Letting things grow at their own pace
October 31, 2009 by Yuval Brisker
Its always interesting to read Fred Wilson. A VC who seems to forever have a fresh take on his business, on the world around him, never losing the sense of wonder and at the same time looking at things critically.
I have been reading his blog for over 6 years….pretty much when he started writing it, and when I set off on this phase of my professional life. His words, thoughts, ideas, experiences have been a beacon of thoughtfulness, education and enlightenment in the process of building this business. His diligence over the years, his total dedication and discipline in sitting almost EVERY single day and writing something interesting, actually made a difference in my life. Whether he’s written about the business, technology, family life, his family’s travel, food, politics and music – his sharing this his “Living in Public”, as he calls it, (citing a film he invested in about blogging and social networking) has definitely enriched my life and my thinking in ways that it’s impossible to account for.
This steadfastness is admirable and I am bringing up his blog and its affect on me because he most always seems to write something that resonates, that provokes me to think. Today he wrote about something that as entrepreneurs we think about a lot. The exit. But he wrote about it, as usual, in a fresh way.
He called it Slow Capital, because it’s about recognizing that businesses like people, are very different from each other. Some burst onto the scene and make a point and are sold in a year; some take years to incubate and become ‘who they are’. Knowing which to push and which to cultivate over time seems to be part of the art of investing wisely. And indeed Fred writes this post as an homage of sorts to Warren Buffet and actually mentions him. Believing in taking time to build a business and in the potential of time to enrich it is the core notion of what Irad and I are doing here. Thanks Fred, you have a place of honor in the blog roll on the right here…Number 1.
