Startup Grind

Here is my story about Vinod Khosla. In May 2017, I was six weeks from running out of cash. I had over extended myself funding a software project inside of Startup Grind that later became Bevy. One night at midnight on the couch I said to my wife, "I'm about to run out of money and we're going to lose everything," She said, "You'll figure it out." I stayed up all night sending emails and praying. I had interviewed Vinod a few times at SG and barely knew him but I emailed him at 1:39am. He emailed me back at 7:34am asking for my number. He ended up calling me later that day in a ride to a meeting. His advice and encouragement helped propel me to raising $1M in 6 weeks and saved the company. I will never forget his willingness to answer an immediate call from a near stranger in my most desperate professional moment.

I was once pitching in a board room at a top 3 VC firm for a $15M Series A. 12 people in the meeting. One of the GPs fully fell asleep. Out cold for 30+ minutes. Nobody acknowledged it. Everyone just kept going. I kept presenting my Series A slides to an unconscious man in a Herman Miller chair and somehow that was considered normal. That's venture capital. You might fly across the country to perform for people who may or may not be conscious. It's a dance. And sometimes you lead and sometimes you follow and sometimes your partner is unconscious. If you're raising right now, just know: every founder has a story like this. The process is weird. The power dynamic is weird. You're not crazy for thinking it's weird. No one talks about it because they want to continue raising. But I'm happy to stick my neck out there. It is weird.