Angel Investing, Entrepreneurship & Learning

I guess that it’s about time for me to start showing my public support for the man that, I believe, should lead the United States as our next President. After studying the issues that our country currently faces, I strongly believe that Mitt Romney is the right person to be in Washington. Here are a few of the reasons why I support him:

• The Economy: When all is said and done, the most important problem/issue that faces our country is the declining economy. Beyond the war in Iraq (foreign policy), the challenges of health care, and the control of immigration — the economic strength of our nation is what will allow us to keep a strong military and remain the world power. As of today, we are faced with a 9 trillion dollar national debt, a growing trade deficit, a weakening dollar, a declining housing market, and nearly 45 trillion dollars in obligated debts that will be due over the next several decades. In addition, the competition throughout the world (China, India, etc.) is heating up. If we don’t have the right man in position to lead us through these challenges, it could be disastrous. There is no other man more qualified and more proven to lead our nation through these struggles than Mitt Romney.
• Proven Leader: Mitt Romney has proven over and over again as a successful business man, as President of the 2002 Olympics, and as Governor of Massachusetts (private, public, and political experience) that he is a leader. Because he hasn’t spent his life as a politician, he knows the challenges of the “real world.” He has successfully led businesses (large and small), organizations, and state governments; while most of the other candidates have hardly led their subcommittees. He understands how to manage people and how to manage a budget. He is fiscally responsible — something that is hard to say about most politicians. Also, I don’t believe that you have had to serve in the military to be a great military leader (we’ve seen it over and over in history)… but I do believe that being a great leader will lead to a great military leader.
• Tax Plan: It’s frustrating to think about those that believe that the solution to any government deficit is to increase taxes. It’s inspiring to hear how Mitt was able to turn the Massachusetts’s deficit around without raising any taxes (just as he said he would). Mitt’s plan is to keep the tax burden low — a solution that speaks to all of us.
• Strong Economy, Strong Military, Strong Families (Romney’s Platform): I, too, believe that the success of our nation lies in the amazing citizens that we have here in the United States. We believe in freedoms and we believe in values. I believe that families are the core unit of society and, as a result, we should place emphasis on the strength of families.

There are other reasons (including his stance on health care, the war in Iraq, and immigration), but I won’t go into a lot of detail.

Now, you are probably asking, “what does McCain have to do with all of this?” Well, one of my business partners found an interesting video that shows McCain endorsing Mitt Romney after Romney won the Governor’s race in Mass. If you haven’t seen it, I recommend checking it out. It is a great endorsement and quite ironic considering the heated debates that have happened as of late.

The whole McCain topic is a whole other story, but I’ll refrain from going into detail. Let’s just say that I don’t put a lot of trust or faith into him and would be very worried about our economy if he were in the White House. He does a great job in the senate!

Anyway, I’ve contributed my financial support to Mitt Romney and I urge you, after really looking at the issues that face America, to do the same.

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I’m here (written yesterday) at the rock-star-packed University Venture Fund conference in Salt Lake City. I didn’t even know about the conference until late last night when a fellow entrepreneur forwarded to me the conference agenda. As soon as I found out about the list of panelists & speakers, I quickly rearranged my schedule to make sure that I could attend. Here is a list of (my favorite) people that are here speaking:

• Brad Feld
• Will Price
• Eliot Jacobsen
• Josh Coates
• Rick Alden

While I missed the first panel on “What VC’s look for and Industry Trends,” I was able to make it to the entrepreneurship panel “Starting Your Company – Going from an Idea to Your Business.”

Here are a few highlights:

• Almost every entrepreneur on the panel saw a simple need in the market and, after noticing the market potential, pressed on the gas to build the company and penetrate the market.
• Common theme:each entrepreneur is “unemployable.” They are truly afraid of getting a “real job.”
• Almost every panelist had started and sold smaller companies before starting the companies that they are currently running.
• Advice from panelists: build a company that you are completely passionate about, because your passion for the space will drive the success of the business.

Highlights from Brad Feld’s Keynote:

• The most important decision he makes as a VC: do I support the CEO or not? If I do, then I do whatever he asks to build the company. If not, I will find another CEO that I completely support and trust.
• The Foundry Group is very open and transparent. They will take emails from anyone… and he will respond to anyone (within reason). I can personally attest that this is true — Brad is one of the most responsive people that I know.
• 2 Rules for investing: 1) invest in his area of strength (software, internet, etc.) and NOT outside of it. 2) Must believe in/trust the founder.

Overall, it was a fantastic conference and was stoked to attend.

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FundingUniverse has received some great publicity over the past couple of weeks.  Last week, we had a fantastic article published in the Wall Street Journal about how we are able to connect entrepreneurs with investors.  Now, this week, we had a blog entry posted on the Logoworks/HP blog about the when/how to raise capital.

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Over the past few weeks, I’ve been discovering a lot of the latest Google apps for my Blackberry.  Over the break, my brother showed me the new Google maps, which led to the exploration and adoption of several new apps that I’m stoked about.  Here are a few (all of which are on my Blackberry):

1. Google maps:  The new map application acts almost like a GPS.  It can automatically detect where I am (within 1700 meters) which makes it easy to search directions on the fly.  They are also starting to show the flow of traffic on the map feature.  It was a huge step forward from the previous map feature that I had been using.
2. Google Calendar + Google Sync:  I’ve been a long-time Outlook calendar user.  I didn’t ever think that I would switch from Outlook because it was the only program that would sync with my Blackberry.  The problem with Outlook is that it was almost impossible to share my calendar with anyone.  I’ve recently switched to Google Calendar because the Google Sync app on my phone automatically syncs and updates my Blackberry calendar from the internet.  Now, I can share my calendar with my wife so that she can see what I’m doing and easily add family events.
3. Others:  Besides the two mentioned above, I have downloaded Picasa, Google docs, Google Reader, Google Talk, and Gmail to my Blackberry.  Since we are always using those applications at FundingUniverse, it makes it incredibly efficient to have them on the fly.

I just realized that I have made 2 blog entries about Google in the last month.  They must be doing something right.

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Wow… it’s been a nice and relaxing holiday break.  Plenty of family, food, and fun.

While the break was relatively uneventful in the business world, I did find out that the Entrepreneur’s Story has finally been released!  The story is the brain-child of entrepreneur super-woman Carolynn Duncan.  She spent most of 2007 gathering stories from over 70 entrepreneurs from around the world and compiled them all into one book.

I have had the chance to read some of the book and I am completely impressed.  If you are an entrepreneur, or an aspiring entrepreneur, or are just suffering from “entrepreneur’s anonymous”… you should read this book.

Thanks Carolynn!

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