Venture Capitalist Interview
“I’m happy to put time in because I enjoy doing it. If I didn’t enjoy doing it I wouldn’t.”
Brad Feld lives in Boulder, runs marathons, loves to read and works as Managing Director at the Foundry Group, a venture capital firm focused on investing in early-stage information technology companies. They‘ve popularized “thematic Investing” and have a remarkable portfolio. I have been publishing Brad since June 2016 — learning a ton from his writing — and it was great to finally meet him in person after lunch at #Connect17. He sounds like the person you read. I think the whole conversation is worth sharing, so I transcribed it, cleaned it up just a bit, and divided it chronologically by subject matter below.
(1/8) Writer / Publisher Relations on Medium - Hacker Noon_David Smooke: I wanted to thank you for contributing to Hacker Noon. Brad Feld: Sure. David Smooke: We've built a…_hackernoon.com
(2/8) Who's a Venture Capitalist's Customer? - Hacker Noon_David Smooke: So today you talked a lot about customer centric. I wanted to start with who's your customer? Brad Feld…_hackernoon.com
(3/8) The Venture Capitalist's Writing Process - Hacker Noon_David Smooke: I do have thousands of half stories. There's so many drafts, I don't know how you go about- Brad Feld: I…_hackernoon.com
(4/8) The Venture Capitalist at His Investment's First Conference -Hacker Noon_David Smooke: Whenever you come to an event like this ... So you're an investor in the company, is it like going to a…_hackernoon.com
(5/8) How Brad Feld Realized He Was a Venture Capitalist - Hacker Noon_David Smooke: Cool, cool, I'm trying to imagine in your shoes now, it's a little difficult. How did you ... Whenever…_hackernoon.com
(6/8) What Venture Capitalists Can Bring to Product Development - Hacker Noon_David Smooke: Where's the most common area that you're working with your investments. Where do people find the most…_hackernoon.com
(7/8) The Nearly 30 Year Quest To Solve The Business Address Book Problem-Hacker Noon_David Smooke: Are there any, investments that particularly stick with you as, I was sure it was gonna work and it didn…_hackernoon.com
(8/8) How Venture Capitalists Market Their Stories - Hacker Noon_David Smooke: I don't want to keep you too long. But one other thing I wanted to ask you about, 'Cause you do a very…_hackernoon.com
Special thanks to the Full Contact #Connect17 team. They threw their first conference last week, helping make this interview happen. Some of the speakers’ stories are still resonating with me: how SumAll CEO Dane Atkinson correlated limes to revenue and figured out which bartender was stealing from his bar, what Social Media Energy’s CVO Luke Wyckoff learned about social media engagement by surviving a heart attack on Southwest Airlines, and when Black Swan Group CEO Chris Voss explained his approach to business relationships over time: “your second most important impression is your first impression; your most important impression is your last.”