Hunter Walk

My two primary motivations are (a) moving away from disposable cups and (b) preserving/improving the drinking experience versus paper. Non-goals: insulation (I don’t need my coffee to stay hot for hours) and durability (in the sense that I’m not looking for something that will survive a 10 ft drop, or needs to go into a backpack while biking). Base barely fits into car cupholder – which is a negative – but it’s very comfortable in the hand and top feels secure + easy to remove/insert. it’s easy to put on/off, but doesn’t necessarily feel secure (although I haven’t had any spills).

The Upside of Stress by Kelly McGonigal, and Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers by Robert Sapolsky. @hunterwalk, What Causes You Stress vs Frustration – again, for me – has to do with an inability to create change in my situation due to others’ process or incentive roadblocks, having to represent an idea that I disagree with as the product of my team, organizational politics, relying upon colleagues or partners who don’t always share my values. After 4+ years, I was removed from running the Product Team at YouTube for a variety of reasons – some of which I probably could have prevented, and others that I couldn’t have (or didn’t want to). We’ve stayed small and focused which means no need to invest in a team that we don’t think we’re the right partner for.

You almost spit out your coffee when she lets you know that she’s leaving for a Tier 1 firm but that her partners John, John Jr or Robert will be great stewards of your startup until she has the pull at her new gig to lead your next round. In these cases you can usually negotiate who you want as a Board member from their partnership and if for some reason there isn’t a GP you feel comfortable with, even discuss a Board Partner scenario, where a mutually agreed industry exec/CEO from their network takes their seat on their behalf (but this is higher degree of difficulty). If the reason for your partner leaving was some sort of change in firm strategy or scandal and you just don’t want to be associated with the entity, you can sometimes get the firm to sell into the next financing to the point where they’re not the largest shareholder any longer, etc (but again, degree of difficulty here is expert-level). Your new GP/Board member didn’t personally sign the check last time – get him or her to do so, sooner rather than later.

“Don’t worry about making money right now” is not the advice you’d expect a seed VC to give a CEO right after writing them a big check. Do I not desire the UpAndToTheRightCurve needed to raise a Series A and get me that sweet sweet write-up? Doesn’t Homebrew want steak more than sizzle in the companies we back? Hunter, what’s gotten into you??? I’m longterm greedy, which means ultimately my venture success is going to depend on quality of company exiting, not pump and dumps, or millions in fees