Lenovo Case Analysis free essay sample

Case Analysis Situation Analysis Chinese super brand Lenovo, some time ago shaped as Legend, has seen itself ascend from being a unimportant imported parts wholesaler into its country’s biggest PC maker just as being the world’s fourth. The organization currently has branches worldwide and has encountered fruitful developments since its foundation in 1984. Lenovo SWOT breakdown: Strengths: Lenovo has a mass and solid relationship with their residential client base. Being a homegrown organization positively helped Lenovo in comprehension and embellishment its PC lines into items that Chinese customers reliably spoke to. The organization additionally since quite a while ago settled extremely productive circulation and showcasing capacities. Shortcomings: In the finish of 2003, they encountered a falling stock value, decreases in PC shipments and administrative disarray. Though a solid client relationship and conveyance framework, they despite everything linger behind what Dell has particular. Openings: Domestically, PC shipments in all locales of China is anticipated to increment so Lenovo can get those requests. Also, the medium to higher market fragments, for example, medium organizations and the administration keep on having a predictable increment in PC utilization. All around, there are significant increments sought after and shipments of PCs particularly in Asia. Dangers: The greatest danger the organization has is confronting expanded rivalry from brands from both abroad and in China, particularly from Dell where it held the subsequent piece of the overall industry in the Chinese market. The market has gotten a lot of immersed and the customer point of view move from PCs being ‘luxurious’ to ‘commodities’ type items could go hazardous to Lenovo. Issue/Key Issue The changing elements of the PC business would be the premise of the issues experienced by Lenovo (and different firms in the market). Market immersion, entering and redesigning abilities of new and existing firms, the viewpoint of ‘commodity’ PCs by buyers and the need to make new techniques for selling and administrations all add up to the challenges Lenovo is confronted with a harder market. Elective Actions 1. Keep working with developments †As anticipated deals and shipments recommend that the organization can at present develop and increase more or possibly similar benefits, there is no scramble for Lenovo to change any of their working systems for a while. 2. Alter the company’s item blend †In this recommendation, Lenovo would need to move from their significant accentuation on PCs to portable handsets. 3. Combine its different organizations (centering locally) †By consolidating its various organizations of work areas, PCs, handheld PCs and portable handsets and concentrating on just a single primary business. 4. Stress outside activities (centering abroad) †Lenovo would pool in assets to focus on remote tasks; entering, infiltrating and increasing new piece of the overall industry or improving remote existing piece of the overall industry. Assessment of Alternatives 1. Keep working without adjustments †I) Advantages: Ability to keep up high benefit levels, zero expenses of progress usage, II) Disadvantages: Prone to future dangers of purchaser request change or new contenders, would not have the option to acquire new pieces of the overall industry, 2. Adjust the company’s item blend †I) Advantages: Expanding organizations not specific previously (versatile handhelds), II) Disadvantages: Complications on choosing which items to practice 3. Unite its different organizations (centering locally) I) Advantages: Lowering costs, underscoring the qualities on assembling PCs, brings down dangers, pooling of assets II) Disadvantages: Lower dangers implies lower returns, 4. Accentuate outside activities (centering abroad) I) Advantages: Gaining new pieces of the overall industry II) Disadvantages: Uncertain market information signifies dangers Recommendation The subsequent stage from the previously mentioned opportunities for Lenovo to pick best would be a blend of the first and the fourth proposal. I. Key Intent: To be capable as a PC maker locally and globally. II. Key Mission: A duration on local control by offering reliably up-to-standard items and to infiltrate/collect a critical improvement in remote markets. III. Key Result Areas (KRAs): A. Universal Department: Lenovo must guarantee that this office is set up productively to lead exchanges, arrangements and deals abroad. They would need to isolate their specialization into various divisions that have practical experience in finding, entering, infiltrating, and increasing remote information. B. Innovative work Department: Since advertise immersion will make issues the firm, Lenovo’s RD office must be state-of-the-art, imaginative, creative and would should push towards developing new advancements. IV. Systems: (Two options are chosen. The principal elective will proceed out of sight while the subsequent elective will be the strategy that Lenovo would do broadly. ) A. Starting Phase: The global office would initially assemble information and data of different nations at that point would designate a nation as the most conceivable competitor e. g. Thailand or India as a result of their PC use development. B. Item Modification: Once the objective nation is chosen, the nation and the customer information would be gathered. When picked up, these information would be utilized to alter the PC models to suit the chose nation. The way toward entering would likewise be picked. C. Outside Phase: The changed item would be gone into the nation and the worldwide office would screen its encouraging. D. Foundation Operations: Lenovo would even now be making and putting resources into innovative work. They would need to guarantee that they assign proper assets and assets towards the RD office. V. Destinations: 1. To keep up critical piece of the overall industry in the Chinese residential market. 2. To keep carrying creative items into the market locally. 3. To expand unfamiliar to local deals proportion.

Employees or Independent Contractor-Free-Samples for Students

Questions: 1.Give Veronica legitimate guidance corresponding to the circumstances. 2.Advise Mary concerning her lawful position, refering to pertinent statuteand Case Law. Answers: 1.Issue: The issues that would emerge in the given case dependent on the realities of the case are: Regardless of whether there is a vicarious obligation on Veronica for the demonstration of Sylvester? Regardless of whether there is a vicarious obligation on Veronica for the demonstration of Bob? Rules of Law: To respond to the inquiry whether there was a risk that existed we need to see whether the Sylvester and Bob were workers or self employed entity (Difference among representatives and temporary workers, 2017). On account of Performing Right Society Ltd v Mitchell and Booker (Palais de Danse) Ltd the obligation of the litigant relied upon if the connection between the gatherings was that of individual agreement or manager and representative (Performing Right Society Ltd v Mitchell and Booker (Palais de Danse) Ltd, 1924). The composed agreement between the gatherings had ordinary long periods of work, fixed business period, the work environment was directed, administration requests selectiveness, rundown excusal directly for break of guidance, there was predominant, nitty gritty and persistent control on every single point. These elements prompted the choice that the band was a worker (Burnett, 2007). The pressure was laid fair and square of control that was put or the control test for deciding whether the band was a worker in any case, there were different factors also that were thought of. On account of Zuijs v Wirth Bros Pty Ltd (1955) the elements which were considered by the High Court for characterizing the connection among Zuijs and carnival was that the compensation was given in wage structure, synopsis excusal should be possible dependent on wrongdoing, in spite of the fact that there was no immediate control that the bazaar had over the presentation of Zuijs act since they didn't have the necessary ability there was bearings given for different viewpoints (Zuijs v Wirth Bros Pty Ltd, 1955). These elements were considered to add up to work, it was contemplated by High Court that however the exhibition of obligations relied upon unique information or ability or the demonstration of the worker possibly with the end goal that there is no place for order that existed, this be that as it may, was not the point what made a difference was the legitimate expert for telling thus far as there is extension to do likewise. This case is the expert for the rule that it isn't the genuine control yet the option to control which is basic. To address the subject of obligation we need to glance through the idea of vicarious risk, there is vicarious risk on the business for the demonstration of the worker or any exclusion if the equivalent is finished over the span of his work. As opined on account of Llyod v Grace Smith the general guideline for risk is that the business is at risk for the extortion and untrustworthy direct or exclusion of the worker if such a demonstration was done inside the representative course of business (Llyod v Grace Smith, 1912). On account of New South Wales v Lepore (Thomson, 2012) it was opined by Gleeson CJ that (New South Wales v Lepore, 2003): Not everything that a representative accomplishes at work, or during working hours, is adequately associated with the obligations and duties of the worker to be viewed as inside the extent of the business. What's more, the way that bad behavior happens away from the working environment, or outside typical working hours, isn't decisive against obligation. On account of Ffrench v Sestili a valuable examination of this test has been made where the representative had misused the assets throughout his business (Ffrench v Sestili, 2007). The Full Court Supreme Courts choice, Debelle HJ in simultaneousness with Layton HJ and Sulan HJ contained a helpful refining of the standards from the case law as for the vicarious obligation principle. There were two suggestions that were refered to by Debelle which were significant, first the way that it was deliberately that the representative had occupied with a lead that was criminal or other penetrate of law may not be adequate for denying vicarious risk and second the way that such direct which was locked in by the worker was in opposition to the guidelines that the business had given was not adequate for denying the vicarious obligation. As for individual obligation in a business structure of a sole merchant there is close to home risk on the proprietor of the business structure regarding each part of the business (Sole dealer, 2017). There is an individual risk for all parts of the business which incorporates a business liabilities or obligations. There can't be any sharing of this obligations. For all parts of maintaining the business there is an individual obligation (Adams, 2015 p. 78). Utilization of Law Veronica and Sylvester, there will be an individual risk on Veronica for the demonstrations of Sylvester. It very well may be seen as on account of As saw on account of Performing Right Society Ltd v Mitchell and Booker (Palais de Danse) Ltd applying the control test and Zuijs v Wirth Bros Pty Ltd that however the presentation of obligations relied upon unique information or ability or the demonstration of the representative possibly with the end goal that there is no place for order that existed, this in any case, was not the point what made a difference was the legal expert for telling thus far as there is degree to do a similar consequently Sylvester is a worker and not an individual temporary worker. There will be a vicarious risk on Veronica for the demonstration Sylvester as opined on account of Llyod v Grace Smith since it was in his extent of work. Further as on account of New South Wales v Lepore it doesn't make a difference on the off chance that it was not in the working e nvironment that the demonstration happened. Further on account of Ffrench v Sestili the risk would not be expelled simply because the demonstration was not in circle of business or the way that it was not trained by the worker. Subsequently being a sole dealer she will be by and by at risk for the demonstration of Sylvester. Veronica and Bob, albeit like Sylvester Bob is was likewise a representative anyway he had been terminated by Veronica in this manner according to the Llyod v Grace the demonstration was not inside the course of his work as he was not, at this point the worker of Veronica End Veronica being a sole merchant and boss would be vicariously at risk for the demonstration of Sylvester yet not for the demonstration Bob. 2.Issues The issue is in the given circumstance that: Regardless of whether there is an installment obligation on the association for the installment to Mary for the acquisition of looking over instruments? Regardless of whether there is installment obligation on the association for the installment to Mary for the acquisition of smaller than normal oil drillers? Rules of Law For replying of issue as for the presence of installment obligation it is fundamental to under the idea of exchange which there between the gatherings. The segment 5 of the Partnership Act (Cth,) states that the accomplices of a firm are its operators and they are additionally for the reasons for doing the business different accomplices specialists, this business is required to be in the ususal way, and it is a part accomplice who has attempted such a demonstration, at that point all things considered the accomplices and the firm will be limited by such a demonstration. Except if, a proof is there for the way that there was no power that the accomplice who was following up for the sake of the firm had for acting in such way and the person with whom the exchange was made was either mindful of it or if not mindful didn't accept that there was such position that existed. There exists between the organizations accomplices a trustee relationship, there is an obligation that an accomplice owes towards different firms accomplices when he is activity for the benefit of the firm as its specialist and their exists an obligation comparatively for the accomplices which they owe towards the accomplices who is following up in the interest of the firm as was opined on account of (Phillips-Higgins v Harper, 1954). For the firm to be held subject for a demonstration which is finished by one of its accomplices with no expert for doing such a demonstration in the way that it has been done it is required that there ought to be four prerequisites that should be consented to as referenced beneath (Fletcher, 2007, p 110): First: The exchange ought to be entered by an accomplice. Second: It is inside the businesss scope that the exchange or act ought to be finished. Third: It must be inside the typical way that it is affected. Fourth Requirement: Essential that the executing party is uninformed of the way that the accomplice executing has not authority or accepts or realizes that such authority is isn't there. On account of National Banking Corporation of Australia Ltd. v Batty it was opined by the High Court that the rest of the accomplices would at present be held subject for a demonstration regardless of whether it had been finished by the accomplice without the accomplice having any genuine authority of doing such a demonstration (National Banking Corporation of Australia Ltd. v Batty, 1986). Further on account of Watteau v. Fenwick (Watteau v. Fenwick, 1893) it was opined by the court that the regulation of head and operator will apply once it has been built up that the chief is the litigant. The risk of the considerable number of demonstrations of the operator will be with the head. For an exchange which has been gone into by the accomplice of the firm, there may exist an obligation on the firm for such exchange despite the fact that the exchange has not been gone into by the firm. The case is so when the exchange which has been gone into by the firm is for the most part in a similar industry (Mercantile Credit Co Ltd v Garrod, 1962). Despite the fact that, on account of Goldberg v Jenkins (1889) 15 VLR 36 (Goldberg v Jenkins, 1889) it was opined that in the circumstance wherein the exchange made is past the standard method of the firm then all things considered the firm can't be bound to such exchange Utilization of Law There is an agreement of offer and buy that had been entered among Mary and Smith for studying supplies and smaller than expected oil driller. The agreement for t

Inherent Risk free essay sample

Natural hazard Computerizing hazard Non-routine exchanges (Beasley 2010, p268) ‘Transactions that are surprising for the customer are more probable than routine exchanges to be erroneously recorded, in view of the customer frequently needs involvement with recording them. ’ Why it is hazard: Santos utilize a progression of automating or IT innovation to help their business for increment advertise rivalry. IT innovation has been utilized for exchange requesting frameworks among customs and Santos. Clients can request or buy products on the web. In this way, non-routine exchanges may happen if clients curious about the automating framework. What’s more, Computerizing framework would consistently commit a similar error, if the framework has not planned appropriately. Along these lines, It may likewise contain some misquote of exchanges or increment openings that the exchange record mistakenly, for example, , some of deals exchanges may record in ‘other income’ due to modernizing framework configuration botch. Error of deals record would prompt gauge wrong genuine benefit toward the finish of budgetary year, subsequently it contain dangers to evaluate wrong additionally influence the Proof: Make sure that the modernizing framework had been planned appropriately; survey the mechanizing framework to distinguish whether there are a few errors. We will compose a custom paper test on Inborn Risk or on the other hand any comparative subject explicitly for you Don't WasteYour Time Recruit WRITER Just 13.90/page Explore deals account and other pay account, recognize whether each exchange has been recorded effectively. The board chance Factors identified with false monetary announcing and misappropriation of benefits (ASA 240 motivators/pressures) Adverse connection between the element and workers with access to money or different resources vulnerable to the robbery may persuade those representatives to misuse those advantages, for xample: advancements, remuneration, or different prizes conflicting with desires. The executives and shortcomings in interior control might be available when misquote due to either false money related detailing or misappropriation. Why it is chance (ASA240 ) Asset error or been record inaccurately because of inspiration that robbery could profit by it. Feeble administration of inner condition would prompt misrepresentation or misquote occurred by close to home inspiration.

Disguise Is Often Presented as a Cruel and Painful Practice. to What Extent Do You Agree That Disguise Is Used to Create Comic Moments in Twelfth Night free essay sample

Whatever degree do you concur that mask is utilized to make comic minutes in twelfth night? Shakespeare consolidates the method of camouflage in the twelfth night to make comedic components in the play; anyway some may contend that the idea of mask is frequently merciless as it makes disarray and confusions that could prompt genuine results. In Shakespearian occasions the job of ladies was limited to as a rule their own homes and this was the situation on the phase in Shakespeare’s plays. The entirety of the on-screen characters were men even in the ladies jobs. This could be one of the primary strategies of mask that Shakespeare utilized that could depict satire as a man in a female job is comedic in any case, it likewise puts across disarray particularly in plays like the twelfth night where characters like Viola assumes a job as a male persona. Viola is the primary and evident component of mask in the twelfth night. She makes the comic part of the play as sensational incongruity is delineated in light of the fact that none of the characters realize that Cesario, the individual who she has made through her mask, is actually a lady. Her character makes a kind of affection triangle between her, Olivia and Orsino however she can uncover nothing in dread of uncovering her personality, â€Å"whoe’er I charm, myself would be his wife† (Act 1 Scene 4). The brutal and agonizing practice is revealed through this as Olivia doesn’t realize that the individual she is succumbing to is in truth a ladies and Viola can do nothing to tell her this, driving Olivia on into something that can’t occur. This is additionally the situation with Viola as she can’t broadcast her adoration for Orsino. Shakespeare makes torment chiefly in the brain of Viola as the destiny is at last in her grasp yet the mask has confined her. The imperative of her character is an issue or seemingly the comedic side of the twelfth night. In act 3 scene 4 Sir Toby make a duel between Sir Andrew and Viola against both their wills, â€Å"Sir Andrew and Viola draw their swords†. The camouflage has conflicted with her as all the on looking characters accept that Sir Andrew is battling a man when it is really a lady which nobody would think about reasonable, another case of where the concealed personality prompts a coldblooded practice. The possibility of Viola taking on the appearance of a man in any case could likewise be viewed as a savage practice as it shows that she knows that her being a ladies she might be dismissed socially which is the reason she takes on the mask in any case, this features the man centric culture in Shakespearian occasions that ponders the play. Malvolio is another character who takes on a type of camouflage in the expectation of satisfying the alleged wishes of his woman Olivia, â€Å"I thank my stars, I am cheerful! I will be peculiar, strong, in yellow stockings, and cross gartered, even with the quickness of putting on. Jove and my stars be adulated! † (Act 2 Scene 5). Maria, Sir Toby, Sir Andrew and Feste all stunt Malvolio into wearing the garments that woman Olivia loathes and Malvolio being innocent and pompous succumbs to this. The result was intended to be comedic for Maria and her companions and the crowd likewise share the snickers essentially as a result of silliness of Malvolio and the new dress sense he takes. The manner by which this parody came to fruition notwithstanding, originated from an exceptionally malevolent arrangement coordinated by Maria as the possibility of deceit was included which caused Malvolio to accept that Lady Olivia cherishes him. The crowd who additionally share the parody can’t help yet feel a type of regret for Malvolio. Malvolio putting on the cross gartered yellow socks lead him to being taken care of in the alleged jail. Feste plays the job of Sir Topas the cleric so as to deceive Malvolio into imagining that he has gone crazy, â€Å"Sir Topas the clergyman, who drops by Malvolio the lunatic† (Act 4 Scene 2). The room where Malvolio is secured in is dim so he couldn’t check whether it were really Sir Topas despite the fact that we know it isn’t. Feste didn’t need to take the camouflage of Sir Topas yet rather simply solid like him, this shows the impact of a mask as he decides to dress like the minister to conceivably get into character to depict the character all the more obviously. This is extremely remorseless as Feste utilizes cunning and disarray to demonstrate Malvolio to be something he’s not and furthermore cause him to accept that a Priest is counseling him. At last the method of camouflage is regularly used to make a shrouded personality and disarray between characters, Shakespeare be that as it may, utilizes this strategy to make comic components also. As raised before we find that the sexual disarray love triangle between Olivia, Orsino and the Viola/Cesario character makes parody. Olivia as we probably am aware succumbs to Cesario who’s a ladies, yet we likewise find that Orsino might be pulled in to Cesario as it were, in plain terms this is adequate as she’s a ladies however he tends to her as a male which brings up the issue of what Shakespeare is attempting to layout. This is demonstrated â€Å"That state thou workmanship a man: Dianas lip Is not increasingly smooth and rubious; thy little funnel Is as the ladies organ, ear-splitting and sound, And everything is semblative a womans part† (Act 1 Scene 4). Shakespeare might be attempting to accomplish something more than parody by saying that camouflage may bring out different components. The other part of satire was investigated when Malvolio was deceived by the letter into wearing the camouflage which thus caused the detainment of him, which could then be contended is an excruciating practice. The mask of Viola additionally causes the coldblooded treating of Antonio as he professes to have been with Viola/Cesario for 3 months and that they were together when they went to the town and Orsino and Viola plainly realize that she has been working with Orsino, the disarray among Viola and Sebastian on account of the camouflage is obvious; â€Å"Today, my ruler and for a quarter of a year prior to no int’rim, not a minute’s opportunity, both day and night did we keep company† (Act 5 Scene 1). At the point when all camouflages from Viola’s to Feste’s and the explanation for Malvolio’s mask is completely uncovered Shakespeare indeed brings request after totally had gotten sidetracked. There is no comic factor when everything is uncovered however there is in truth a feeling of distress for Malvolio as everybody is cheerful separated from him. This could show that there is no encouraging points in mask and in the long run it will prompt a pitiless consummation for this situation Malvolio endured the outcomes.

Meaning of life †Mind Essay

The importance of life is an inquiry that is tossed around from individual to individual asking them what they think. A few people have a thought of what the importance of life is and different does not understand. Some accept that you simply live and others accept while living you find the importance. During this article I will discuss what others think about this inquiry. At the point when I had a discussion with my dad about what the significance of life is about he had a similar reaction to the inquiry that fundamentally every other person had concocted. The one contrast that he said while we were visiting was that life is loaded with decisions and choices. I considered for some time about what he said feeling that there was increasingly behind it then exactly what he had expressed. What I thought of was that perhaps he was suggesting that what we do during our term of living is the thing that sets up the following thing that occurs throughout everyday life. So every decision that we make is significant in that it’s not the importance of life that’s so significant but rather the idea of what we do during life is the importance. Some may differ demon despite everything considering what my dad has said to, however its simply one more perspective and I have no issue taking a gander at it from an alternate edge. Another enormous point with regards to the subject of the significance of life is music. Music is an incredible method to hear what others and particularly craftsman think about the significance of life thought their tunes. Once in a while it’s difficult to hear however on the off chance that you listen intently there is constantly a message some place that says something regarding the importance of life. For instance in the tune â€Å"I don’t wanna be† By the craftsman Gavin Degraw he stands up against his opinion of the importance of life tossed what others are and what he doesn’t need to turn into. â€Å"I’m encompassed by liars wherever I turn Frauds wherever I turn encompass me I’m encompassed by personality emergency wherever I turn Am I the only one who’s taken note? I can’t be the only one who’s learned I don’t need to be something besides what I’ve been attempting to be of late All I need to do is consider me and I’ve true serenity I’m tired of looking ’round rooms thinking about what I got the chance to do Or who I’m expected to be I don’t need to be something besides me† (www. sing365. com) What these verses are fundamentally saying is that he can see that everybody around him is acting like something that there not. At that point he says that he doesn’t need to act like every other person and not know what his identity is nevertheless he simply needs to be he and live the manner in which he needs to. The following theme that is a decent spot to discover the importance of life is the inventive personalities of craftsman and there work of art. Craftsmanship is constantly a decent spot to discover the importance of life in light of the fact that again the craftsman have a message in there work covered up and you need to discover what there saying. The main distinction from music is as opposed to stating the message they paint the message in a type of picture climate it’s a tormenting or it’s a figure. There is numerous ways that you can find importance of life. Somehow or another its not what you locate the significance of life in its progressively about what you see of the importance of life. When you see something like an artwork or a melody what do you think it is attempting to state? Does it paint an image in your mind and what does that image resemble? I find that the most ideal approach to see the importance of life is tossed film. Motion pictures are a picture of the existence that we live however it shows us the genuine importance of life such that we would all be able to comprehend. Individuals are visually impaired with regards to what makes them in this world. In a film the character is set up to live there life and tossed occasions gives us what makes them exceptional. In one film the Shaw shank recovery the primary character Andy is sentenced for a homicide that he doesn’t submit and is compelled to go to hail forever. In the film you believe that he has nothing to live for any longer except for in a manner they present what his importance of life is and how it comes clear to the characters eyes. The character see’s that he needs certine things in life to live. Companions was something that he found was essential to carry on with a cheerful and full life. Expectation is another; in the event that you don’t have trust, at that point you don't have anything to anticipate so then what is the purpose of living. The primary idea in the film was get going living or get going dieing. What this is assume to mean is if your not going to begin living and doing all the things you need to finish in life you should begin on dieing. The significance of life is unpredictable and you can’t consistently get everything that it’s going to toss at you. That’s why motion pictures, craftsmanship and music in around with the goal that others who consider the theme more can show you there impel. In the event that you tune in and take a gander at considerations things you can learn things that will give you what the importance of life is or if nothing else what you can do to begin on carrying on with your life.

Venrock

Venrock INTRODUCTIONMartin: Hi, today we are in beautiful Palo Alto in the Venrock office. Hi, who are you and what do you do?Brian: I am Brian Ascher, partner here at Venrock.Martin: What is Venrock doing?Brian: So, Venrock is an early stage venture capital fund. It is one of the longest standing VC firms in the country and probably in the world. It got started actually in the 1930s as the VC arm of the Rockefeller family and we are in our timeline room where you can see some of the early investments back in the day when Laurence Rockefeller led companies back then the hot technology space, aerospace and rocketries, so Eastern Airlines, McDonald Aircraft, Piasecki Helicopter, Alaska airlines, they all got seed funding from Laurence Rockefeller and his advisors.Martin: Tell us about your story. So you have been quite long at Venrock, what did you do before?Brian: So before becoming a VC I was product manager at Intuit, responsible for the Quicken product family back in the early days of that product.Martin: And what made you become a venture capitalist?Brian: That’s a good question. I had some exposure to the industry while at business school and prior to that and it always seemed like an intriguing thing to do. So when I was wrapping up my work as a product manager I decided to apply to the Kauffmann fellowship which places folks early in their career into venture firms and I thought , “If I get in, I’ll see what that’s like and if not I will keep doing startups or something”. And I got in and I loved it and I consider a privilege to work with entrepreneurs, so I keep doing it.ABOUT VENROCK VCMartin: Can you briefly walk us through the typical investment due diligence process? S once a startup comes into your office in the beginning of the funnel,how it is proceeding?Brian: We try to be very flexible and really tailor the approach to the specifics of that company. I like to simplify it into three phases.So the first phase is we will have a meeting and I cons ider it a sniff test. Is there a mutual interest after a meeting and maybe a phone call or two and discussing it internally.If yes, then it moves into the second phase which I like to think of as the high order of it. This is kind of the most phases because it is when we will drill down on the most important critical few issues. So whatever that could be, it might understanding the competitive dynamics, better understanding the technology, understanding the market need, what have you. We try to do it quickly, a couple of weeks, sometimes faster. And it is really being efficient by getting through our network or through the company to the heart of the matter.And then the third phase is more of ‘Let’s leave no stone unturned ‘, let’s do management reference check, let’s make sure we have spoken to all of the customers, let’s go through the financial model, lets start to discuss what a deal might look like, let’s examine the cap table, let’s meet the whole partnership a nd we will decide and move towards a close.But really it is that second phase that the high order bid or the ‘bang for the buck’ phase where you try to really zero in on a does this make sense as an investment for Venrock and for you to have us as your partner.Martin: What is the typical conversion rate from phase 2 to phase 3?Brian: I’d say if it passes phase 2 it is reasonably high. We don’t tend to look at numbers very often but I’d say it’s the most important phase so maybe half.Martin: Ok, cool. And what is the typical time span or range of deals so maybe like form four weeks to ten months in terms of the whole process?Brian: Well, ten months would certainly be more of a case where it wasn’t right at that time, so we or they agreed, “Hey, we are going to revisit this several months down the road, six months down the road”. It happens quite a bit where for whatever reasons the company decides not to raise then or maybe they raised small round and they come to s ee us as with a status update, but rarely it takes us you know six months of rigorous analysis to get to an answer, that just doesn’t happen. We have done deals in as quickly as a week. It is not the most comfortable thing to do and I’d say it is not great for either side because it is a very important decision for the entrepreneur to know who they are getting hitched with for a long haul. And it is also really hard to really understand the business that quickly so I’d say the comfort zone starts at two weeks and maybe goes four to six weeks. But the difference, at least the way we do it is, once you have a term sheet we are really, really interested to invest and it is just legal due diligence from there and that almost never uncovers a problem.Martin: Brian, what is the sweet spot for an investment in terms of sizing or maybe business model industry?Brian: As far as size we are flexible.There is really no lower limit. It’s not that we have such a large fund, unless you can take a lot of money from us we are not interested. We could seed something for 500K, but a small check for a proper series A might be 3 or 4 million, but we have written checks as large as 10 or 11 or 12. That is a big check for us. And then our expectation is that over the life of the company we may have to double the investment or even triple it sometimes. Really depends on how the capital intensive the business is and what we think the future fundraising looks like.As far as sectors we are quite broad in our coverage of both life science and that is everything from healthcare IT, the biotech and diagnostics and medical devices. And then on the IT side it is everything from infrastructure like security or virtualization to enterprise applications, whether horizontal SaaS like a marketing technology company or vertical solutions in finance or retail or healthcare on up to consumer place.Martin: What health industries or sectors do you find very interesting or promising for the nex t two or three years? Seeing that the SaaS market was very hot over the last two or three years for example.Brian: I have a theme that is most interesting to me and it is the notion that the software is becoming intelligent. And what I mean by that is you are taking data technologies or approaches rather, like machine learning, predicative analytics, artificial intelligence, although that word is probably overused, and using it to actually answer a business problem or use the computer to provide an actual recommendation to an end user. Because if you think about what software has historically been is really a database with a UI on top. That is what salesforce.com is or CRM is or has been because they are changing, trying to add more intelligence to their app. It is a place that stores customer records and it has got an UI customized to that task and to get the value you have to run a report or look at the records and decide up in your brain what inference you would make, what action you would take and how to drive that through the organization. Quicken was really the same thing; it was a place you stored transactions and we had a checkbook metaphor and you can run reports and look up a pie chart and figure out where your spending in going and then decide, “Oh I should spend less, I should create budget and do all of that.” Whereas now with machine learning and artificial intelligence you can have the app decide, “I am going to recommend for you ways for you to save money or achieve your financial goals, send your kid to college, retire comfortably. Or in the B2B setting the software can actually tell you which prospective buyers are out there, showing intent in the marketplace that you are not even aware of. Here is how they much they are going to buy, what they are going to buy, when they are going to buy it and here is the message you should deliver to reach out to them, based on the interest that the software is seeing either on your electronic channe ls or across the web through various data sources.So I think there is a profound difference what software will do, not just in terms of how it is deployed or delivered which is the advantage for taking it from off premise to cloud but really the value. I think it is creating more value for the end user, requiring them to do less work to get the value.Martin: When you look at predictive analysis apps are you more looking at infrastructure companies or are you looking at SaaS models who are just solving some unique niche problems for some companies for example? Or are you looking at a company that owns really exclusive data sources for example?Brian: So there are definitely infrastructure opportunities. It is not where I focus my efforts. I am focused on the app. And really the key to the app is often times really understanding the domain and the problem and the customer need well enough to know what data you would want and then how to create the answers coming out of that data. It is rarely about cutting edge math. The math isn’t easy and it is sophisticated but no one is inventing new math to come up with the answer. It is really all in problem definition, there is often a lot of data cleansing work that goes on there is a lot cleverness you need and sourcing the data. Sometimes there may be unique and proprietary data. A lot of times that is more of a business model and a biz dev kind of advantage. If you can create a networkeffect even better, so you have more data than the competitors. But really it is so much more about understanding the domain and then presenting it to user experience that lets the business user or the consumer solve their problem in a quick and delightful way.Martin: What kind of interesting stories did you experienced over the last 18 years with entrepreneurs where you say, “Wow, this was very interesting, this was a problem and entrepreneur occurred and that is how he racked it or I and some of my partners gave them some helpful ad vice”?Brian: Great question. I’d say that the big observation is just how rare the true force of nature entrepreneur is. And by force of nature we mean that person for whom failure is just not an option and they will keep coming at the problem and modifying their approach if they need to and just make a much bigger outcome or company than the innate market suggested was possible.And so when you are in the presence of a truly great entrepreneur who just exudes that sort of drive and energy and creativity and combines this optimism for the future with the pragmatic sense of what it is going to take to get moving today. You don’t want to overthink your way out of doing those kinds of investment based on “Oh, well what if this goes wrong or that goes wrong”, because that great entrepreneur will figure it out, hopefully it will help as well. But it is remarkable how there is so much that is possible that you might envision at the outset and so it is a great entrepreneur that ta kes you there.Martin: Many people think that we are currently at the brink of a bubble bursting. What is your perspective on that?Brian: I don’t feel like it is a bubble that we had in let’s say in 2000 or even 2008. I think the public markets have remained largely disciplined on valuation. You have some late stage private valuations that have gotten crazy but fundamentally the basis of innovation is incredible right now.There is so many technology catalysts, social catalysts, industries willing to adapt cloud or technology based solutions that I feel really good at the real innovation, real value that is being created. And so if the late stage private markets cool off a little bit that is ok, that is not going to create some huge explosion and nuclear winner like we had in 2000, 2001, 02, 03. I think there is a little bit of market cycle on the late stage stuff but the early stage I think hasn’t gotten quite so overheated because there is still so much risk in the beginning, particularly because it is obvious that there is still a lot of traction. I don’t spend that much time worrying about timing the market as far as our investments go.Martin: When you look at an entrepreneur coming to you and pitching for an idea and you are an early stage investor, how do you balance the evaluation of the founder or the founder team with the business idea or the business model that is currently “The plan”?Brian: It comes back a little bit toâ€" if you really hate the idea it is hard to meet someone who is so compelling you are going to follow them into the idea you is just don’t believe in. But if the idea seems a little small, but generally ok, like a good idea you’re just not sure how big, a good entrepreneur is worth backing his idea. You really can never tell just how big an opportunity will be because there are always opportunities that present themselves once you get into the market and the customers start telling you what else they want, etc. But for us we are really people centric so it is more people first and market second. There is a school of thought the opposite approach is ‘Give me a huge market and I will find a team’. It is just really hard to match a great team and pull one together and make sure that they are cohesive and was it their initial idea or not.I think there is something special about a founding team that came up with the idea, feels ownership in every fiber of their body and it is going to walk through walls or through fire to make it successful and passing by that by bringing in professional management I think kills some of the magic. So ideally you are starting with a great team in an interesting market and then it gets even more exciting as they find their way to the sweet spot.Martin: Brian, imagine you have 10 entrepreneurs in front of you. How do you really identify the great entrepreneur and also identify the not so great ones?Brian: It is really hard and there are always surprises and I don’ t think anyone had had it figured out perfectly. But so common traits areâ€" smart is a given, there are a lot of smart people around the world and so it is highly necessary but insufficient.I think the great entrepreneurs have a personal energy and enthusiasm and it doesn’t necessarily mean that they are the life of the party with the lampshade on their head, but you can just tell that their conviction and passion around an ideaand it permeates everything they do and every conversation you have. Then, I think they also have pragmatic sense of “I face a lot of challenges right now, but where I am going is great. And they are kind of diametrically opposed in a way because you don’t want someone who is just dismissive of all the challenges they have today, “All is great, oh we have this problem solved, we have nothing else to learn.” That is probably not a healthy attitude, nor is a one that is constantly worried about, “We are going to fail, this is wrong” and they are shooting to a nice safe outcome, not a big outcome. So if you can do both â€" be abundantly optimistic about the future and really pragmatic and disciplined about the present, that is important.The best entrepreneurs have this mental agility or flexibility to be constantly taking in feedback and adjusting. And it is not a big pivot, so to speak, but just all those little adjustments that you need to find your way to the sweet spot of a market and a solution.I guess the last thing I would say is the best entrepreneurs tend not to get defensive. They can take tough questioning and respond appropriately or with good answers or admission that, “Hey, that is a risk. I don’t know. We are going to figure that over time but that is a risk you as an investor need to be willing to accept along with me”. Because I think however hard questions coming from an investor might be, the challenges that the market throws at you, competitors throw you, the key executive throws at you, those are m uch harder problems than a venture capitalist questions. And I think that great entrepreneurs realize that and take them in stride and respond with their best shot at an answer or an answer which says, “I don’t know yet. I will figure it out.”ADVICE TO ENTREPRENEURS FROM BRIAN ASCHER In Palo Alto (CA), we meet Partner at Venrock, Brian Ascher. Brian talks about how he became a venture capitalist and what his major learnings for entrepreneurs are.INTRODUCTIONMartin: Hi, today we are in beautiful Palo Alto in the Venrock office. Hi, who are you and what do you do?Brian: I am Brian Ascher, partner here at Venrock.Martin: What is Venrock doing?Brian: So, Venrock is an early stage venture capital fund. It is one of the longest standing VC firms in the country and probably in the world. It got started actually in the 1930s as the VC arm of the Rockefeller family and we are in our timeline room where you can see some of the early investments back in the day when Laurence Rockefeller led companies back then the hot technology space, aerospace and rocketries, so Eastern Airlines, McDonald Aircraft, Piasecki Helicopter, Alaska airlines, they all got seed funding from Laurence Rockefeller and his advisors.Martin: Tell us about your story. So you have been quite long at Venr ock, what did you do before?Brian: So before becoming a VC I was product manager at Intuit, responsible for the Quicken product family back in the early days of that product.Martin: And what made you become a venture capitalist?Brian: That’s a good question. I had some exposure to the industry while at business school and prior to that and it always seemed like an intriguing thing to do. So when I was wrapping up my work as a product manager I decided to apply to the Kauffmann fellowship which places folks early in their career into venture firms and I thought , “If I get in, I’ll see what that’s like and if not I will keep doing startups or something”. And I got in and I loved it and I consider a privilege to work with entrepreneurs, so I keep doing it.ABOUT VENROCK VCMartin: Can you briefly walk us through the typical investment due diligence process? S once a startup comes into your office in the beginning of the funnel,how it is proceeding?Brian: We try to be very flex ible and really tailor the approach to the specifics of that company. I like to simplify it into three phases.So the first phase is we will have a meeting and I consider it a sniff test. Is there a mutual interest after a meeting and maybe a phone call or two and discussing it internally.If yes, then it moves into the second phase which I like to think of as the high order of it. This is kind of the most phases because it is when we will drill down on the most important critical few issues. So whatever that could be, it might understanding the competitive dynamics, better understanding the technology, understanding the market need, what have you. We try to do it quickly, a couple of weeks, sometimes faster. And it is really being efficient by getting through our network or through the company to the heart of the matter.And then the third phase is more of ‘Let’s leave no stone unturned ‘, let’s do management reference check, let’s make sure we have spoken to all of the cust omers, let’s go through the financial model, lets start to discuss what a deal might look like, let’s examine the cap table, let’s meet the whole partnership and we will decide and move towards a close.But really it is that second phase that the high order bid or the ‘bang for the buck’ phase where you try to really zero in on a does this make sense as an investment for Venrock and for you to have us as your partner.Martin: What is the typical conversion rate from phase 2 to phase 3?Brian: I’d say if it passes phase 2 it is reasonably high. We don’t tend to look at numbers very often but I’d say it’s the most important phase so maybe half.Martin: Ok, cool. And what is the typical time span or range of deals so maybe like form four weeks to ten months in terms of the whole process?Brian: Well, ten months would certainly be more of a case where it wasn’t right at that time, so we or they agreed, “Hey, we are going to revisit this several months down the road, six months down the road”. It happens quite a bit where for whatever reasons the company decides not to raise then or maybe they raised small round and they come to see us as with a status update, but rarely it takes us you know six months of rigorous analysis to get to an answer, that just doesn’t happen. We have done deals in as quickly as a week. It is not the most comfortable thing to do and I’d say it is not great for either side because it is a very important decision for the entrepreneur to know who they are getting hitched with for a long haul. And it is also really hard to really understand the business that quickly so I’d say the comfort zone starts at two weeks and maybe goes four to six weeks. But the difference, at least the way we do it is, once you have a term sheet we are really, really interested to invest and it is just legal due diligence from there and that almost never uncovers a problem.Martin: Brian, what is the sweet spot for an investment in terms of si zing or maybe business model industry?Brian: As far as size we are flexible.There is really no lower limit. It’s not that we have such a large fund, unless you can take a lot of money from us we are not interested. We could seed something for 500K, but a small check for a proper series A might be 3 or 4 million, but we have written checks as large as 10 or 11 or 12. That is a big check for us. And then our expectation is that over the life of the company we may have to double the investment or even triple it sometimes. Really depends on how the capital intensive the business is and what we think the future fundraising looks like.As far as sectors we are quite broad in our coverage of both life science and that is everything from healthcare IT, the biotech and diagnostics and medical devices. And then on the IT side it is everything from infrastructure like security or virtualization to enterprise applications, whether horizontal SaaS like a marketing technology company or vertical solutions in finance or retail or healthcare on up to consumer place.Martin: What health industries or sectors do you find very interesting or promising for the next two or three years? Seeing that the SaaS market was very hot over the last two or three years for example.Brian: I have a theme that is most interesting to me and it is the notion that the software is becoming intelligent. And what I mean by that is you are taking data technologies or approaches rather, like machine learning, predicative analytics, artificial intelligence, although that word is probably overused, and using it to actually answer a business problem or use the computer to provide an actual recommendation to an end user. Because if you think about what software has historically been is really a database with a UI on top. That is what salesforce.com is or CRM is or has been because they are changing, trying to add more intelligence to their app. It is a place that stores customer records and it has got an U I customized to that task and to get the value you have to run a report or look at the records and decide up in your brain what inference you would make, what action you would take and how to drive that through the organization. Quicken was really the same thing; it was a place you stored transactions and we had a checkbook metaphor and you can run reports and look up a pie chart and figure out where your spending in going and then decide, “Oh I should spend less, I should create budget and do all of that.” Whereas now with machine learning and artificial intelligence you can have the app decide, “I am going to recommend for you ways for you to save money or achieve your financial goals, send your kid to college, retire comfortably. Or in the B2B setting the software can actually tell you which prospective buyers are out there, showing intent in the marketplace that you are not even aware of. Here is how they much they are going to buy, what they are going to buy, when they ar e going to buy it and here is the message you should deliver to reach out to them, based on the interest that the software is seeing either on your electronic channels or across the web through various data sources.So I think there is a profound difference what software will do, not just in terms of how it is deployed or delivered which is the advantage for taking it from off premise to cloud but really the value. I think it is creating more value for the end user, requiring them to do less work to get the value.Martin: When you look at predictive analysis apps are you more looking at infrastructure companies or are you looking at SaaS models who are just solving some unique niche problems for some companies for example? Or are you looking at a company that owns really exclusive data sources for example?Brian: So there are definitely infrastructure opportunities. It is not where I focus my efforts. I am focused on the app. And really the key to the app is often times really understa nding the domain and the problem and the customer need well enough to know what data you would want and then how to create the answers coming out of that data. It is rarely about cutting edge math. The math isn’t easy and it is sophisticated but no one is inventing new math to come up with the answer. It is really all in problem definition, there is often a lot of data cleansing work that goes on there is a lot cleverness you need and sourcing the data. Sometimes there may be unique and proprietary data. A lot of times that is more of a business model and a biz dev kind of advantage. If you can create a networkeffect even better, so you have more data than the competitors. But really it is so much more about understanding the domain and then presenting it to user experience that lets the business user or the consumer solve their problem in a quick and delightful way.Martin: What kind of interesting stories did you experienced over the last 18 years with entrepreneurs where you say , “Wow, this was very interesting, this was a problem and entrepreneur occurred and that is how he racked it or I and some of my partners gave them some helpful advice”?Brian: Great question. I’d say that the big observation is just how rare the true force of nature entrepreneur is. And by force of nature we mean that person for whom failure is just not an option and they will keep coming at the problem and modifying their approach if they need to and just make a much bigger outcome or company than the innate market suggested was possible.And so when you are in the presence of a truly great entrepreneur who just exudes that sort of drive and energy and creativity and combines this optimism for the future with the pragmatic sense of what it is going to take to get moving today. You don’t want to overthink your way out of doing those kinds of investment based on “Oh, well what if this goes wrong or that goes wrong”, because that great entrepreneur will figure it out, hopef ully it will help as well. But it is remarkable how there is so much that is possible that you might envision at the outset and so it is a great entrepreneur that takes you there.Martin: Many people think that we are currently at the brink of a bubble bursting. What is your perspective on that?Brian: I don’t feel like it is a bubble that we had in let’s say in 2000 or even 2008. I think the public markets have remained largely disciplined on valuation. You have some late stage private valuations that have gotten crazy but fundamentally the basis of innovation is incredible right now.There is so many technology catalysts, social catalysts, industries willing to adapt cloud or technology based solutions that I feel really good at the real innovation, real value that is being created. And so if the late stage private markets cool off a little bit that is ok, that is not going to create some huge explosion and nuclear winner like we had in 2000, 2001, 02, 03. I think there is a litt le bit of market cycle on the late stage stuff but the early stage I think hasn’t gotten quite so overheated because there is still so much risk in the beginning, particularly because it is obvious that there is still a lot of traction. I don’t spend that much time worrying about timing the market as far as our investments go.Martin: When you look at an entrepreneur coming to you and pitching for an idea and you are an early stage investor, how do you balance the evaluation of the founder or the founder team with the business idea or the business model that is currently “The plan”?Brian: It comes back a little bit toâ€" if you really hate the idea it is hard to meet someone who is so compelling you are going to follow them into the idea you is just don’t believe in. But if the idea seems a little small, but generally ok, like a good idea you’re just not sure how big, a good entrepreneur is worth backing his idea. You really can never tell just how big an opportunity will be because there are always opportunities that present themselves once you get into the market and the customers start telling you what else they want, etc. But for us we are really people centric so it is more people first and market second. There is a school of thought the opposite approach is ‘Give me a huge market and I will find a team’. It is just really hard to match a great team and pull one together and make sure that they are cohesive and was it their initial idea or not.I think there is something special about a founding team that came up with the idea, feels ownership in every fiber of their body and it is going to walk through walls or through fire to make it successful and passing by that by bringing in professional management I think kills some of the magic. So ideally you are starting with a great team in an interesting market and then it gets even more exciting as they find their way to the sweet spot.Martin: Brian, imagine you have 10 entrepreneurs in front o f you. How do you really identify the great entrepreneur and also identify the not so great ones?Brian: It is really hard and there are always surprises and I don’t think anyone had had it figured out perfectly. But so common traits areâ€" smart is a given, there are a lot of smart people around the world and so it is highly necessary but insufficient.I think the great entrepreneurs have a personal energy and enthusiasm and it doesn’t necessarily mean that they are the life of the party with the lampshade on their head, but you can just tell that their conviction and passion around an ideaand it permeates everything they do and every conversation you have. Then, I think they also have pragmatic sense of “I face a lot of challenges right now, but where I am going is great. And they are kind of diametrically opposed in a way because you don’t want someone who is just dismissive of all the challenges they have today, “All is great, oh we have this problem solved, we have noth ing else to learn.” That is probably not a healthy attitude, nor is a one that is constantly worried about, “We are going to fail, this is wrong” and they are shooting to a nice safe outcome, not a big outcome. So if you can do both â€" be abundantly optimistic about the future and really pragmatic and disciplined about the present, that is important.The best entrepreneurs have this mental agility or flexibility to be constantly taking in feedback and adjusting. And it is not a big pivot, so to speak, but just all those little adjustments that you need to find your way to the sweet spot of a market and a solution.I guess the last thing I would say is the best entrepreneurs tend not to get defensive. They can take tough questioning and respond appropriately or with good answers or admission that, “Hey, that is a risk. I don’t know. We are going to figure that over time but that is a risk you as an investor need to be willing to accept along with me”. Because I think howev er hard questions coming from an investor might be, the challenges that the market throws at you, competitors throw you, the key executive throws at you, those are much harder problems than a venture capitalist questions. And I think that great entrepreneurs realize that and take them in stride and respond with their best shot at an answer or an answer which says, “I don’t know yet. I will figure it out.”ADVICE TO ENTREPRENEURS FROM BRIAN ASCHERMartin: Brian, you have seen so many entrepreneurs. What type of learnings that youhave seen them make and based on this what type of advice could you give them to avoid some unnecessary mistakes?Brian: I think some of the best entrepreneurs are constantly upgrading their team. And that sounds obvious, “Oh everyone does that”, but the reality is the following; you have a founding team of co-foundersand early team members who go through some really, really tough days, long, long nights, weekends, setbacks all the time. And so there i s a lot of loyalty that develops there. As you are growing and maybe things are going great or they are going well but there are problems, the thought of taking that person who was there from the beginning and bringing someone in top or even letting them go is actually pretty hard. And if they are doing a pretty good job you are even less likely to make that change because you feel the sense of loyalty or “I have got bigger problems to solve than the fact that my VP of sales is a B+ and not an A.” But I think the reality is that you constantly have to be striving to have all A players in every single position around your leadership table because any one weakness can have a ripple effects and lead to problems that sneak up on you. They are not glaring problems immediately, those you actually act on but it is the problem that, “Oh, boy, we felt like we didn’t need a CFO until we were planning an IPO and as a result we are in all these contracts that have all these weird clause s and our margins are all completely off and we are drowning in complexity.” And these are the problems that just sneak up on you after a couple of years without ever screaming, “Solve me now!” And that is one of the problems that good entrepreneurs intuitively know and many people have to learn the hard way.Martin: What other kind of advice can you share?Brian: I see another area that I feel really strongly about is the manner in which an entrepreneur approaches true partnership with their investors or their board. And by true partnership I mean way beyond just taking their money and then keeping them off your back which I think is sometimes what an entrepreneur would default to doing but rather creating this true partnership of trust. And I think there is a virtuous circle that develops if you do that well. And then unfortunately there is a negative circle of mistrust which can also develop if you don’t do it.So the positive trust loop is you as an entrepreneur recognize t hat, “My board is here to make me successful. They want this company to succeed and the same goes for my investors. And they realize that there will be problems and if I bring the problems to them early they will hopefully help me solve those problems. But even if they don’t, they will at least know that I am aware of them and I am working hard at finding solutions. And so the next time they have a question in their mind, they will know that they can ask me or they can have confidence that it is going to be addressed.” This way there is more and more positive trust going back and forth.The negative loop is really, really insidious which is, “I have a problem as an entrepreneur, I am worried to tell my board so I keep it to myself in the hopes that I will solve the problem and it will go away before I have to admit it to anybody.” The board usually senses, “Oh, there is something going on here”, and you can either see it in their numbers or even if it doesn’t show up in the numbers yet you just get a sense that something is just not quite right but the CEO is not telling me so I have to dig harder to find what is really going on and once I do I say “Ah-ha I knew it, there was a problem and you didn’t tell me and now I trust you even less. So I start to wonder if there are other problems I don’t know about “. And then you start asking your CEO, or digging on your own and they get even more paranoid and the whole thing spirals out of control in a very unproductive way.So I think it really incumbent on the board and the investors to react constructively when problems are brought to them because that is what you want. So I am of the mindset which does not say, “Don’t bring me a problem unless you also have a solution. No, no bring me problems early and often. That is my job; it is to help you solve problems. We can celebrate victories but we are going to do this amount of time and most of the time is going to spend on how do we get even better.Martin: And how do you define the significance level of problems that should be shared and problems that are so minor that should not be shared?Brian: There is really no bright line or rule or dollar amount or anything like that. So I don’t mind if they over communicate. I’d say the judgment call is around; what would be the strategic significance in the short, medium or long term. If it is going to be a short strategic issue, like a big partner just cancelled, absolutely. But you can even take problems that “Hey, it is ok now but I think it could turn into a problem, let’s talk about it”. If it is something like, “The lunch was delivered late today” or “the employees are leaving the kitchen too messy”, I don’t need to know about that.Generally, it is a calibration exercise. Bring the problems early and often and then you could together figure out what really needs to come and also what you get value from me. If you are bringing small problems but I am hel pful keep bringing them as long as you find value. I will probably never say, “Hey, don’t bother me with that. That is like beneath me”. In venture capital is kind of messy, and so I will help with anything you need help with. As long as I can be helpful, I’ll do it for you.Martin: Are there any more advices you can give especially on the investment side for entrepreneurs?Brian: My advice on fundraising would really be two things:One is it has become more popular to not use a deck presentation when pitching investors and I think there are certain circumstance like we may be meeting six months ahead of when you plan to fundraise and we want just to get to know you. Do we have some chemistry? Can we talk about the business in a free form way? Just exchange of ideas and if we are doing that, its fine, no need to come with a PowerPoint, that would be weird. But if you are actually In a fundraise mode where you are going to try and drive investment groups to make a decision as qu ick as possible I think it is really helpful to have a guided roadmap to the discussion, keeps you on track, makes sure to get me the information I need in the manner that you want me to have. And most importantly there is a lot of data, like if you want a strong financing and a strong valuation you are probably going to have some element of traction in there and even if you haven’t launched yet you are going to want me to have details of the team or the technology, there is almost always numbers and you just can’t talk through a complex graph of numbers. So you have to have some way to communicate with numbers and quantification and that is going to be with the deck. You could say, “I will send you the deck later” but there is a golden opportunity. We have each carved out 60 minutes from our schedule, so put the best foot forward right there in the meeting. It doesn’t mean it has to be a long deck or that you have to hand me your entire financial model, just a really well -crafted argument, point by point, at the end of which I applaud and am begging you to take my money. That is my philosophy on having a great presentation and the beauty is there is never a wrong time to have a great presentation because as an entrepreneur you are not only pitching investors but you will have opportunities to talk to the press, to present at conferences, to tell your story to executives you are recruiting, so having a well-crafted story line and summary deck is always useful, never a bad time to have that perfected.The second thing would be this notion of a combination of optimistic and pragmatic is to come in and not lose credibility by appearing naïve. Showing financials that are the best financials anyone has ever achieved in the world or a market size that is trillions and trillions of dollars even though your addressable piece is much smaller but you are promoting the trillions and trillions of spending that goes on in this category, not even for technology bu t for everything. Just really showing the balance and demonstrating that you really understand the domain extremely, extremely well even if you are not from it but you are coming in as an outsider just to disrupt it. You have done your homework, you intimately understand your customers’ pain and you have a pragmatic sense of all the challenges that it will take to solve this problem and being open about that. Because again it comes back to the trust loop, the investor can say, “Oh this person really knows their stuff”, not “This person is crazy, they have no idea how hard this is going to be”. Show me you know how hard it is going to be but then compel me you are going to get there anyway. That is an interesting business.Martin: Great! Brian, thank you so much for your time.Brian: Thank you for your interest. This was fun.Martin: Next time you are thinking about pitching to an investor craft your story very neatly so Brian or other investors are really happy to invest in y our business. Thank you so much.

Hemingways Lost Generation - Literature Essay Samples

In the words of Herbert Hoover, Older men declare war. But it is youth that must fight and die. And it is youth who must inherit the tribulation, the sorrow and the triumphs that are the aftermath. War disfigures and tears away precious lives. Its horrors embed themselves like an infectious disease in the minds of the survivors, who, when left to salvage the pieces of their former existences, are brushed into obscurity by the individuals attempting to justify the annihilation of the world that was. The era following World War I epitomizes the inheritance of tribulation and sorrow for the generation that remains to retrieve some form of happiness the lost generation. These are the poor souls who suffer for mankind and endure abandonment by a world that wants to forget suffering. This generation of the 1920s is often featured in the literature of the era, particularly the work of Ernest Hemingway. Hemingways The Sun Also Rises is one such example in which he portrays the social disloc ation of the members of the Lost Generation and illustrates his own inner torment as a member of this collection of outcasts. Hemingways lost generation consists of societys misfits, the unwanted pariahs that exist in every part of the globe. They, like their creator, seek a new peace and a permanent escape route from the cruelties of living. This group of untouchables includes Jake, Brett, Cohn, Bill, and Mike. Although each of them has earned his place in society in a different fashion, they find themselves captives of the same injustice of society and form a camaraderie that brings them security and companionship in a cruel world. They fully realize their estrangement from society and recognize others in the same situation. For example, Brett says of Count Mippipopolous, Hes one of us, though. Oh quite. No doubt. One can always tell. Despite their fast-living, European lifestyle designed to numb their emotional and spiritual pain, the members of this branch of the lost generation continue to suffer. Jake says in a moment of painful reflection, It is awfully easy to be hard-boiled about everything in the daytime, but at night it is another thing.' The demons of the night haunt the group, particularly Jake, because night is a time of quiet and solitude. Once the bars close and the restaurants shut down for the evening, no more distractions exist to prevent the onslaught of memories and painful thoughts. Jake says at a later time, There is no reason why because it is dark you should look at things differently from when it is light. The hell there isnt. The unfortunate members of this lost generation are truly estranged from their mother countries. They feel as if society has led them astray, with no means of return, similar to a scene that Jake observes in Spain: In the square a man, bent over, was playing on a reed-pipe, and a crowd of children were following him shouting, and pulling at his clothes. He came out of the square, the children following him, and piped them past the cafÈ and down a side street. We saw his blank pock marked face as he went by, piping, the children close behind him shouting and pulling at him. This image of the pied piper leading the children blindly at his whim is analogous to the situation of Jake and his friends, who see themselves as victims led like sheep during the war by their homelands. They blindly follow orders and society and suddenly find themselves on the outskirts of a world that they once thought they knew. Now they are without a country and without a purpose. These expatriates are groping in the dark shadows of this world for some semblance of morals or values. Jake and his fellow outcasts are living in a world comparable to Platos allegory of the cave, where they are trapped, kept out of the light, and the only world they know is what they see reflected by the shadows. They have no success in the realm of emotion or spirituality. Even though they continuously thrust themselves into the fir es of experience, they are still isolated from the world in which they long to be. Jake is the only religious character in the novel, but his spiritual attempts are futile; he calls himself a rotten Catholic and wishes for a time when he can actually feel religious. Bill has one brief spiritual moment when he says, We should not question. Our stay on earth is not for long. Let us rejoice and believe and give thanks. However, religion is not an integral part of his life or the lives of the other characters. Jake remains the one spiritual pillar of the group. The members of this lost generation seek the worlds of Paris and Spain to find a niche where they can exist happily and successfully. Hemingway, himself an expatriate, is a part of this unfortunate group. Jakes world parallels Hemingways. He, like his creator, moves from place to place and moment to moment in search of release, though he realizes that [y]ou cant get away from yourself by moving from one place to another. Hemingw ay and his characters live in a world where discrimination and neglect are normal standards. They are merely struggling to survive and stand out from the background that blurs in the vision of society. Jake has accepted his extraction from American society and is attempting to carve out a niche for himself in Paris. He is frightened by Bills revelation: Youre an expatriate. Youve lost touch with the soil. You get precious. Fake European standards have ruined you. You drink yourself to death. You become obsessed by sex. You spend all your time talking, not working. Youre an expatriate, see? You hang around cafà ©s. His acceptance of Europe as his new home increases gradually as the novel progresses, although he continues to yearn for a place in society. He declares that [it is] always pleasant crossing bridges in Paris, demonstrating that he is slowly evolving in his acceptance of his new life. He also begins to see positive aspects of his new land, where it is so simple to make peo ple happy. Hemingway also calls Europe his new home, particularly Spain. Although they are lost, the members of Hemingways lost generation long for a group to which they can belong. They realize that society has cast them out, but Jake and his friends continue to fear complete ostracism from the world. They yearn to be a part of a society that has closed its doors on them. Bill pleads, Dont you ever detach me from the herd, Mike in a moment of complete insecurity, demonstrating the fear that lingers in his mind of being severed from society with no lifeline. He and the others are wandering without knowing their destination. Fate has cut the ties that bind humans to one another and to society and has left them to form a new herd and discover their own means of survival. The idea of being lost is a demon that lurks in the shadows of both the novel and Hemingways mind. Hemingway expresses his fears of the consequences resulting from being an expatriate through the insight of his chara cters. When Bill says to Jake, Youre only a newspaper man. An expatriated newspaper man. You ought to be ironical the minute you get out of bed. You ought to wake up with your mouth full of pity, he is demonstrating the common contempt in society toward expatriates. He voices concerns of Hemingway when he follows by saying, Nobody that ever left their own country ever wrote anything worth printing. Not even in the newspapers. Hemingway and Jake Barnes, both expatriate writers, are essentially one entity. Hemingways concerns are Jakes and vice versa. Hemingways dissatisfaction with society prompts him to create characters that share his difficulties, partially to laugh at the world, and partially to console himself. His literature makes certain that others in the world are aware of the dangers of society and the sorrows of the outcasts. He molds men and women in the likeness of himself, providing them a world in which to flounder and blindly grope through moral and social darkness to illustrate the cruel nature of the world and provide examples of the unfortunate results of discrimination and neglect. Like Jake, Brett, Cohn, Bill, Georgette, Harrison, Count Mippipopolous, and Mike, Hemingway is a forsaken member of thousands who have become the lost generation.