Startable – Healy Jones’ & Prasad Thammineni’s Blog

This is the time of the year to make resolutions… so here are a couple as they relate to my venture capital career in 2009:

Meet more senior executives

Last year, one of the most helpful things I did was to introduce several startups to experienced executives in their industry. In a couple of instances these experienced executives ended up providing very valuable advice to the startup founders, and some are in discussions to join the startup teams as board members, advisors or potentially as employees. I continue to be amazed at how open experienced yet entrepreneurial executives are to spending time with, making introductions to potential customers for and generally helping startup. Additionally, the right experienced executive joining a startup’s team can really make a company “fundable.” This year I will make it a goal to meet more of these entrepreneurially minded experienced executives and get them introduced to the best startups I can find.

Attend more conferences

I met some very interesting startup founders at several conferences last year. This year I will attempt to attend even more conferences, and will attempt to let the world know that I’ll be attending via this blog and other means. I also found that the conferences that I really prepared for were the ones that were the best use of my time. Simple resolution, but one that will require a real time commitment.

Blog more, and use Twitter + other social media more often

I’ve had some great meetings from people who I have met via the Startable. I’ve also really enjoyed some of the discussions I had either through the comments sections of the blog or over email conversations started off of a post. Hopefully this year I will better publicize Startable via Twitter and other social network means. I also hope to become more part of the general technology startup conversation. (FYI I am HealyHoops on Twitter)

Prepare better for meetings with entrepreneurs

Startup entrepreneurs work their butt off getting ready for meetings with venture capitalists. I’m not sure VCs always return the favor. I try to get up to speed before meeting with entrepreneurs, which is not always easy given the diverse set of companies I have been meeting with. I think about a third of the time I am not anywhere as well prepared as I’d like to be. This needs to improve – I owe it to the founders I speak with. (Please ignore those dangling prepositions.) I also need to do a better job briefing my partners before we have meetings with startups.  I do usually spend time letting the partners know who and why we are meeting with a startup, but I’ve found that if I let too much time go between this briefing and the actual meeting the partner… how do I say this politely, well I can’t, the partner has forgotten. Shame on me for letting this happen.

Well, those are some pretty simple resolutions – let’s see how I do this year! Let me know if you see any good posts from others in the entrepreneur/technology community on their new year’s resolutions or their hopes for 2009. Good luck to everyone this year, and let’s hope the world rights itself a little bit this year!