If you could be doing anything — There is a coaching question that gets asked all the time. If you could be doing anything and you know it would succeed, what would you do? I ask myself this question at least once a month (in a formal way). The first answer is ‘exactly what you are doing…

Remembering my father. — This bit of writing is coming out of some of the deep reflection I have done over the past couple of years during my time of contemplating my next adventure. I was aware that I love innovation, and upon much reflection I came to see how the seeds of being…

Where I landed. — A blast from the past. Over the last few weeks I posted a link to a podcast that I did regarding the ecosystem work I had done in Eugene for over a decade. The post had many people reached out to reconnect, talk over the state of things, and find…

The compounding effect of adding energy to ecosystems. — Over the past few weeks I have gotten sucked back into the startup ecosystem world just a bit. I have had quite a few phone calls and slack exchanges on the nature of startup ecosystems, and the challenges of building and maintaining them. The conundrum we are collectively facing is…

Watching PBS and finding a better analogy. — I spend some time every week helping founders with pitch decks. I am always pushing them to simplify, to be clearer, and to find some way to make it make sense. Finding a good analogy that will help people ‘get’ what what you are building is always helpful. Explaining something…

The power of compounding in life. — When doing a startup, it feels like you need to nail it. Every day. Every sales call, every pitch, every meeting, you feel like you need to be ON. It seems that each and every thing is critical, and there is no room for mistakes. …

What everyone asked for and no one wants — Once upon a long time ago on a cold day that I can’t exactly remember the month, Kevin, Rob and I decided to make a trek out to check out a skateboard ramp in North Carolina which was know as the Wilson Ramp. The ramp was both beautiful and intimidating…

How a lifetime of action sports prepared me to be an entrepreneur. — I have had several conversations the last few weeks where I was struggling to articulate a concept that is so wired into who I am that words do not express it very well. I see the issue pop in in small businesses, and again and again it pitch decks and…

Finding the elusive business model for long term sustainability. — A while ago, I wrote an article which was essentially the easiest way for me to send out a message to all of the people I have interacted with in Eugene in order to say goodbye. It triggered a series of interactions in the twitter-verse that unlocked a flood or…