Posts By / Lindel Eakman

Window Shopping

I’ve got bad news for aspiring fund managers. Fundraising is only getting harder. I spend a fair amount of time each week connecting with LPs. We may see each other at events and annual meetings, or just set up calls to check in on pipelines and prospects. I’m often trying to get the other LP…

Saying “No” too often is part of being a good investor

  One of my favorite comments about our Partner Fund portfolio came from a well-known VC at a high-flying fund. She noted that we get to work with “all the good people in venture.” I suppose people are the price of admission for our family. However, we can’t invest in “ALL the good people in…

Mi Casa Es Su Casa – How we seek to interact with our family of GPs

As we share more about our fund investment thesis on the Foundry Group blog, I also wanted to give more transparency for how we interact with our GPs and how we aspire to help them. I’ve shared the text below from an email that we sent out earlier this year. I hope this provides a window into the form…

Venture Risk and Return circa 2017

I put the below note in an email to a friend a few weeks back and I find it’s something I’ve been thinking about and saying over the last year. I figure I might as well be on the record for it! VC formation is only following and responding to company formation. There has been…

Upfront 2017

I’m just getting going for Day 3 of Upfront hospitality here in Los Angeles. Upfront puts together their summit for the benefit of their LPs, entrepreneurs, and broader ecosystem. They do a hell of a job. It’s become a must-attend event for LPs and GPs alike. That’s saying something. You don’t get this many busy…

2017 – Off at a dead sprint!

It feels like this year has gone off at a dead sprint.  Perhaps it is seasonal cyclicality and I will see it every year but it’s very noticeable to me right now.  I think everyone caught up/saved up over the holidays and came out ready to rock.  I’ve seen a measurable increased inbound on both…

A tough election and a harder reflection

It was 3:36AM when I checked my phone. I know there are many things wrong with checking your phone at that time but I did it anyway. Then, I honestly didn’t believe the Slack messages from my partners. I went to the WSJ to see for myself. I was wide awake at this point. We…

Venture Optimism

I think I’ve got the fever. I woke up at 5AM on Saturday morning thinking obsessively about fundraising tips and tricks to share with my GPs. More on that later. My spinning wheels are a reflection of my last few days in SF. Michael Kim and SVB put together a great event focused on small…

Why mum’s the word in the LP world….

A few of the possible reasons LPs do not shout from the roof-tops! – or even provide good feedback… Benefit Many LPs would ask you what is the benefit?  Why speak out?  I’m overwhelmed with interesting deal flow and the last thing I need to do is generate YMI (yet more inbound)?  Why do this at…

A Human User Interface….with lots of quirks

  In information technology, the user interface (UI) is everything designed into an information device with which a human being may interact. I’ve borrowed that phrase to describe my interactions with other humans too. A human user interface encompassing personality, cultural, emotional and even physical qualities. It’s a fun way for me to describe people…