The DLTS is a profiling of the most influential people in Chicago's digital technology community.
I wish I knew, from the beginning…
Entrepreneurship and venture capital are 90% people and 10% strategy and insight. I originally believed that the key to success was knowing the answer and figuring out the path to the solution. In the end, this is useless unless you can get others to join the cause. Listen before being heard so that you appreciate and understand the context and biases of those around you. Know where you have leverage but don't use it. Your job is not to oversee or control your employees /entrepreneurs but to guide, counsel & help them however you can (law of Karma). Don't take things personally but try to understand the other person's perspective.
The best advice I ever received:
This too shall pass and always remember that the only foundation you can count on is family & friends. When the tech & venture markets crashed in 2000, everything/every company started to head down the drain. Having always associated my happiness with my successes, I grew fairly despondent. Roger McNamee, a 20 year veteran of technology, wrote that tying your contentment to external factors outside of your control would lead to tears. Instead, when the macro conditions tank, focus on what is important in life…tightening your ties with family and friends. You have limited degrees of freedom and influence on a bigger scale. Eventually, this too shall pass. Don't linearly extend forward your current condition or issues. They will change and tomorrow will always be better than today.
GiveForward is a start-up that everyone should know about.
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