Comments on: Does It Occupy Your Shower Time?

By: larrycheng

larrycheng — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 02:40:13 +0000

Des – Priviliged to get two Pieri comments on different posts within a split second of each other. Great story. I guess epiphany is the mother of all invention.

By: Desmond Pieri

Desmond Pieri — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 02:26:54 +0000

Larry, this is off message from your post, but the shower reference reminded me of going to a world-wide, multi-location, simulcast event put on at Harvard Business School by Michael Porter. Porter’s point was about figuring out a narrow niche where your company could have a defensible competitive advantage. (Classic Porter.) One guest — by remote video from his home in the southwest — was Sam Barshop, the founder of La Quinta hotel. The target customer niche that Barshop decide on was business travelers who were traveling in their own cars and who paid their own expense. (That last point was key.) Porter loved it! He was so excited about this precise definition of the target customer. As the evening wore on — and the event went past its scheduled end time and Barshop was obviously up way past his bed time — Porter kept grilling Barshop on “How did you figure out that this was the best, most defensible niche to go after? Did you do focus groups? In depth market research? What?” Finally, after being asked the question one too many times, Barshop had the last line of the night when he said, “No, Micheal. I simply dreamed it up in the shower one morning.” We all got a good laugh, at Porter’s expense.

By: larrycheng

larrycheng — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 17:59:33 +0000

Pretty hilarious Jay – didn’t even know this existed.

By: Jay Levitt

Jay Levitt — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 16:51:08 +0000

And if the company does occupy your shower time, I heartily recommend these notebooks:

http://riteintherain.com/

They’re waterproof paper – meant for contractors and such. A 3×5 pad costs about three bucks on Amazon; with one of these and an all-plastic mechanical pencil, you are fully prepped for shower-based brainstorming.

By: larrycheng

larrycheng — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 11:05:19 +0000

Hey Jules – I agree – Bob is a really special breed. An absolute pleasure to work with.

By: larrycheng

larrycheng — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 11:04:28 +0000

Mike – well, we VCs fret a lot too. I guess that’s a problem in and of itself if the worries of your existing portfolio companies drown out your ability to fall in love with something else. It’s like losing your mojo.

By: larrycheng

larrycheng — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 11:03:30 +0000

David – actually now that I think about it – I have to agree. Growing up in San Diego, hanging out by the ocean has that same effect.

By: Apolinaras Sinkevicius

Apolinaras Sinkevicius — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 18:42:58 +0000

What Bob Kagle preaches (and practices) is very much in line with two other thoughts of thinking that have proven positive results for me. Warren Buffet says he only invests in what he knows and understands. No need to elaborate on that one. But second one is “investing with your gut”. I may not be a VC or angel, heck I spent 12 years in startup who were all customer-revenue funded, so we never wanted VC or angel money. But one thing I have learned in my career is that when I invest my human capital into a company, my gut better tell me I am going the right way and I better be so passionate about the venture I would wake up thinking about it. I have compromised on that twice in my career and both times got royally burned.

By: David Esrati

David Esrati — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 16:05:58 +0000

Water makes me think. By the ocean, in the shower, when swimming laps- it’s strangely powerful. There is more to it than being alone.

By: Mike Weiksner

Mike Weiksner — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 15:53:58 +0000

Sounds like a variant of the question “what keeps you up at night?” except with positive, rather than negative, valence. Put another way, I suppose entrepreneurs & CEOs fret about problems, whereas VC focus on opportunities.