Feld Thoughts

MARCH 24, 2017

Foundry Group is best known for our investments in startups, but our vehicle currently investing in other venture funds, Foundry Group Next, is off to what we believe to be a great start and I wanted to share an update about it by talking about our new investment in a fund managed by Founder Collective. It starts with the people.

Founder 75

Founder LP Technical Review Seed Stage 75

Feld Thoughts

DECEMBER 23, 2014

” With Mattermark , I remember the moment clearly – I was at The Kitchen in Boulder with the founders (Danielle Morrill, Kevin Morrill, and Andy Sparks) and my partner Seth. Last, did I want to be a long term partner with the entrepreneurs? He looked at me and gave me that “yeah – we should do this” look.

Technical Review 154

Technical Review Angel Investor Partner Database 154

Feld Thoughts

APRIL 20, 2021

Amos Schwartzfarb is currently Managing Director of Techstars Austin, before which he’s helped to build six companies to nearly $1B in exit value. Trevor Boehm was formerly Program Director at Techstars Austin and Impact and then Managing Director at the Techstars Amazon Alexa Next program.

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Framework Los Angeles Metrics Chicago 207

Feld Thoughts

AUGUST 25, 2016

Over the past four years, they’ve systematically executed on their vision, building a contact management platform that touches all aspects of the problem. I’ve learned a lot from my partner Seth and his own experiences around M&A. Along the way they built a sizable business.

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Management Acquisition Revenue Technology 70

Feld Thoughts

MARCH 20, 2018

As many of you know, my partner Jason is from Detroit. In case you don’t know about Jason, prior to co-founding Foundry Group, Jason was a co-founder of SRS Acquiom and a Managing Director and General Counsel for Mobius Venture Capital. The Motor City.

Detroit 74

Detroit Michigan Cofounder Colorado 74

Feld Thoughts

OCTOBER 8, 2013

Wikipedia reminded me – it’s another Peter Drucker creation from The Practice of Management. I have a deeply held belief that a manager cannot “motivate behavior.” My partner Dave and I took the number, made a list of all employees, and figured out how much we were going to give each of them.

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Stock Options Technical Review Leadership Equity 146

Feld Thoughts

MAY 14, 2020

Freestyle is one of our 32 partner funds (where we are LPs) and most of our new direct investing activity is in conjunction with one of our partner funds. Fritz.Ai (partner fund: Uncork): March 25th Code Climate (partner fund: USV): May 11th Meru Health (partner fund: Freestyle): May 13th.

Denver 189

Denver Partner Hosting Leadership 189

Feld Thoughts

SEPTEMBER 26, 2014

Our premise when we started doing branded accelerators with large companies was that we’d get deep mentor involvement from execs at the company we are partnering with. Len and his partner Jerry Poch bought my first company in 1993. Following are two examples from my own life. This took our relationship to a new level.

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Technical Review Boston Internet Venture Capital 150

Feld Thoughts

MARCH 24, 2021

Today’s book recommendation, for anyone interested in venture capital, is The Business of Venture Capital: The Art of Raising a Fund, Structuring Investments, Portfolio Management, and Exits by Mahendra Ramsinghani. I immediately introduced Mahendra to a bunch of Foundry Group LPs, partners, and entrepreneurs.

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Venture Capital Detroit Michigan Framework 175

Feld Thoughts

MAY 28, 2015

I remember my friend Ryan Martens sitting down with me and Chris Wand around 2001 and walking us through his idea for changing the how he approached managing the software development process. Ryan had a vision for an integration web-based system to layer on top of all of this to help support and manage the software development process.

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Software Technology Agile SCRUM 70

Feld Thoughts

APRIL 12, 2021

My partner Chris Moody recently sent around a note on a concept he refers to as Leader Leverage. A critical learning about a company’s leadership is whether or not employees trust and respect their senior-most manager. I encourage every CEO to read and consider it. His rant follows. However, asking it indirectly can be magical.

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Finance Leadership Employee Partner 132

Feld Thoughts

APRIL 11, 2021

Investors are seeking both financial returns and environmental impact and looking for opportunities to partner with ventures that are working to tackle our world’s biggest energy and environmental challenges. It is working to increase the diversity of startups, mentors, and partners engaged with the program.

Alabama 128

Alabama Equity Affiliate Incubator 128

Feld Thoughts

SEPTEMBER 22, 2010

My partner in my first company (Dave Jilk – now the CEO of Standing Cloud ) used to have an endearing way of dealing with this. Tags: Entrepreneurship management WHY. Here’s how it would play out. Dave: “Is the release going to be on time? Don’t ask me why – just do it.

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Software Engineering Cloud Engineer Software 136

Feld Thoughts

SEPTEMBER 9, 2020

If you take a look at the Foundry Group partner funds or talk to us about our investment strategy, you’ll immediately see the texture of a network. Fred Wilson, also a long time friend of Matt’s, has a great detailed post up today about it titled Bolster Your Management Team And Board that goes through Bolster in detail.

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Networking Colorado Social Network Community 144

Feld Thoughts

JUNE 25, 2020

said Valence CoFounder and General Partner at Upfront Ventures, Kobie Fuller. “We ” The 27 VC firms who are inaugural members of the Funding Network have a cumulative $60 Billion+ under management and now have direct access to Valence’s membership base of ~8,000 and growing Black professionals.

Networking 167

Networking Silicon Valley Cofounder Aggregator 167

Feld Thoughts

JULY 11, 2010

I did manage to complete both events without assistance, although during the latter event a canoe was following me out of concern that I wasn’t going to make it. I work for a large corporation and managed to go from having no degree to an MBA by completing 7 years of night classes. Swimming was the part I dreaded the most.

New York 128

New York Software Developers Software Development Email 128

Feld Thoughts

OCTOBER 24, 2014

Managing the emotional swings in business comes easier to me because of my experience in athletics.” One of my comments was “F**k your historical big company partners – you know how they are wired and what their behavior is going to be. Management integrate jeremy bloom leader leadership management victim'

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Philadelphia Leadership Partner Management 185

Feld Thoughts

JUNE 26, 2017

I could be wrong, but it felt like it was written by a crisis management PR firm. My partners and I had an extensive conversation over the weekend. So I kept talking to my partners and to Amy. I hope I, and my partners at Foundry Group, am viewed as a safe place for anyone in our industry.

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PR Partner Conversion Management 133

Feld Thoughts

MARCH 17, 2020

needing child care due to the closing of schools, financial hardship from a spouse/partner being out of work, etc.). Support BCH’s significant investment in their testing capability, expanding telehealth access, and planning for an increase in cases, including supply management, space capacity, and flex training for our staff and physicians.

Community 139

Community Matching Partner Employee 139

Feld Thoughts

SEPTEMBER 11, 2020

I’m involved in a bunch of stuff this year, which I’ll list below, but I want to highlight a few specific events, including the Keynote Kickoff with Robert Smith of Vista Equity Partners who grew up in Denver. He will be doing a fireside chat with Denver Mayor Michael B. Listen to a short overview with Dianne Myles.

Denver 124

Denver Colorado Startup Equity 124

Feld Thoughts

OCTOBER 15, 2014

In the last five years, I’ve managed to find the time to write, publish and promote multiple books, including two award-winning bestsellers , develop a web application, maintain a blog, and present at conferences. The most important relationship you can cultivate is with your spouse or partner.

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Technical Review Technical Cofounder Software Review Cofounder 195

Feld Thoughts

DECEMBER 16, 2014

When I was there in October 2012 with my partners Ryan and Jason to run the Detroit Marathon we talked about the idea of getting more involved there in some way. My partners and I believe that Detroit hit rock bottom around 2012 and in a decade has the potential to be an amazing city once again. I’m fascinated with Detroit.

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Detroit Mobile Programming San Francisco 145

Feld Thoughts

MAY 1, 2013

We each invited about ten entrepreneurs and their partners to the event. 50 people showed up – 25 entrepreneurs and their partners – and we spent two days on Miami Beach hanging out and covering a lot of different topics. Finding and Managing High Impact Board Members. Partners were included. Mentor Manifesto.

Miami 152

Miami Cofounder Portfolio Partner 152

Feld Thoughts

JANUARY 31, 2012

My partners and I spend time at CES each year along with a bunch of the founders from different companies we’ve invested in due to our human computer interaction theme. We’re helping to invent that future and we’re always looking for hackers, program managers, and experienced engineering leads.

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Technical Review Cofounder Video Cloud 127

Feld Thoughts

APRIL 4, 2018

My partner Jason is leading the judging panel, which includes: Abby Barlow, partner and director of Investment Research at Crestone Capital. Anthony Shontz, managing director of Private Equity at Partners Group. Anthony Shontz, managing director of Private Equity at Partners Group.

Private Equity 71

Private Equity Colorado Angel Investor Community 71

Feld Thoughts

JULY 28, 2020

My next one, which I’ve been working on for a year with Dave Jilk (my first business partner), combined entrepreneurship and philosophy. Every startup is unique, unpredictable, and unstable, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be managed for success, provided it’s the right kind of management.

Community 135

Community Startup Lean Government 135

Feld Thoughts

JUNE 13, 2017

Without one, they struggled to manage their visa status while also building their businesses. We were fortunate to have great partners in Bill Brah, George Deriso, and Anuradha Basu to help us figure this out to the point where we are now ready to scale to all 50 US states.

Silicon Valley 187

Silicon Valley Matching Global Boston 187

Feld Thoughts

OCTOBER 21, 2019

The ten companies that you’ll hear from are working on problems like how we remove carbon from the atmosphere, better manage our water, make valuable products from waste, and keep companies accountable for critical supply chains like coffee, seafood, timber, minerals, cotton, and palm oil.

Accredited Investor 85

Accredited Investor Denver Colorado Partner 85

Feld Thoughts

JULY 29, 2014

We’ve watched as AWS has aggressively talked to every company we know doing things in the cloud infrastructure and application stack, and then rather than partner eventually roll out low-end versions of competitive products. We used to think of Amazon as a potential acquirer for these companies, or at least a powerful strategic partner.

Cloud 176

Cloud Partner Hosting Cost 176

Feld Thoughts

SEPTEMBER 5, 2014

A little over a year ago, he joined Techstars full time as one of the three managing partners – the other two being David Cohen and Mark Solon. Brown runs the organization day to day and Solon manages all the fund and capital formation activity. It’s a delight to get to work with both of these guys.

Boston 137

Boston Cofounder Partner Leadership 137

Feld Thoughts

AUGUST 11, 2014

” This made me think of adeeply held beliefthat I hold with my partners at Foundry Group – brutal honesty delivered kindly. Management communication conflict empathy Entrepreneurship leadership management' But you would hear a lot of brutal honesty, And you’ll hear it delivered kindly.

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Leadership Management Partner 162

Feld Thoughts

MAY 17, 2016

While I’d been a partner in Mobius from the beginning, I hadn’t really been engaged in managing the overall firm. While I was trying to be helpful in general to the firm and my partners, I didn’t like the way we were operating. In 2003 I seriously thought about quitting Mobius Venture Capital. I did my deals.

San Francisco 108

San Francisco Internet Portfolio New York 108

Feld Thoughts

FEBRUARY 7, 2019

This new hire was a commercial hustler (code named Scott), moving quickly and broadly to try to secure customers and partners, including some of the tech industry’s largest companies. Mary had never managed somebody a decade senior to her and was struggling to manage Scott.

Boston 118

Boston LP Startup Equity 118

Feld Thoughts

MARCH 3, 2017

For example, I love my partners. Jerry’s model is more Buddhism and less football.” – Fred Wilson, USV partner. There are a lot of people you can go to who will teach you to be a better manager. #GivingThanks: Jerry Colonna and Naropa University. The CEO Whisperer. Love and Venture Capital. And I love Jerry.

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Chad Silicon Valley New York Venture Capital 70

Feld Thoughts

FEBRUARY 21, 2014

The gong that gets rung at Gnip every time a new sale is made or partner deal is signed. On Wednesday my partners and I had our monthly offsite. Some of these sessions have been incredibly powerful – on this one I had tears in my eyes at one moment as I was expressing appreciation for something my partners had done for me.

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Partner Leadership Sales Product 140

Feld Thoughts

JULY 23, 2012

Many of Gnip ‘s customers and partners are in the bay area and they have decided to begin adding people in San Francisco to better support those clients. They’ve just posted their first position in San Francisco to help manage and grow existing customers.

San Francisco 131

San Francisco Hiring Partner Customer 131

Feld Thoughts

FEBRUARY 6, 2014

I learned a very profound thing from my partner Dave Jilk at Feld Technologies 25 years ago. Dave became the software guy, managing the team and getting the work done. Management management motivation' I have been practicing, and getting better at it, ever since. First, some context. Dave and I started it in 1987.

Boston 146

Boston Management Hiring Technology 146