David Hornik on Why Advice is Not Fungible When Money Is #3
Playing games with tech titans š¾, this time with David Hornik.
šHello friends! Iāve started a video podcast where I interview investors, entrepreneurs and operatorsā¦while playing a video game. It has been a fun process I want to share with you! Feel free to check out the video or podcast, and wishing you a kickass start to 2022!
Giving, Giving, Giving
How would you feel if you were such a rockstar that Adam Grant prominently featured you in his best-selling book Give and Take specifically describing why āgiversā like yourself are successful in the long run?
Hopefully youād be proud. At worst, perhaps a little cocky.
Well, despite being a case-study in giving, David Hornik has nothing but kindness and humility to share.
For more than 20 years, David has been working with entrepreneurs to help them grow and prosper through his work at August Capital, where he started the first venture capital blog (VentureBlog) and the first venture capital podcast (VentureCast). Heās also been teaching at Stanford Graduate School of Business, HBS and their respective law schools for several years. David is also the creator of The Lobby, a conference that stands out for its lack of programming to create the conditions for candid conversations between digital media leaders. He is the real deal and he has several lessons for us.
Lessons from this session
On evaluating your performance as a board memberā¦
The job at the end of the day it is to be a consiglieri to the CEO, āhow can I help. In the early days you are focused on how I can help you hire the best teamāā
My own ability to judge if I am a good member is: do I get the first call when someone is excited about something, and do I get the first call when something terrible has happened. I need to be both of those things
Juan on One | Podcast on Spotify ā open.spotify.com
Listen to Juan on One on Spotify. š® Playing games (literally) with Tech Titans. Unique interviews with the entrepreneurs, investors and operators shaping the internet. Hosted by Juan Gabriel Delgado @allinjuan_
On the fatal and non-fatal mistakes in entrepreneurship
Thereās only one thing in the venture world that is fatal, right? You can do all sorts of things and you can make all sorts of mistakes and survive, but running out of capitalā¦not a thing you can do and survive
Explain that Tweet! š¦
We have a section on the show where we show guests previous tweets that need more context and ask them to explain. Hereās one I posed to David.
Of course money is fungible, it is the entire definition of fungible [ā¦] But Venture Capital is not fungible, it comes associated with funds and people. You can use the money but the support and help is profoundly difficult. I have been working with RenĆ©e (bill.com) for 21 years
It turns out that there are times when capital markets get tough and there is nothing more important than having a great investor in your camp to help you work through it and to continue to get the folks you need
On being top of mind for people in the right wayā¦
There are two different questions : one is āhow can I be a good consiglieri to the entrepreneurs I am working with?ā. The other is: how do you get to see the great deals that are happening, how do you stay top of mindā?
Juan on One Juan Gabriel Delgado ā podcasts.apple.com
š® Playing games (literally) with Tech Titans. Unique interviews with the entrepreneurs, investors and operators shaping the internet. Hosted by Juan Gabriel Delgado @allinjuan_
Sweepstakes
David has agreed to give a 30 min consultation with listener. This is the perfect opportunity for a pitch or to pick up advice from one of the smartest people in venture. To participate all you have to do is share this video on social media or write a review on apple podcasts and send me a picture of the link or review to thejuanonone[at]gmail.com
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