and many failures have come and gone since then, and over the years, I have learned that those difficulties are actually the gifts which allow us to learn. When we are confronted with a difficult moment, by confronting it head on, with a humble disposition and a focused mind, we are able to move through the difficult moment with renewed accomplishment. This has been an important lesson for me - albeit one that has taken three decades to learn.
Sometimes, the difficult moments are presented in different forms - confusion, lack of clarity of direction, question of purpose, and other forms. This usually is followed by a spark of idea, clear direction and understanding. The difficulty, or confusion, is simply a precept to prepare one self for answers, knowledge and growth.
The difficult moments will always be in front of us - so, by welcoming them openly, we are able to grow, develop and learn in an optimal way.
SkyRank System website
Monday, February 11, 2013
Sunday, February 10, 2013
A Team
Below are my sincere sentiments about the Trusted Insight Team as of January 29, 2013, spoken at the Trusted Insight Reception at our offices at 1501 Broadway, 12th Flr, NY, NY 10036.
I’d like to thank the Trusted Insight team.
Alex Bangash - None of us would be here today if it weren’t for Alex Bangash. His uncompromising vision and never-ending energy is an inspiration. We are thankful to Alex for creating Trusted Insight, providing all of us the opportunity to work on such an interesting project and company, and for pushing us to improve.
Joe Omansky – I am Joe Omansky – I work with Alex on Product, Community and Operations, and feel lucky to have been able to spend the last two years of my life working on building Trusted Insight. I can honestly say that these last two years have been the most rewarding of any in my career.
Sean Auriti – Our CTO – Sean is a leader, hacker, and quintessential entrepreneur. I have truly witnessed genius as Sean has single-handedly, with Alana’s faithful help, transformed the site to where it is today.
Alana Treimanis – Front end – Alana is responsible for the beautiful design of the site and we are so fortunate to have her on the team.
Natasha Boehm – Head of Community – Tash has led our email campaigns and is largely responsible for the beautiful emails you receive today. And Tash did most of the work arranging this reception. Thank you Tash.
Daniel Khalaf – Head of Data – Daniel has managed the growth and design of our data, which is the essential underpinning of the content you see online. We are so appreciative of Daniel for his focused hard work on growing and managing our data and user base.
Richard Anderson – Community – Rich has helped Tash with the emails and has been a valuable asset to the improved design of our emails and presentations. We really appreciate Rich as an integral part of the team.
Al Capulong – Al is VP – Head of Direct Sales and led the growth of sales at Fundspire and Pertrac, both of which were recently sold to EVestment, an Insight Ventures company. We are so fortunate to have Al on the team.
Taylor Fichtman – Taylor was Al’s assistant at Fundspire and joins us as well as a valuable part of the sales team.
Katrina Dideriksen – Katrina recently joined us and is a valuable part of the sales team.
Please say hello to the Trusted Insight team when you have a moment. We hope you enjoy the evening!
I’d like to thank the Trusted Insight team.
Alex Bangash - None of us would be here today if it weren’t for Alex Bangash. His uncompromising vision and never-ending energy is an inspiration. We are thankful to Alex for creating Trusted Insight, providing all of us the opportunity to work on such an interesting project and company, and for pushing us to improve.
Joe Omansky – I am Joe Omansky – I work with Alex on Product, Community and Operations, and feel lucky to have been able to spend the last two years of my life working on building Trusted Insight. I can honestly say that these last two years have been the most rewarding of any in my career.
Sean Auriti – Our CTO – Sean is a leader, hacker, and quintessential entrepreneur. I have truly witnessed genius as Sean has single-handedly, with Alana’s faithful help, transformed the site to where it is today.
Alana Treimanis – Front end – Alana is responsible for the beautiful design of the site and we are so fortunate to have her on the team.
Natasha Boehm – Head of Community – Tash has led our email campaigns and is largely responsible for the beautiful emails you receive today. And Tash did most of the work arranging this reception. Thank you Tash.
Daniel Khalaf – Head of Data – Daniel has managed the growth and design of our data, which is the essential underpinning of the content you see online. We are so appreciative of Daniel for his focused hard work on growing and managing our data and user base.
Richard Anderson – Community – Rich has helped Tash with the emails and has been a valuable asset to the improved design of our emails and presentations. We really appreciate Rich as an integral part of the team.
Al Capulong – Al is VP – Head of Direct Sales and led the growth of sales at Fundspire and Pertrac, both of which were recently sold to EVestment, an Insight Ventures company. We are so fortunate to have Al on the team.
Taylor Fichtman – Taylor was Al’s assistant at Fundspire and joins us as well as a valuable part of the sales team.
Katrina Dideriksen – Katrina recently joined us and is a valuable part of the sales team.
Please say hello to the Trusted Insight team when you have a moment. We hope you enjoy the evening!
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Being Smart
After a couple glasses of wine, and a wonderful conversation with my colleagues Kevin and Alex at TI, I feel compelled to write a five minute post on "Being Smart", before sitting down with my lovely wife, son, and daughter who turns 6 tonight. She's anxious to open her presents and hasn't seen mommy for 2 weeks. Mom has been outside the country, as she's been mourning the passing of her father. I anticipate writing a lot more on this subject as time goes on, but want to get a brief tidbit out.
You see, so much is made, on Being Smart, especially in circles surrounding technology. It's great to be smart, brilliant, quicker and faster than the "regular" bear. If we've come this far, we've all got some wires that are firing upstairs, some that are firing quicker than others. But, when you're working on a small team, surrounded by each other 12+ hours of the day, would you prefer to be around the brilliant prick, or the pretty smart, good guy, who you can hang with, have a beer, and talk with about his family, friends, trials and tribulations?
I'll take a few guys on a team, with whom I can speak my mind, with whom I can hang, work hard, and play and live fully and happily. Yeah, I'll take that every day 'til the end, over the other guy who is constantly assessing his own level of intelligence over those in the room around him.
No-brainer there.
You see, so much is made, on Being Smart, especially in circles surrounding technology. It's great to be smart, brilliant, quicker and faster than the "regular" bear. If we've come this far, we've all got some wires that are firing upstairs, some that are firing quicker than others. But, when you're working on a small team, surrounded by each other 12+ hours of the day, would you prefer to be around the brilliant prick, or the pretty smart, good guy, who you can hang with, have a beer, and talk with about his family, friends, trials and tribulations?
I'll take a few guys on a team, with whom I can speak my mind, with whom I can hang, work hard, and play and live fully and happily. Yeah, I'll take that every day 'til the end, over the other guy who is constantly assessing his own level of intelligence over those in the room around him.
No-brainer there.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Bryce Roberts - Why I deleted my Angel List account
Great Read on the State of Angel Investing (and tones of why early-stage actually does have some bubble echoes)
http://bryce.vc/post/3520840379/why-i-deleted-my-angellist-account
Why I Deleted My AngelList Account by
Yesterday I deleted my AngelList account. Doing so generated a lot of questions on Twitter, in email and from the press so I want to explain myself.
Its a decision I’ve been wrestling with for the last few months as I’ve found the service increasingly not matching my investment philosophy. That’s not to say the service isn’t a valuable one for entrepreneurs or even certain kinds of investors. I believe that it can be. Its just not a fit for me.
For those not familiar, AngelList’s promise is an interesting one- connect entrepreneurs to an increasingly large base of angel and venture investors while simultaneously exposing those investors to a stream of dealflow that’s been vetted by the AngelList team. That was a promise I could get behind, so I joined the service about a year ago and have been seeing 3 to 5 companies a week ever since.
Its not the emails, the companies or the filtering AngelList does that isn’t a fit for me it’s the investment style they espouse that finally pushed me to press delete on my account.
Though there may be more depth to it, I thought this quote from Naval sums up their investment style pretty well:
Making an investment is like throwing darts in the dark.
Now, they’ve provided a presentation that goes into more depth on specifics but his statement captures a very real vibe I get from the service. At the earliest stages, its nearly impossible to pick the next Google so throw a lot of darts in the dark and hope you hit it. That high velocity, light touch style is certainly a viable approach to investing. Its just not my style.
I tend towards a more concentrated approach to seed investing where we make fewer, larger, investments and take an active role in working with the companies we fund. Frankly, I just don’t buy the notion that making an investment is akin to throwing a dart in the dark. Worse, I think its a dangerous idea to promote. The best angel and venture investors are consistently good. Think Mike Moritz, John Doerr, Jim Breyer, Fred WIlson, Peter Fenton, Danny Rimer, Reid Hoffman and the like are just exceptionally good at throwing darts in the dark? I don’t.
The way AngelList deals with this uncertainty around being unable to clearly spot winners early on is the second place the service and I diverge. Given that most companies seeking funding at this stage have little to no revenue, low user numbers and light usage data AngeList puts a tremendous amount of weight on something they call “social proof”. Nearly every email they send includes names of people or firms who’ve committed to invest. They put that information right in the Subject line. Its reenforced in the first paragraph or two of the email as well. On the surface this seems like one reasonable data point, among many, to weigh when making an investment decision but its AngelList’s way of pushing social proof that bothers me. Scoble summed up the vibe I get from the service pretty well when he said:
Investors tend to be pack animals and tend to want to get in on “hot deals.” AngelList makes the hot deals happen fast.
Maybe I have too thin of skin, but getting called a pack animal bugs me. Unfortunately, that’s the vibe I’ve had from most of the AngelList emails I’ve received. Over the past year I’ve been able to tune it out, but I’ve noticed a distinct change in the tone of the overall market in recent months. “Social proof” is turning to a form or peer pressure where angels feel compelled to invest for fear of missing the boat everyone else is getting on. No one wants to be left on the dock when the next Google leaves port. Relying on other smart investors to make a decision, then jumping on their coattails, is definitely one way to invest it’s just not one I agree with.
The last line of the quote above touches on the final reason I decided to delete my account.
Real or perceived, organic or manufactured AngelList is in the business of generating heat. As I’ve said here and elsewhere, I tend to be interested in ideas and companies that most investors aren’t, so heat is generally a false signal for me. But heat does sway many investors.
Unfortunately, I’ve been seeing AngelList increasingly use their ability to create heat to push other types of deals on their members than just angel investments. In the last few months I’ve seen a couple venture funds raising money on AngelList as well as a number of later stage rounds of financing. Subtle inclusions for sure, but a very different kind of investment product than AngelList members are tuned to evaluate. Generating heat for Series B companies or for venture funds isn’t the kind of investing the AngelList crowd has been trained for. More to the point, it feels like when those kinds of opportunities pass through, AngelList becomes the greater fool’s list.
As I said right up front, I think AngelList is a great service for entrepreneurs, even a good service for certain kinds of investors. Just not me. And that’s why I deleted my account.
http://bryce.vc/post/3520840379/why-i-deleted-my-angellist-account
Why I Deleted My AngelList Account by
Yesterday I deleted my AngelList account. Doing so generated a lot of questions on Twitter, in email and from the press so I want to explain myself.
Its a decision I’ve been wrestling with for the last few months as I’ve found the service increasingly not matching my investment philosophy. That’s not to say the service isn’t a valuable one for entrepreneurs or even certain kinds of investors. I believe that it can be. Its just not a fit for me.
For those not familiar, AngelList’s promise is an interesting one- connect entrepreneurs to an increasingly large base of angel and venture investors while simultaneously exposing those investors to a stream of dealflow that’s been vetted by the AngelList team. That was a promise I could get behind, so I joined the service about a year ago and have been seeing 3 to 5 companies a week ever since.
Its not the emails, the companies or the filtering AngelList does that isn’t a fit for me it’s the investment style they espouse that finally pushed me to press delete on my account.
Though there may be more depth to it, I thought this quote from Naval sums up their investment style pretty well:
Making an investment is like throwing darts in the dark.
Now, they’ve provided a presentation that goes into more depth on specifics but his statement captures a very real vibe I get from the service. At the earliest stages, its nearly impossible to pick the next Google so throw a lot of darts in the dark and hope you hit it. That high velocity, light touch style is certainly a viable approach to investing. Its just not my style.
I tend towards a more concentrated approach to seed investing where we make fewer, larger, investments and take an active role in working with the companies we fund. Frankly, I just don’t buy the notion that making an investment is akin to throwing a dart in the dark. Worse, I think its a dangerous idea to promote. The best angel and venture investors are consistently good. Think Mike Moritz, John Doerr, Jim Breyer, Fred WIlson, Peter Fenton, Danny Rimer, Reid Hoffman and the like are just exceptionally good at throwing darts in the dark? I don’t.
The way AngelList deals with this uncertainty around being unable to clearly spot winners early on is the second place the service and I diverge. Given that most companies seeking funding at this stage have little to no revenue, low user numbers and light usage data AngeList puts a tremendous amount of weight on something they call “social proof”. Nearly every email they send includes names of people or firms who’ve committed to invest. They put that information right in the Subject line. Its reenforced in the first paragraph or two of the email as well. On the surface this seems like one reasonable data point, among many, to weigh when making an investment decision but its AngelList’s way of pushing social proof that bothers me. Scoble summed up the vibe I get from the service pretty well when he said:
Investors tend to be pack animals and tend to want to get in on “hot deals.” AngelList makes the hot deals happen fast.
Maybe I have too thin of skin, but getting called a pack animal bugs me. Unfortunately, that’s the vibe I’ve had from most of the AngelList emails I’ve received. Over the past year I’ve been able to tune it out, but I’ve noticed a distinct change in the tone of the overall market in recent months. “Social proof” is turning to a form or peer pressure where angels feel compelled to invest for fear of missing the boat everyone else is getting on. No one wants to be left on the dock when the next Google leaves port. Relying on other smart investors to make a decision, then jumping on their coattails, is definitely one way to invest it’s just not one I agree with.
The last line of the quote above touches on the final reason I decided to delete my account.
Real or perceived, organic or manufactured AngelList is in the business of generating heat. As I’ve said here and elsewhere, I tend to be interested in ideas and companies that most investors aren’t, so heat is generally a false signal for me. But heat does sway many investors.
Unfortunately, I’ve been seeing AngelList increasingly use their ability to create heat to push other types of deals on their members than just angel investments. In the last few months I’ve seen a couple venture funds raising money on AngelList as well as a number of later stage rounds of financing. Subtle inclusions for sure, but a very different kind of investment product than AngelList members are tuned to evaluate. Generating heat for Series B companies or for venture funds isn’t the kind of investing the AngelList crowd has been trained for. More to the point, it feels like when those kinds of opportunities pass through, AngelList becomes the greater fool’s list.
As I said right up front, I think AngelList is a great service for entrepreneurs, even a good service for certain kinds of investors. Just not me. And that’s why I deleted my account.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Disagreements at the idea stage and importance of team
It is extremely common to have disagreements while working to implement an idea at a startup. This makes it so important for the small team to get along and feel comfortable thinking outside of the box toward successful implementation of the idea. Disagreements are a given at this stage of the company, and they should be embraced. Why does this happen? It happens because ideas have no substance at all. They're just ideas.
Think of what an idea is. It is the antithesis of a formulated system. A proven business model, scientific method, or proven hypothesis has gone through hundreds or thousands of iterations, tests, proofs, mistakes and implementations. An idea is pre-seed, and startup is just the seed itself. There's nothing there except the idea. It hasn't been proven, and it hasn't been tested.
Even if my partner and I both have a similar vision, a similar dream of a disruptive technology, "our" idea must be developed, germinated, proven and implemented. This process requires discussion, give and take, and most often disagreement. But, if everyone working on the implementation of the idea understands this, the disagreements become part of the process. They are embraced as part of the fun. Comments like: "That's wrong," "We shouldn't do it that way," and "That makes no sense," instead morph into, "That's interesting," "I didn't look at it that way," and "That's brilliant!" All ideas are embraced, until direction becomes clear. In fact, by embracing and being open to a different perspective of the idea, even if the entrepreneur doesn't initially agree with it, often times that exact idea becomes a clear guiding light, just days later.
With the startup, we don't know where the idea will go. We don't know all of the factors influencing the probability of success of the idea's implementation. It's just.... an idea.
So, positive, creativity, fun, team, a bit of luck, and a ton of work is the name of the game. And, if you love the people around you, as the implementation of the idea becomes reality, disagreement becomes part of the game also. And, if all of those ingredients are mixed in and accepted, it just doesn't seem like work anymore. It's all creativity and fun.
Think of what an idea is. It is the antithesis of a formulated system. A proven business model, scientific method, or proven hypothesis has gone through hundreds or thousands of iterations, tests, proofs, mistakes and implementations. An idea is pre-seed, and startup is just the seed itself. There's nothing there except the idea. It hasn't been proven, and it hasn't been tested.
Even if my partner and I both have a similar vision, a similar dream of a disruptive technology, "our" idea must be developed, germinated, proven and implemented. This process requires discussion, give and take, and most often disagreement. But, if everyone working on the implementation of the idea understands this, the disagreements become part of the process. They are embraced as part of the fun. Comments like: "That's wrong," "We shouldn't do it that way," and "That makes no sense," instead morph into, "That's interesting," "I didn't look at it that way," and "That's brilliant!" All ideas are embraced, until direction becomes clear. In fact, by embracing and being open to a different perspective of the idea, even if the entrepreneur doesn't initially agree with it, often times that exact idea becomes a clear guiding light, just days later.
With the startup, we don't know where the idea will go. We don't know all of the factors influencing the probability of success of the idea's implementation. It's just.... an idea.
So, positive, creativity, fun, team, a bit of luck, and a ton of work is the name of the game. And, if you love the people around you, as the implementation of the idea becomes reality, disagreement becomes part of the game also. And, if all of those ingredients are mixed in and accepted, it just doesn't seem like work anymore. It's all creativity and fun.
Monday, November 22, 2010
SkyRank and TrustedInsight, our dreams, our passions
My last blog post, The Courtship of Social Media and Hedge Funds, parallels a recent and wonderful development in my career.
Now, instead of toiling away, usually solo, from my home-based office, a few times a week I travel to the city to help Trusted Insight (TI) to grow their community, to listen to users, and to improve their product. Not only has this been fun, it has been rewarding for my own professional development.
You see, an entrepreneur with an idea, I've learned over the past several years, can be as dangerous as a kamikazee pilot or a samurai turning his sword on himself. You can become obsessed with your own idea and with your own passions. Your solitary hours, while productive, can turn to days, months and years. As your idea comes to life, it also becomes your reality.
"I love that you're working more with others now" said his wife.
And others, even those who know your dreams, your fears, and your passions, don't, can't, truly understand your reality. They can't understand your rush to the computer, your awakening from a dream, to iterate, to improve, what started years before. And, they shouldn't be expected to understand.
And so it goes, that I truly do enjoy this fun exploration with three others, as crazy as myself to share their dreams, my dreams, our passions.
The people behind TI, its partners, investors and employees are as passionate about what they are building as I was (and am) passionate about SkyRank. And now I find I'm also passionate about what TI is building, and hope to continue to play a part in helping to support that dream.
Now, instead of toiling away, usually solo, from my home-based office, a few times a week I travel to the city to help Trusted Insight (TI) to grow their community, to listen to users, and to improve their product. Not only has this been fun, it has been rewarding for my own professional development.
You see, an entrepreneur with an idea, I've learned over the past several years, can be as dangerous as a kamikazee pilot or a samurai turning his sword on himself. You can become obsessed with your own idea and with your own passions. Your solitary hours, while productive, can turn to days, months and years. As your idea comes to life, it also becomes your reality.
"I love that you're working more with others now" said his wife.
And others, even those who know your dreams, your fears, and your passions, don't, can't, truly understand your reality. They can't understand your rush to the computer, your awakening from a dream, to iterate, to improve, what started years before. And, they shouldn't be expected to understand.
And so it goes, that I truly do enjoy this fun exploration with three others, as crazy as myself to share their dreams, my dreams, our passions.
The people behind TI, its partners, investors and employees are as passionate about what they are building as I was (and am) passionate about SkyRank. And now I find I'm also passionate about what TI is building, and hope to continue to play a part in helping to support that dream.
Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.3
Monday, November 1, 2010
The Courtship of Social Media and Hedge Funds
About the time I began getting really excited about social media, I began to think about how I could engage SkyRank visitors to interact with one another to share ideas in a hedge fund social network. How great it will be to have the thousands of visitors to SkyRank exchanging ideas, commenting on funds, and the tens of thousands of funds themselves interacting with one another. Why shouldn't they share, I asked? Why wouldn't they, I dreamed...
Around that time, I also began talking with respected leaders, friends, and colleagues in both the hedge fund and social media world. "It won't work," they told me. "They're too private," they warned. "It's not what they do," as they shook their heads as if to sing..."still crazy after all these years..."
Much can be learned while studying by one's self. However, truth in knowledge can only be attained by studying and communicating with others in a group. This is so because discourse occurs, disagreement ensues, and it is EXACTLY this discussion that leads to the improvement of ideas, the sharpening of our minds, as true understanding and knowledge is attained. You simply cannot discuss things with yourself and get to the truth.
Admittedly, and in truth to myself, SkyRank was conceptualized alone by me, and primarily run alone by me, and while my company owns unique intellectual property assets primarily in the form of hedge fund data and a patented and very special flexible hedge fund rating system that works really well, I must acknowledge it has been an individualized effort by me, myself and I. Oh, I have discussed ways to improve it with users, but the real back-and-forth with peers has been missing. The discussion that leads to the sharpening of ideas did not occur... until now ... I'm very happy to have teamed up with Trusted Insight and the interesting people and investors there. We're developing great things there and having so much fun while doing it.
Thinking about the value of learning in a group, I tried to understand this on a deeper level from a vantage point that I know too well. I began to think of my life as an entrepreneur, an idea weaver. ENTREPRENEUR LAW: When you share your idea with other entrepreneurs and investors, and they all think it's a great idea, chances are it will fail miserably. If everyone goes in one direction, chances are they're wrong. So, perhaps because most think a social network for the alternatives space won't work, can't work -- perhaps it's not so crazy after all. I mean, do we really want to stay so closed and so private?
OPEN = TRUST. CLOSED = DISTRUST.
If anyone is on Hashable, you'll see that I'm one of the most active people on there. I just love Hashable and what they're doing to map introductions and relationships online. If you haven't taken a close look at them, you really should.
So, here's how courtship between hedge funds and social media has begun.
TRUE STORY
The most active member of Hashable, "Mike" introduces me to a Consultant friend of his, "John" who is exploring different directions with his career. Mike does this by using Hashable so that our introduction is recorded and he can track our progress. John and I share an email interaction, then have a phone conversation, neither of us having any idea of where it will go. But, we immediately hit it off personally and professionally. He tells me his friends are the insurance company capital allocators in the United States. I tell him I have a database of thousands of hedge funds, and that he should talk with his friends to see what types of hedge funds they would like to invest in. He does this and is pleasantly surprised that they tell him exactly what is interesting to them. Open. Trust. I then tell him, we should also make Mike a partner, after all, he did introduce us. Open. Trust. And, we all agree to be equal partners. Open. Trust. Stop. Hedge Funds. Insurance Companies. Hashable. Social Network. Open. Trust.
Tri-Coast LLC is born.
So, if anyone knows of a large hedge fund that can guarantee returns of Libor + 2%, give me a call, we've got a bit of capital ready for that type of fund.
And, if anyone else doesn't believe that the courtship of social media and hedge funds isn't gonna get real sexy real soon, also give me a call, cause I'll take that bet, and soon, we'll even have a way to track it.
Around that time, I also began talking with respected leaders, friends, and colleagues in both the hedge fund and social media world. "It won't work," they told me. "They're too private," they warned. "It's not what they do," as they shook their heads as if to sing..."still crazy after all these years..."
Much can be learned while studying by one's self. However, truth in knowledge can only be attained by studying and communicating with others in a group. This is so because discourse occurs, disagreement ensues, and it is EXACTLY this discussion that leads to the improvement of ideas, the sharpening of our minds, as true understanding and knowledge is attained. You simply cannot discuss things with yourself and get to the truth.
Admittedly, and in truth to myself, SkyRank was conceptualized alone by me, and primarily run alone by me, and while my company owns unique intellectual property assets primarily in the form of hedge fund data and a patented and very special flexible hedge fund rating system that works really well, I must acknowledge it has been an individualized effort by me, myself and I. Oh, I have discussed ways to improve it with users, but the real back-and-forth with peers has been missing. The discussion that leads to the sharpening of ideas did not occur... until now ... I'm very happy to have teamed up with Trusted Insight and the interesting people and investors there. We're developing great things there and having so much fun while doing it.
Thinking about the value of learning in a group, I tried to understand this on a deeper level from a vantage point that I know too well. I began to think of my life as an entrepreneur, an idea weaver. ENTREPRENEUR LAW: When you share your idea with other entrepreneurs and investors, and they all think it's a great idea, chances are it will fail miserably. If everyone goes in one direction, chances are they're wrong. So, perhaps because most think a social network for the alternatives space won't work, can't work -- perhaps it's not so crazy after all. I mean, do we really want to stay so closed and so private?
OPEN = TRUST. CLOSED = DISTRUST.
If anyone is on Hashable, you'll see that I'm one of the most active people on there. I just love Hashable and what they're doing to map introductions and relationships online. If you haven't taken a close look at them, you really should.
So, here's how courtship between hedge funds and social media has begun.
TRUE STORY
The most active member of Hashable, "Mike" introduces me to a Consultant friend of his, "John" who is exploring different directions with his career. Mike does this by using Hashable so that our introduction is recorded and he can track our progress. John and I share an email interaction, then have a phone conversation, neither of us having any idea of where it will go. But, we immediately hit it off personally and professionally. He tells me his friends are the insurance company capital allocators in the United States. I tell him I have a database of thousands of hedge funds, and that he should talk with his friends to see what types of hedge funds they would like to invest in. He does this and is pleasantly surprised that they tell him exactly what is interesting to them. Open. Trust. I then tell him, we should also make Mike a partner, after all, he did introduce us. Open. Trust. And, we all agree to be equal partners. Open. Trust. Stop. Hedge Funds. Insurance Companies. Hashable. Social Network. Open. Trust.
Tri-Coast LLC is born.
So, if anyone knows of a large hedge fund that can guarantee returns of Libor + 2%, give me a call, we've got a bit of capital ready for that type of fund.
And, if anyone else doesn't believe that the courtship of social media and hedge funds isn't gonna get real sexy real soon, also give me a call, cause I'll take that bet, and soon, we'll even have a way to track it.
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