Being a VC

I am a  lucky person.  I have apparently a rather sought after job, as a VC.  I don't write often about my job - there are many many VC blogs out there and I don't really feel the need to share my thoughts about where I am investing, trends I am seeing, how we plan to make money for our investors.  I do, however, like to talk about why I like my job, partly because it's really a rarity to enjoy your work.  How many people do you know who really like what they do?  I know very few.  Work is work.  It's a four letter word.  But I am lucky, I like my job.  Why is that?

I get to work with really smart people doing really interesting things.

I get to see trends and how entrepreneurs are changing industries. 

Working with young companies allows you to have a real impact on building an industry.

I like to read, do research, and talk to people about new ideas.  This is what I do for work!  Does not feel like work - what a wonderful thing.

I get to test a lot of new ideas.  I follow companies in the social networking space to see how people will interact differently in the future.  I still think services like Facebook and Geni are in their infancy.  I test new services like RSS readers and bookmarking tools and many others.  We have no idea how big these things can be.  I get to think about how students will learn differently in the future, new ways to deliver information, new tools for corporate heavyweights to make decisions.  This is good stuff.

I have to bet on myself, and our team, here at my firm.  The buck stops here, as they say.  This, of course, can be terrifying.  But it can also be highly rewarding. 

I used to be in investment banking.  We advised.  In VC, we advise and DO. 

It's a job that prioritizes building over breaking down; thinking forward rather than relying on heuristics.  It's greenfield, whole cloth territory.

I like the variety of the day.  I worked in the magazine business for a while and man, did I get sick of talking about page rates.  In VC, because we have a portfolio of deals, there is high variety to the day.  I get bored easily, so this works for me.

The best part is working with entrepreneurs.  The founders of our companies are highly passionate, engaged, gunners.  They are optimistic killers by nature.  A wall is just something to climb over.  Obstacles?  Pashaw - bring it on!  These are folks who ask "Why not?" and then go make change.  I am surrounded by people like this.  It's inspiring in so many ways beyond business.  It's a mentality I am trying to emulate, and carry around with me every day. 

So why write this post?  Well, I realized  I hit an interesting place in life - liking my job, and I wanted to record the moment.  So here it is.  I am excited to re-read this post in 20 years.