A VC - Latest Comments in Do You Ever Do Any Real Work?

Re: Do You Ever Do Any Real Work?

@MattWilsonTV — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 21:22:54 -0000

If you love what you do it's not work remember!

"hanging out" on social media, reading RSS, connecting people on twitter, interacting with tons of awesome people seems like a hell of a lot of fun!

It's the clients calling that can seem like work

Re: Do You Ever Do Any Real Work?

Vasudev Ram — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 17:23:01 -0000

Fred,

Wonderful post, and so right.

I loved this sentence:

>Its about the "realest" work I do.

:-)

What you say is confirmed by my own experience of blogging, too.

I've been blogging for over three years now, and over time, I've been getting approached with work offers by people, some of whom say they got to know of me via my blog ...

I know a lot of other people get work that way, too.

- Vasudev

Re: Do You Ever Do Any Real Work?

fredwilson — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 17:28:30 -0000

I hope so but there are no guarantees in this business until "the fat lady sings"

Re: Do You Ever Do Any Real Work?

Guest — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 15:46:41 -0000

So you are saying that the final return will be even better? OK, so I may revise my metaphor, then. USV is not like a 100m dash sprinter, but more like a 1500m runner, who at the middistance is 200 m ahead of the pack... Not much difference....

Re: Do You Ever Do Any Real Work?

fredwilson — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 14:32:20 -0000

Oh yes

You are a wonder in that regard

Re: Do You Ever Do Any Real Work?

fredwilson — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 14:26:24 -0000

That's not true

That return is based largely on one deal, TACODA

It does not include the performance of a bunch of companies in our portfolio that are valuable but are not marked up

The only real measure of venture performance is cash on cash after a fund is fully realized and liquidated

Re: Do You Ever Do Any Real Work?

Nikolay Kolev — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 13:16:55 -0000

Thanks, Fred! I got it, I set up my account, and I'm gonna install the software in a bit. It looks great so far.

Re: Do You Ever Do Any Real Work?

Caryn — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 10:23:10 -0000

A great reminder that reaching out, connecting with our communities, contacts and customers is the most important work we do. Thanks!

Re: Do You Ever Do Any Real Work?

fredwilson — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 06:33:06 -0000

Invite sent

Re: Do You Ever Do Any Real Work?

fredwilson — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 06:05:10 -0000

Just sent one

Re: Do You Ever Do Any Real Work?

fredwilson — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 06:01:35 -0000

Invite sent

Re: Do You Ever Do Any Real Work?

Guest — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 00:50:27 -0000

Here's what's cracking me up. Venture Capital is on the very short list of occupations, where you can judge performance quickly and precisely.
Click on this link, for example:
http://www.ost.state.or.us/...
Union Square Ventures2004 has returned 35.7% per year to their investors. That's a monstrous return on investment. Take a good look and compare it to other funds. Whatever Mr. Wilson is doing is obviously working. There are not many occupations like this (100 meters dash sprinters is the only one I can think of right now) , where a simple look at a single number gives you the whole picture. It is extremely silly for someone to argue the work ethics, given the performance.

Re: Do You Ever Do Any Real Work?

vruz — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 23:46:08 -0000

not a question exactly, but rather an expression of surprise how did I get the time to 'get anything done' aside from catching up with blogs and such :-)

Re: Do You Ever Do Any Real Work?

Austin Bryan — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 18:04:33 -0000

No guaranteeing you'll get the same turnaround post-Techmeme hit, but I signed up for the alpha last week and got an invite the next day.

Re: Do You Ever Do Any Real Work?

Jimmy Gambier — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 17:08:48 -0000

Hi Fred,

Could I get an invite as well. I've used a hodgepodge of Netflix, Hulu and YouTube as well and looking forward to a unified experience:
jimmy.gambier@gmail.com

Re: Do You Ever Do Any Real Work?

fredwilson — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 16:45:20 -0000

Really?

Re: Do You Ever Do Any Real Work?

vruz — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 16:24:45 -0000

hah, it's funny you asked this question to me once :-)

Re: Do You Ever Do Any Real Work?

Nikolay Kolev — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 16:11:58 -0000

Fred, can I please have a Boxee invite, too? My email is me at my first name dot com. Thank you!

Re: Do You Ever Do Any Real Work?

fredwilson — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 13:39:48 -0000

Any time :)

Re: Do You Ever Do Any Real Work?

Chipotle — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 13:33:21 -0000

Thanks Fred. I'm going to hack my Apple TV this weekend.

I've been listening to the new Blitzen Trapper record, Furr. It has a few very strong tracks (Furr, Black River Killer) They obviously listened to a lot of their parents records (Dylan, Beatles, Young etc.)

Thanks again.

Re: Do You Ever Do Any Real Work?

Ben — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 13:22:52 -0000

You don't hear it as much because the wave of OLD & CRUSTY is nearly gone. As the O&C leave the upper echelons of businesses to "retire" (aka. fail big for the package), in comes those who have been "waiting" for their chance to set the tone right.

Give me any company whose product/business is in the shitter...Join that product/business with someone who understands what it means to be "REAL" with customers and a market, and within a small amount of time you'll see a great turnaround.

I am a big believer in this because it takes "real work" now a days to run a company. Sitting at the top acting like you are "real" with your market is the quickest way to the bottom.

I say rush the O&C's out as quickly as possible and lets start doing "REAL WORK" again.

Thanks for letting me get that out Fred.

Re: Do You Ever Do Any Real Work?

fredwilson — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 13:07:42 -0000

Yes!

Re: Do You Ever Do Any Real Work?

Guy Platt — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 12:34:26 -0000

Please.

Re: Do You Ever Do Any Real Work?

jmcaddell — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 10:56:50 -0000

Fred, you successfully lured a new Disqus subscriber. :-)

Re: Do You Ever Do Any Real Work?

fredwilson — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 10:33:16 -0000

I just sent you one

I hope you like it and I hope you feel better