Visiting Venture
A few friends of mine are in start up mode. They have ideas and are looking for money and or people to help them get things going.
One of these friends asked me to pick him up for lunch from Sequoia Capital. He was visiting there looking for investors for his latest startup. SC is a venture capital firm with an office in a small wooded business complex in Menlo Park. It was raining heavily so I decided to wait in the lobby for him to complete his meetings. As I walked up I saw people through some windows in the complex. In one window there was a guy with metal disks waving them around demonstrating something to another man who sat silently watching. In another window, there was a guy running through what looked like a demonstration of a website. In the last window I saw a group of people reviewing a powerpoint. It occurred to me that in most cases there was one or more people asking for money and one or more people evaluating.
I made my way into the lobby and talked with the receptionist who was incredibly nice. She was all smiles, polite, and helpful. People I saw walking in and out of the building were also friendly and polite. My friend was late so I spent a few minutes in the lobby glued to my iPhone but watching the goings on. In many ways the place reminded more of college than of some workplace. Possibly, it was the dynamic of the interaction between the presenter and evaluator, or maybe just the generally friendly personalities of the people. I was happy to see that so many people were there with ideas.
When my friend came out (also in a very happy mood) I thought to myself that business will be booming again soon.
One of these friends asked me to pick him up for lunch from Sequoia Capital. He was visiting there looking for investors for his latest startup. SC is a venture capital firm with an office in a small wooded business complex in Menlo Park. It was raining heavily so I decided to wait in the lobby for him to complete his meetings. As I walked up I saw people through some windows in the complex. In one window there was a guy with metal disks waving them around demonstrating something to another man who sat silently watching. In another window, there was a guy running through what looked like a demonstration of a website. In the last window I saw a group of people reviewing a powerpoint. It occurred to me that in most cases there was one or more people asking for money and one or more people evaluating.
I made my way into the lobby and talked with the receptionist who was incredibly nice. She was all smiles, polite, and helpful. People I saw walking in and out of the building were also friendly and polite. My friend was late so I spent a few minutes in the lobby glued to my iPhone but watching the goings on. In many ways the place reminded more of college than of some workplace. Possibly, it was the dynamic of the interaction between the presenter and evaluator, or maybe just the generally friendly personalities of the people. I was happy to see that so many people were there with ideas.
When my friend came out (also in a very happy mood) I thought to myself that business will be booming again soon.
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