Guest Author: Bart Lorang. I first invested in Bart in the spring of 2011. He and his co-founders were working out of a basement — strangely passionate about solving the world’s contact management problem. Since then, Bart has raised over $20 million in venture capital, built a company of over 50 employees, and, as CEO of FullContact, made huge strides in cleaning up your address book. Along the way, Bart has become totally committed to building a company that reflects his values and those of his employees. I am thrilled to have Bart write the first guest post on the Blue Note Blog.
– Chris
“It’s not personal, Sonny. It’s strictly business” – Michael Corleone in The Godfather (1972) We have heard these words (or a variant thereof) countless times since they were first uttered on screen in Francis Ford Coppola’s Academy Award winning classic The Godfather. It gets repeated so often in American culture that it feels like it’s an Unimpeachable, Infallible Law of Capitalism that is Beyond Reproach. But is it really a good business philosophy? Ever since...
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Welcome to Blue Note Ventures, and thanks for checking out the new blog. In my opinion (and probably yours too), this world has plenty of blogs written by very smart VCs, covering just about every angle of the industry. My sincere hope is that this blog will be different. This is not a blog about me – or even about Blue Note Ventures. Although I will occasionally use it to pass along news from the...
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This post originally appeared at www.chrisamarks.com in 2013
I’ve written many times about the pace of start-ups and the challenges entrepreneurs face in building high-growth companies with limited resources. It is an environment of rapidly changing circumstances. Every day brings new hurdles, and every potential customer can be the lifeline that allows you to fight another day. In this environment, it can be very difficult to see the forest through the trees. As many founders have discovered, however, reactionary management can only take...
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This post originally appeared at www.chrisamarks.com in 2011
For entrepreneurs, the individuals they bring on to their board of directors is one of the most important decisions they will make over the life of their company. A board can either become a group that they lean on for support and feedback, or it can become a source of distraction and frustration. It can either help create focus and prioritization, or suck management energy that is better spent on the business. It is important...
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This post originally appeared at www.chrisamarks.com in 2011
Entrepreneurs tend to be confident by nature. They believe in what they’re doing, and, despite often overwhelming odds, are fairly certain of their success. There is really no other attitude that would justify a start-up endeavor. What I have found over the years, however, is that there are two kinds of confidence. The first is a confidence that one is always right. It is a heads down, out of my way, no time to slow...
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