![]() ![]() ![]() After all of the effort required in finding, educating, and diligencing an opportunity, signing a term sheet is actually the easiest job we do. I also get to evangelize startups to an audience that does not encounter them every day-and sometimes have to explain the role of venture capital to the many stakeholders involved. The payoff of working in this “overlooked” region is significant: Unlike my Kauffman Fellows Program classmates who have to compete on every term sheet with mercenary entrepreneurial teams, I get the luxury of building personal relationships with my entrepreneurs and their teams over a long timeframe. To me the answer to “why the middle?” is pretty obvious- this is where the opportunities are! The trick is finding those opportunities across a vast geographic expanse with numerous pockets of research and development (R&D) and budding entrepreneurial ecosystems. My confidence in my choice and success in the region are baffling to many from more traditional locations. According to Foursquare, I spent the last seven days in airports (it compliments the achievement by saying “That’s pretty fly!”), and I know the Hobby Airport in Houston so well that the TSA agents have started to recognize me. After all, the spotlight falls on other areas like Boston and Silicon Valley, and my career path means spending a lot of time in airports. ![]() People often ask me why I have chosen to be a venture capitalist (VC) in the middle of the country. ![]()
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