Reboot Podcast Episode #20 – Investors are Human Too – with Bijan Sabet

The Reboot podcast showcases the heart and soul, the wins and losses, the ups and downs of startup leadership. On the show, Entrepreneurs, CEO’s, and Startup Leaders discuss with Jerry Colonna the emotional and psychological challenges they face daily as leaders.

Episode 20 // July 30, 2015

Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.

Guests

Bijan Sabet

Bijan Sabet

General Partner, Spark Capital

View Bio

Episode Description

It sounds so obvious, perhaps even tongue in cheek, but it also seems to be forgotten enough that it needs to be said aloud again:

Investors are human too.

They, like the entrepreneurs they back, can ride the rollercoaster of emotions that often come with starting a company.

In this episode, Jerry Colonna is joined by Bijan Sabet of Spark Capital and they explore some of the tensions that often arise between investors and entrepreneurs, the emotional perspective of the investor, and the importance of purpose and artistry.

Bijan Sabet is a General Partner at Spark Capital.

He primarily invests in digital canvases and online communities for people at work and at play. He typically invests in startups after becoming a passionate user of the product. In particular, he looks for new approaches to building communities through the sharing of ideas and interests. Bijan was an early investor in Foursquare, Stack Exchange, Super, Trello, Tumblr and Twitter.

Show Highlights

[bctt tweet=”“VC’s are humans and get stressed and nervous like anybody else.” – @bijan” via=”no”]

[bctt tweet=”“The perception of VC’s is that they have so much money and power that they don’t warrant sympathy or empathy.” – @jerrycolonna with @bijan” via=”no”]

[bctt tweet=”“One day you are a hero and the next day you are a goat. The fact you were never really quite the hero or the goat.” – @jerrycolonna” via=”no”]

“The perception of VC’s is that they have so much money and power that they don’t necessarily warrant sympathy or empathy.” – Jerry Colonna

“One of the worst things is a VC who has had operating experience, who has no board seats, and no venture experience” @FredWilson to a just starting out @Bijan

My worst nightmare is having a VC on the board with me that has a situation where this is the shiny company and the rest of their portfolio is on fire.” – @Bijan

“We are not annihilated by failure. We are only annihilated when we merge self-esteem and self-worth with attainment of a goal, and then fail to achieve the goal.” – William James

“One day you are a hero and the next day you are a goat. The fact of the matter is that you were never really quite the hero or the goat.” – Jerry Colonna

“When you take a Board seat you are in service to the company and the community that has built up around the product.” – Jerry Colonna

“When we hold a sense of service it breaks down the ego attachment that is really behind marrying your self-esteem to the success of the investment.” – Jerry Colonna

“No matter what, my service to entrepreneurs is not going to fade away and I will be doing it in some capacity for a very long time.” – Bijan Sabet