Stuff that put me in the right mood – lovely chat with serial entrepreneur on the plane who told me a friend of hers did the course and it changed his life! Meeting a real U.S. venture capitalist at the hotel welcome drinks (this is the U.S. hotels have welcome drinks here, and you go to them 'cos you might meet people like Eric)
Stuff that put me in the wrong mood – watching a couple of sad films on the plane, Sunshine Cleaning and Sin Nombre. Loved them both, but both very harrowing. If you liked Little Miss Sunshine you will like Sunshine Cleaning (will all the films from this team have the word Sunshine in?) If you liked City of God you will like Sin Nombre first feature from Cary Joji Fukunaga.
I went to the hotel welcome drinks because I am determined to find as many people to listen to and chat to. Remember that is part of the plan. Lucked into Eric who has his own VC company. He was very interesting about the discipline, he talked about timing being like surfing or skiing (normally me that raises the surfing metaphor) the moment to make the turn is when you feel it is too early. If you wait until it feels right, it is too late. What can seem like a sector that is storming ahead can equally be a bubble about to burst.
Eric talked about the importance of networks and particularly of family networks in the business. VC began as a way for the big wealthy US families to invest. These types of networks are still vital.
It reminded me of how difficult it is for many people in the North East to get out of their comfort zones and their region and become part of bigger networks. So many people I meet there seem to feel that networking is somehow demeaning or false. It is the lifeblood.
Here's the obligatory pic of the view from my hotel room. Bit like a hotel in the City of London.
Comments