Comments on: VC Behavior in Board Meetings

By: Top 50 » Top 50 Venture Capital Blog Posts of 2009

Top 50 » Top 50 Venture Capital Blog Posts of 2009 — Mon, 10 May 2010 06:49:48 +0000

[...] VC Behavior in Board Meetings [...]

By: PlearkCatte

PlearkCatte — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 02:23:22 +0000

I don’t know If I said it already but …Excellent site, keep up the good work. I read a lot of blogs on a daily basis and for the most part, people lack substance but, I just wanted to make a quick comment to say I’m glad I found your blog. Thanks,

A definite great read..

By: Board Meeting Lessons From The Supreme Court

Board Meeting Lessons From The Supreme Court — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 20:55:36 +0000

[...] other key lesson from the Supreme Court is paying attention. I’ve written about this also in VC Behavior in Board Meetings. I continue to fall victim to the blackberry checking syndrome. In the Supreme Court, phones, [...]

By: Finance Geek » venture capital behaviour

Finance Geek » venture capital behaviour — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 14:37:20 +0000

[...] post was about not taking computers or other devices into board meetings in order to avoid the [...]

By: Brad Feld

Brad Feld — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 21:12:06 +0000

The only notes I take are “things to do” – I’ve never been a notetaker. So – I write the todos on a piece of paper during the meeting and then either do them immediately after the meeting or put them in my Outlook task list to do. I then throw the piece of paper away.

I’ve tried to use OneNote and – while I could see how it would be useful for an extensive note taker, I don’t find it useful at all.

By: James_Mitchell

James_Mitchell — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 02:24:49 +0000

Only those of us who have known Brad "I absolutely detest paper, the only kind of paper that should exist is toilet paper" Feld for more than a decade can appreciate the irony of this post.

There is a better solution, however:

1. Purchase a tablet PC.

2. Disable its ability to connect to the Internet — e.g., take out the built-in WiFi attenna.

3. Install Microsoft OneNote.

4. Do not install any other software on it.

OneNote is vastly superior to pen and paper. You can easily erase, move notes around, etc. It even has handwriting recognition.

James Mitchell
http://www.jmitchell.me
jmitchell@kensingtonllc.com

By: Brad Feld

Brad Feld — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 19:36:04 +0000

Or maybe four times a year!

By: Chris Yeh

Chris Yeh — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 16:28:28 +0000

You don't answer the phone during sex? What kind of investor are you anyways?

Next thing you know, you'll be taking time off from the grid every year….

By: Mike Schmidt

Mike Schmidt — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 03:06:21 +0000

Brad,
Kudos for coming to the realization that "gadgets" don't amplify ability, their just tools for execution.

Take it from an "old dog" (will be 50 next year). After almost 10 startups under my belt (all around the world), I can still out-paper anyone in the room in terms of taking notes in meetings, and always show up with a yellow-note pad and pen, (All electronic gadgets set to "stun"). And because of this, I was always the one that could develop the detailed product spec, or create the hard hitting sales letter, or generate the detailed contract because I had a grasp of the details… not bullet summaries of powerpoint slides that seem to "dumb-down" a business or a technical topic to sound bites. If you don't understand the details, you don't understand the business.

I have a lot of company and project files containing meeting notes on paper that document in detail all the deals, telephone conversations, meetings, technology trainings, seminars, conferences, and inspirations that I have had over the last 25 years. Actually, someone suggested to me when they saw my basement office with this trove of files and information why don't I scan it all and put it online to share with the world what 25+ years of business activity and the resulting "note-trail" looks like… Interesting idea. Maybe someone will come-up with a "Scan-to-web" solution that I can utillize for the task !

However, it might be better to just "post" this "history" after I start my "dirt nap" – for both personal and professional reasons ! –

By: Jon Crowder

Jon Crowder — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 03:01:52 +0000

Oops. A friend "just sent"…