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| About Brad Feld |
| Brad Feld is currently a Managing Director at Mobius Venture Capital and has been with the firm since 1996. Prior to Mobius, Brad founded Feld Technologies, which was sold to AmeriData Technologies in 1993, where he became Chief Technology Officer. Brad currently serves on the boards of a number of private companies, including Atreus, Comergent, ePartners, FeedBurner, Gold Systems, Judy's Book, Klocwork, NewsGator, Quova, Rally Software, and StillSecure. In addition, he is on the board of The National Center for Women & Information Technology, The Community Foundation Serving Boulder County, and The Colorado Conservation Trust. Brad has previously been a member of the board of directors of the Young Entrepreneurs Organization and founded the Boston and Colorado chapters. He holds Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in Management Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. |
Recent Article:
The VC Version of Kick the Can
- For more on Brad Feld visit www.feld.com
I got an email this morning from an entrepreneur that I know that has been trying to raise an early round from a "seed VC investor" for the past few months. He's put together (and closed) a decent angel round and left it open for this seed investor.
This morning the entrepreneur was told by the VC that they are "postponing their decision on investment until a future round" because one of the partner's friends at BigCo "isn't comfortable with the direction the startup is headed."
I asked the entrepreneur who the person at BigCo was. I know plenty of folks at BigCo in the relevant area and wanted to do a reality check for the entrepreneur. He responded that the partner at the VC firm wouldn't say - just that it was a good friend.
I told the entrepreneur to move on and not worry about it because I put this in the "VC kick the can" category. Given that data above, I don't think the VC was ever serious - if they were at a minimum they would have connected the entrepreneur up with the person at BigCo.
Remember kick the can? It's a game that is mildly entertaining but fundamentally pointless. You play it because you are hanging out, have nothing better to do, and feel like playing a game is better than doing nothing (with my apologies to children all over the world.) For whatever reason, VC's play this game with entrepreneurs all the time.
I'm sure I am occasionally guilty of it but I try really hard not to be. The best move for an entrepreneur - when they find themselves in a game of kick the can - is to pick up the can and say something like "so - are you serious about funding us or not. If not, just tell me. If you are, what do we need to do next to get to a deal?"
Dear entrepreneurs: Just because your VC can't seem to make a decision doesn't mean you should be an enabler. Kick the can usually ends when everyone gets bored of playing.
Read this post in Brad's blog.
The VC Version of Kick the Can - To learn more about this author, visit Brad Feld's Website.
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