Why am I a VC?

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Last March, Whitney Johnson and I were dining on exquisite sushi in Boston celebrating the upcoming launch of her powerful book, Dare, Dream, Do.  We also discussed the lack of women in Venture Capital (VC) because I had never noticed I was the only female partner in mine! While this subject is a blog post I been asked to, but not yet written, two things happened today, 1 in Cleveland, 1 in California, that made me write this from Maine:

  1. Neuros Medical, a company my VC firm, Glengary, invested in at its very early stage, closed a second round of $3.5M led by Glengary and Boston Scientific.
  2. My friend, Adrian Ott, responded to my tweet about Neuros thanking me for supporting neuro-medicine.

So what’s the big deal (no pun intended)?  I felt overwhelmingly privileged and honored to be able to invest in a company like Neuros Medical!  Wow! I have the ability, albeit insignificant, to make a powerful difference in someone’s life – to give a quality of life he or she didn’t have or dream of having (ah! Back to Whitney’s book!). 

Neuros’s device is designed to reduce amputees’ pain when a neuroma (a bundle of the cut nerve endings that form a ‘tumor’) develops at the end of the amputated limb continually firing intense pain signals to the brain (not phantom limb pain).  This is usually treated with narcotics – obviously not a great option that also isn’t very effective.  In clinical trials, Neuros’ device greatly relieved, even eliminated, pain beyond our expectations, allowing people regain their lives.  It’s not every VC whose deals bring tears of joy and amazement to their eyes.  

Another one of our investments, Cleveland HeartLab, was at TEDMed 2012 demonstrating their blood marker test for MPO (Myeloperoxidase) that predicts the odds of a cardio event based on atherosclerotic plaque.  Talk about having an impact – this test has tremendous implications for improving and saving lives.

For me, being a VC is not just about profits and money, it’s about purpose and meaning.  In my own small way, with the help of so many others (my partners, our investments, the ‘network’ that supports all this), I can improve, even save, lives and the families around them. 

If that doesn’t get someone jazzed, I don’t know what will.

 

Side Note: Neuros Medical and Cleveland Heartlab’s successes are two of many successful and impacting startups in Northeast Ohio and Cleveland.  The city of 19th & 20th century startups – from oil to steel to automotive to polymers to coatings is undergoing a renaissance on many levels and let me tell you, it’s one exciting place to be a VC – there is no shortage of quality deal flow and the excitement is palpable – economically, socially, culturally, recreationally, you name it.

Think!

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Yesterday I was really irritated.  Upon my recommendation, an entrepreneur I’m mentoring reached out to two people who already knew him very well.  They responded based on their individual silos; they didn’t stop and think about who else they could connect him to!  I was so peeved! They know this kid; they think he’s great and that he’s doing wonderful things.  So why didn’t they think of other ways to help him, to be of service? 

Ugh! So this morning I read the daily blog post by Dan Rockwell (aka LeadershipFreak), “The Only Reason You are Here” and decide I want to mail it out to everyone.  Please read it.  There are so many ways you can make a difference for your employees, family, friends if you just stop to think and they don't have to be grand, sometimes the little things have a huge impact:

  • What else could I do?
  • Who in my network could help them?
  • What experience can I give them?
  • How could I make their job easier?
  • How could I make our ‘stuff’ easier to use?

So this week, for just 1 person at a minimum, stop and think! And please share your experiences.  Have a great week!

Are Networks Leading Indicators for Innovation?

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As some of you know, I am passionate about networking, leading indicators and innovation from new combinations of existing things. I’ve been wondering how networks can be leading indicators for innovation!  Sarah Beaulieu reminded me about LinkedIn’s Maps, so I took a look at mine:

I won’t go into detail, but it’s interesting to see the clusters of my clients, the communities I “belong” to (geographic, education, career, faith, etc.) and the intersections (or not) between them.  In some cases, I’m the key connector, in others I’m one of a few. 

How is this a leading indicator? I see a few connections between a manufacturing/prototyping client and regional biomedical device companies.  Could this be a leading indicator of increasing medical device manufacturing in the region? If I look further, I can see what if the companies are focused on orthopedics, pediatrics, cardiology, etc. and start watching for more in-depth developments.  The Venture Capitalist in me finds this very interesting.

What if we look at the changes in my map over time: new connections between existing people in my network through me or without me; increased connection density between different “communities”; outliers – one-off connections that develop? 

I’m going to regularly update my map and see how it grows.   Many of you are in it!  Thank you! So take this challenge with me:

  • Check out your own map and share what you see and learn with us; and
  • See what you can do to increase the connections you have in “my” network – who you can reach out to do learn something new, who you can connect to each other and who you could innovate something with.

Let us know! Please share – and have fun – I know you will!