I have been thinking a lot about burnout lately and what is happening throughout many early stage teams and companies. This feeling is common for many, and its usually only after the fact that people realize they were burnt out and need a break. Sometimes this break can come in the form of time off … The post Burnout vs Burnin appeared first ...

My goal is to be the best advisor in the world. Its a lofty statement that I couldn't say out loud until I worked with my own executive coach for about three years. In finding this clarity I have guided my professional steps with this theme in mind. I know I will not reach this … The post Putting people into business appeared first on Eric Fr...

I have been doing Fractional COO work for the past few years. Throughout this time I deliver operational excellent to companies that need to avoid mistakes, see around corners, and efficiently run their business. These consulting projects have led me to a system that I use will almost every client in Notion. For the first … The post Fractiona...

In 2020, Marc Andreessen published a profound essay in response to the COVID-19 pandemic that became a rallying cry for startups called; It's Time To Build. In it, he discusses the importance of building various businesses, from housing, education, manufacturing, and transportation anything that might hasten the dream of entrepreneurship and const...

When setting out to build side projects that generate revenue, my partner at GottaGoFast.com and I prioritized three things above all else; solving a real problem, researching and understanding what customers want, and creating a sustainable business. The purpose behind what we build is to create a flywheel to everything else we do. We want …

Our trip around our sun is ending again and we are closing out the year. I started making predictions for the decade ahead in 2020, then made 2021 predictions, then 2022 predictions. Now that I have been doing this for a few years I feel like the pressure is off. I enjoy trying to predict …

The month of December is a strange month for VCs and Founders. 2022 is no different and I have always found the discussions and chatter around it to be extremely confusing. On the one hand there are a number of things happening, deals getting done, M&A, capital being deployed and general fury of activity. On …

For the past few years I have been doing fractional work for companies – mainly as a Fractional COO. More recently this has turned into fractional back office operations for funds, family offices, and GPs. With a specialized service, more time on my hands for my own projects, and getting so much inbound for operators …

I have been thinking about early stage equity and advisor grants for some time, including a post in 2016, that I rely on and wanted to revisit. I have had a few founder friends reach out to me asking about how much equity to give to an advisor, and had some operators reach out asking …

There has been so much written about the recent collapse of FTX and SBF and things are changing every day. I dont have much to add beyond what I am reading, mostly in shock. Thankfully I did not have exposure to this catastrophe happening, but of course the prices are down everywhere. I would rather …

In reading about macro market events during the pandemic, I learned that people writing down their thoughts – in journals or notes – benefited greatly. I have done this a few times over the past few years, and in some cases it makes sense to publish those thoughts here. To share what I have learned, …

Background noise is a pain. Dogs barking. Babies crying. Leaf blowers war on leaves in the burbs. Cars in the city. You name it, and I have had it going in the background. This was all until I found a tool called Krisp that kills background noise. Yes, seriously. The truth is here that you …

I wanted to start sharing some of my investing thesis, how I make investments, and more importantly WHY I make them. I shared the following on Twitter recently and wanted to include in my blog here. 1/ I wanted to start sharing the WHY behind investments I have made and how I built conviction. I …

I tweeted out the other day after being sick of dealing with calendar back and forth planning about what tools people use. To my delight someone recommended Vimcal and I have been hooked ever since. The beauty of this tool is that you can grab open days and times AND share a bookable link. It …

I finalized my notes for the ODX Accelerator program, the early stage accelerator I am building at On Deck, and I wanted to summarize here. I love the start of programs, when teams are excited – all at the earliest stages of company creation. Running accelerator programs, investing in startups, and working directly with founders …

  Another trip around the sun is coming to a close for planet earth, and for the last few years I have been making predictions and holding myself accountable to them. Let's do it again and dive right in. A fun update for this year has been moving my predictions to a google sheet for …

We are experiencing a renaissance of builders, explorers, and experimenters within web3. The amount of incredible people gravitating towards this space is incredible to watch. Inspired by the Marc Andreesen post Its Time To Build my friend and long time collaborator and investing partner Naveen and I launched something to encourage people even more...

I read and loved the book The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel and it had a profound impact on me. For those who have been around me recently know that I have adopted and paraphrased a mantra from the book: There is a difference between being wealth and being rich. Being wealth is doing …

I have known Dan for a decade through the NYC tech ecosystem. I lovingly call him the curmudgeon of fintech – in this episode we go deep into how he is building a venture capital firm and practice, not just running a fund and how he views the world of fintech investing. Below is the …

I am a big fan of celebrating your wins. I often highlight "micro wins" with executive coaching clients as moments worth celebrating. I also love figuring out where a founder is going and what their north star metric could be, both now and in the future. In the fast paced world of startups, leveling the …

I learned a valuable and expensive lesson about taking liquidity when the offer arises, or rather NOT doing so in my case. Earlier in my career I had the chance to sell some stock and take some liquidity and I passed. I was so preoccupied with the companies potential energy, that I didn't think to …

Jeff Bezos notoriously launched the Fire Phone around 2014 to much attention – I think most agree that it was a spectacular failure. But was it really? This project was a $170M write-off for the company. There was the hardware, software, and marketing costs. Not to mention the person toll on the people. I bit …

My partner (Steve Schlafman) and I recently launched Tapestry, an exercise for founders to invest in their relationships, and it was met with an incredible reaction. One of the most interesting results was the outpouring of support and questions we received around how we built the product, why we built the exercise, and how much …

I have been a fan of Rob Wilk since we first worked together years ago. I even wrote an incredible idea he shared with me back then called the "no update update" which I use all the time. Today Rob is building something very special inside Microsoft and Bing. I recently caught up with Rob, …

I strongly believe that one of the most important questions you can ask in a well-functioning, growing organization is: How are you investing in your team's communication and relationships?  It has also become a great question as an early stage investor and an executive coach. It lets me in on exactly how the relationships work, …

Everyone is always chasing after the next shiny object -Founders This is a line I hear often from founders about their teams or themselves in early stage companies. While partly to blame, CEOs have gotten to where they are by trying, testing, iterating, and experimenting. However to me this is a call for help that …

Did anyone have global pandemic on their bingo board? Ok lets move on… Last year I decided to do my first ever public predictions for 2020 and the decade ahead. What a fun exercise and wow was I wrong! As mentioned at the top I do not know anyone that predicted the global pandemic of …

I reconnected with a CEO recently that launched their business about three years ago. We chatted about the long, harrowing lead-up to their first product launch. The list of things to do was long, the road ahead was unclear, and there was no end to the todo list in front of the team. At some …

I was talking to a good friend recently who lost his job during the pandemic crisis happening in the US, and with a mortgage and a new baby was remotely looking for new work. While a challenging time for many, searching for a new job and interviewing remotely over video to join a team is …

The state of venture is changing and AngelList has been at the forefront of this movement for awhile. The recent announcement of open ended funds got me thinking about the evolution of venture fund structures themselves. Software has been eating venture funds by simplifying syndicates, managing SPVs, and even traditional fund management. The devil ...

COVID19 is top of mind. Right now the world watches as what feels like a dystopians novel unfolds before our eyes. Many are scared and figuring out what to do. Like most things, this started small. Now its a tidal wave cresting across the globe. When in turmoil and stress I always advise people take …

My latest interview is with Evan Walden the CEO and co-founder of Monday.VC who has been building since 2016. From first selling pesticides to taking on the mission of helping people find more meaning in their work, Evan shares the entire origin story and details of what the team has built. This is a fun …

Last year I had the pleasure of meeting Alex MacCaw, CEO of Clearbit who has been building one of the more interesting data companies, and is definitely a Quiet Giant. We sat down for an interview about Building The Machine and I am excited to share it below. They call themselves a "marketing data engine …

I am excited to launch the first episode of the Building The Machine Podcast with my friend Nick Patrick who is the CEO and co-founder of Radar.io a location data infrastructure company. We go deep into the flywheel he has built, and go back to the beginning. The goal of this show is to dive …

Some years ago the advice was to try join a rocket ship at all costs. Get on, hang on, and the success of the company will lift you to new heights. Perhaps this best encompasses the past decade of startup lore – get off the treadmill of corporate work you are on and step aboard …

I have always loved prediction posts, but shied away from them myself, probably out of fear and imposter syndrome. Seeing the the posts of years past from others finally got me over the line and I wanted to share my thoughts here. Since it's a new decade, it also allows me to go deeper into …

Theres a scene in Black Hawk Down in which US forces have taken such heavy attack, sustained massive injuries, and cannot get out that they call back to base they are combat ineffective. Its a powerful scene and circumstance that shows the casualties of war and gruesome fighting during a firefight. Its also not the …

After about a year of consulting + executive coaching work as COO-As-A-Service for startups, I am happy to announce Ill be joining the folks at www.Company.co. If I have learned anything, its that the people you surround yourself with are everything. Company is a great fit: they host, advise, mentor, lend a shoulder, and provide …

Principles: Life and Work by Ray Dalio is an excellent read and background of Bridgewater and origin story. Getting to go this deep on how the firm began, has been run for so long, and understanding the open culture was fascinating. One of the more interesting takes within the book is the archetypes described and …

I am a big fan of the no update, update. A simple way to let someone know you are "on it" but with no material change. I was recently talking to a company I advise that is awaiting a big answer from a potential partner. I have a good relationship with them and to keep …

Many early stage investors look for financial models for 3+ years from founders to make an investment. Entrepreneurs often dont have this information, dont know how to put it together for the first time, and often are confused by the request. Like most posts, this request/conversation has come up enough to turn it into my …

Looking at what the competition is doing can be a huge distraction. The chances of another company having the same vision and services are remote, and typically what you see on the outside on their site and in the press don't perfectly reflect what is really going on inside. Too often I hear about focusing …

I have always liked the idea of having forcing functions, a forced reason to take action and produce a result, when dealing with most situations. Whether a fundraising event, hiring, or sales/partnership opportunity- these can be especially useful to make all parties move faster. In the end, time will kill all deals. Interestingly in the …

I realized recently that while many are searching for the startup playbook to execute on or the recipe for success, the harsh reality is they don't exist. While you can glean great steps to repeat that have worked, and avoid pitfalls that plagued others – there is no perfect model for building a successful company.  …

In the book Trillion Dollar Coach about Bill Campbell, there is an important section on Aberrant Geniuses. I like this term because he is using it in place of divas (or assholes). I have a low tolerance for this kind, but this shows them in a new light which I can appreciate. The book describes …

After reading the recent Chris Hughes Op-Ed in the NYTimes about Facebook I have been thinking about social networks. Having used just about every service out there, tried my hand in helping build one, and being immersed in social feeds for the last decade, I wanted to weigh in on where things might be going. …

(I originally drafted this post years ago while at Foursquare an in an effort to share more thoughts I edited for 2019 and bringing this to the surface – enjoy!) [2019 addition] When I first made the switch from BD to sales at Foursquare I learned a very valuable lesson that has stayed true throughout …

I have been working with early stage founders on sharing their narrative and story with others. One thing that stands out more than anything else is the ability to share their story arc in the context of a metric that they own. A few examples will help bring this to life. Back in 2013 Wunderlist …

The first 10 people of a new company can be responsible for making or breaking an organization. Put another way, its all about the team. People can matter more than things like the funding you have, traction and usage, product market fit, and many other things that seem to be at the top of everyones …

The end of every investor meeting always seems to end with the same thing; Let me know how I can be helpful Or Let me know if there is anything I can do to help. This is the common phrase, which is most times genuine, because everyone is always after being that added value investor. …