Quality versus Quantity

I was berated this week (once indirectly by my partner Brad, and once directly by Ben Casnocha) for my lack of postings on my "dead" VC blog.  As Mark Twain once wrote, "the rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated".  While I understand the comment, I feel Brad and Ben are guilty of confusing quantity and quality.  When I started this experiment of writing and maintaining a blog (and let's be honest it is an experiment albeit one with a duration of now 12 months and counting), I very consciously set out to NOT post frequently but rather to attempt to write less frequent, more substantial articles (1500 to 2000 words) on my perspective on the Art of VC to share my own approach with the wider world of entrepreneurs (and to a lesser extent other VCs and LPs).  I did not want to write a diary (" a day in the life of a VC"), a gossip column ("latest, greatest deals") or a thinly veiled marketing vehicle (" hey, look at the latest thing my great company just did").  That's not to say those aren't valid approaches (Brad in particular has a great eclectic style that combines detail, high frequency, thoughtfulness and a strong sense of personality) but I consciously took a different  path.  One of the many refrains I hear from entrepreneurs about VCs is our ADD (constantly checking our Blackberries, not remembering the last board meeting, always looking for the next great deal, etc) so my writing cogent, longer articles I hoped to show that VCs despite appearances do think deeply about this business.

So how do I feel the experiment is going?  In terms of output, in 12 months I managed to write 6 of these articles (Picker or Builder?, What Do VC and Great Comedy Have in Common?, Kissing a Lot of Frogs, I Was Not Wrong Just Early, Backing Your CEO, All Entrepreneurs are Above Average).  This is fewer than I had hoped, but still a reasonable output of one article every two months.  In terms of feedback, I have reached an audience I would not otherwise have reached who have challenged me and encouraged me.  In terms of personal value, and this has been the biggest surprise, the exercise of articulating what I believe as a VC and exposing it to the world has forced me to sharpen my critical thinking faculties and examine how I operate as a VC , and more importantly, how I want to operate.

So what goals do I have for my blog in 2006?  I'd like to maintain the same level of substantive output (ie 6 articles) but try and mix in some more light hearted but thought provoking commentary.  Brad, Ben - thanks for the feedback, it made me think.

Comments

[Brad Feld]

Back you go on the blogroll.

[Ben Casnocha]

Robin - Fair enough. You can decide how to use the space, and longer, occassional essays is certainly one way to go (though not the norm for blogs). If you have in fact received good feedback and comments from folks (I've only seen 2-3 comments on all of your posts combined) then it's definitely worth it, and if it clarifies your thinking, that's also a great thing. So long as YOU are reaping rewards from it, keep on going!

I'm in the cole valley if you ever want to get together for coffee...