Brad Feld finds blogging an incredibly creative outlet

Do all venture capitalists come from Harvard or Stanford? Do venture capitalists fund a company with an intent to steal it? I’ve got a huge vision for something, now what? Those are some of the questions entrepreneurs want to ask venture capitalists. Knowing a venture capitalist well enough to ask such questions is difficult enough, getting them answered is next to impossible. Except if you are asking the questions on AsktheVC. The blog is penned by venture capitalists Brad Feld and Jason Mendelsen and and is perhaps the only blog around that attempts to answer every curious question that an entrepreneur may have about the rather mystical world of venture capital and fundraising. AsktheVC was born in 2006 and Feld calls it a ‘creative outlet’ that allows him to simply enjoy himself. Here are his responses to ten questions I put to him on blogging among other things. Edited excerpts:

Serial entrepreneur, serial venture capitalist, serial blogger — what would best define you?

Venture Capitalist. I’ve been investing as a VC since 1996. I was an entrepreneur from 1985 to 1996 and while I’ve helped start many companies as a VC, I’m still definitely playing the role of VC in these cases.

Is ‘AsktheVC’ primarily a philanthropic venture?

I write both Feld Thoughts and AsktheVC because I enjoy it. I’ve always loved to write and have found blogging to be an incredibly creative outlet. I’m delighted that both blogs appear to have positive impact on a wide range of people.

When are you at your blogging best in terms of creativity and productivity?

I tend to blog early in the morning. I get up at 5 AM every day during the week and work/exercise from 5 to 9. I usually have about an hour in there to read and write blogs.

Between yourself and Jason (Mendelson), do you split up areas/questions to address on the blog?

Jason and I do split up questions, but we don’t coordinate our writing in any way. We both just write what we think – and we sometimes contradict each other!

What are your most popular categories with entrepreneurs — hit rates, feedback, etc?

The ‘Term Sheet’ series on Feld Thoughts has been the most popular. While I get a lot of traffic on both blogs, I don’t study the analytics carefully as they don’t influence what I write about.

Three unique insights you’ve gained into the mind of the entrepreneur through your blog?

I don’t have a ‘list’. However, I’ve been blown away by the hunger from entrepreneurs for information about venture capital, how it works, why VCs do what they do, and how they think.

Have you had any exposure to entrepreneurs in India?

I haven’t really done much in India. Several of our companies – including Stratify (recently acquired by Iron Mountain) – have meaningful operations in India, but my investing focus has been entirely in the US.

Name three of your favourite venture capital blogs.

Fred Wilson – A VC, Ryan McIntyre – McInblog, Seth Levine – Seth Levine’s VC Adventure. Since Seth and Ryan are my partners, they might not count since I’m biased! So – here are a few others. When David Cowan (whohastimeforthis) gets around to blogging, it’s always great. Jeremy Liew (From Lightspeed Venture Partners) has also been writing some good stuff lately, as has Will Price (Will Price). I try to keep a list of all VC bloggers in the sidebar of AsktheVC.

Have you thought about commercializing AsktheVC?

We have no plans to commercialize AsktheVC.

Has AsktheVC’s advice ever gone wrong for somebody? Could you share an anecdote?

I’m sure our advice is not applicable to all situations. I also expect that we are wrong – I’m wrong often and quick to admit it when someone points it out to me. As a result, I don’t expect that all of our advice is necessarily right, although I don’t have any anecdotes of people that have taken our advice and had it backfire on them.

Photo Courtesy: Brad Feld