Blurry Transitions | Feld Ideas – Cyber Tech

Turning 60 in December
marked an necessary second for me. A key part from that weblog put up was:

“I’ve undoubtedly shifted into a brand new mode over the previous yr. I’m nonetheless on a bunch of boards for Foundry and deeply concerned in a number of firms. However I’m a lot much less centered on the broader expertise trade, tired of most of the issues which are occurring, and drained+bored of the arc the narrative about expertise and society has taken.”

Amy and I spent the final six weeks in New Zealand and Australia for my sixtieth birthday journey. I went into hibernation as a part of that, stopped doing something public-facing, and flipped to default no. I additionally stopped running a blog, participating with social media, and studying the information.

It gave me numerous time to suppose and replicate. One factor that I spotted was that I’ve by no means had a tough break or a clear transition from one factor to a different. I’ve a number of threads of this, but when I simply select knowledgeable one, right here’s an instance.

– I began my first firm whereas in faculty.
– I began making angel investments whereas working for the corporate that acquired my first firm.
– I turned a VC whereas I used to be nonetheless founding firms and making angel investments.
– I co-founded Techstars and Foundry whereas nonetheless managing the legacy Mobius funds.
– I began writing books as a VC.

I did an analogous train on applied sciences that me and generated lengthy funding arcs (which we used to name themes at Foundry). There was often a set off level that created a brand new theme, the place I turned obsessive about a brand new expertise of some kind and went very deep into it as a person and investor. These overlapped and fed off one another a number of instances.

Principally, I’ve by no means had a “clear break” or a tough transition from what I used to be doing to what I did subsequent.

I’m having fun with one other considered one of these blurry transitions. I’ve discovered the brand new technological factor I’m obsessive about. Whereas I’ve performed with this new factor over the previous yr, I spent numerous time with it over the past two months. And my curiosity (and competence and understanding) is accelerating.

I additionally realized that I missed writing. I do know that I be taught by studying and writing. I don’t be taught by listening and speaking (or at the very least not very a lot). I’ve to really write issues down. And, my new obsession entails numerous writing…

Traditionally, I’ve gotten numerous suggestions on concepts by writing publicly. It’s additionally extra useful to me, because it has generated a ton of randomness on many dimensions. And, should you’ve learn Give First: The Energy of Mentorship
, you recognize that most of the profitable issues I’ve been concerned in got here from this randomness.

So, I’ll be writing publicly extra. I’ve consciously determined that’s not a part of hibernating.