Over the past 20+ years mentoring, advising, and investing in startup founders (and being one, too), I've come to believe in the principle that if you find yourself having to force things too much, then you may be on a fool's errand. Startups are so ridiculously hard even in the most favorable conditions. Even startups [...]

I don't care how many slides you have in your deck. There is no magic number. What I care about is understanding all and only what's relevant for me to figure out if this investment is a). sufficiently in my wheelhouse -- i.e., stage, sector, model, traction, team, and, b). that the story is presented [...]

Startups are ridiculously hard and success is illusive. Advice about what it takes to be a successful founder is in plentiful supply -- from founders (current and former), investors (most who have never been a founder themselves), consultants (selling the dream) and the media (parroting the rest and amplifying survivor bias.) Here's a [...]

There is no trade school or PhD program for venture-scale founders. You're on your own. Experience is the ultimate curriculum for founders. But if you're relying on learning from experience alone, you're doing it wrong. Founders need to be lifelong learners, continually and proactively expanding their knowledge and honing their skills -- to become better [...]

The virus-that-shall-not-be-named is losing ground. That's great news for us all, especially because that means resurrecting our live events and giving you all the chance to connect again in real life! We're still waiting to see how restrictions and mandates loosen in each of our chapter cities, but it looks like late March or early [...]

[This post was originally published in June 2014. For my more-recent and comprehensive thoughts on women playing poker, see Why Every Founder Should Play Poker.] This is a question I have heard from many women and one that I've thought a lot about almost since the very beginning of Startup Poker 2.0 back in [...]