Lessons from a Garage

Henry Fonda of SHR

(originally published Feb 16, 2007 - published again, today, as a rememberance of Mr. Johnson)

An English friend was always eager to explain sarcasm to me - like I didn't get it.  He would say something sarcastic, and then explain, "Oh - you yanks don't understand sarcasm.  See, when I said it was bloody good that the software crashed just then - I meant it wasn't actually very good at all. Don't you see?  That's called S A R C A S M.  Get it?"  He was like a waiter with a dessert tray explaining the vanilla pudding in excruciating detail.  Yeah, I get it.

Actually, my friend had no idea who he was dealing with.  He couldn't understand my dead-pan responses to his "jokes".  After all, I knew he was trying to be funny, it's just that he wasn't funny enough.  And, I really can't fake amusement. 

Worse yet, this guy never understood my sarcasm.

My sarcasm is Boston-style.

If you're from Boston, then the only other people who will truly know when you are being sarcastic are other Bostonians.  And furthermore, you'll never tell!  You'll use dead-pan methods to plead sincerity until the bitter end.  And then, when you're at the bitter end and you confess your sins of sarcasm to Father O'Flaherty, he'll just smirk and say, "Oh I'm SURE God will have no problem with that AT ALL!"

When Bostonians listen to other Bostonians every word is measured against a secret Sarcasm-o-meter.  As a Bostonian, it takes years and years to tune your Sarcasm-o-meter.  You can start tuning it as early as Kindergarten.  "Sure Barry, eat more paste -- that's great"!  I also found that frequent trips to Fenway Park were helpful as I got older.

The sarcasm thing goes hand-in-hand with the deadpan thing.  If you're not really sure if someone is being sarcastic, deadpan is like a defense mechanism. It can be interpreted as "This is funny, I'll go with it", or "of course you're being sincere - I feel so bad for your sister.  Is schnecktolitus always fatal?".

With this in mind, imagine my surprise when I discovered that the master of deadpan and the prince of sarcasm were embodied in a single person. That person was Craig Johnson.  He was the founder of Venture Law Group (aka VLG), and shockingly, he wasn't from Boston.

Worse yet, he looked just like Henry Fonda.  In fact, not only did he look like Henry Fonda, but he had the mannerisms of Henry Fonda too.  Henry Fonda; an icon of sincerity.  Craig's DNA was sneaky.  Very sneaky.

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Craig and I had just driven back from Quadrus Cafe on Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park.  He was very excited about Reality Fusion, and he wanted to help make it successful.  Besides being the founder of VLG, Craig was one of the founders of Garage.com.  He was one of the most influential people on Sand Hill Road.  Besides all that, he was also a really nice man.

Craig and I were strolling across the parking lot outside VLG, returning to his office.  He was telling me his views on startup companies, and Garage.com in particular.  He was super optimistic that Reality Fusion was going to hit a major home run.  But he had also been playing a little hard to get.  Like something was on his mind.

Suddenly, he paused and said, "Barry, I want you to promise me something".

I said, "Well, what is it"?

He looked down, and then peered out to the horizon. "Barry, you're going to be wildly successful with Reality Fusion - and you're going to make a lot of money - you know that, right"?

"Sure, Craig,  I know that".

He shifted his feet a little bit, and then he put his hand on my shoulder and said, "I want you to promise me that you'll do some good things with the money.  I want you to donate some of it to a worthy cause.  Maybe start a philanthropic foundation for needy children or something.  You can name it the "Spencer Fund", or whatever you like.  Okay?  Will you promise me that?"

"Of course, Craig.  Sure."

He continued, "...because with great success comes great responsibility. Try to remember that - okay?"

Talk about putting the cart before the horse! Like other people I've met, Craig was a master at painting a beautifully tantalizing picture, and then hanging this picture in front of you like a carrot on a stick.  But that's not a nice way to put it. Calling it "focused on success" would be a far nicer way.

Anyhow...

Here's where my story gets a little lame. I can't remember the name of the book that I was reading; I thought it was "Startup", but apparently not. It was a very popular book at the time - especially in Silicon Valley. In fact, I think it was on the NY Times Best Seller list.  Anyhow, the book was an autobiographical account of a "regular guy" that started a high tech company - the company skyrocketed and then I think it tanked.  Anyway, after a few years, the guy ended up with nothing more than an interesting story to tell.

In the book, there was a scene between the protagonist and his VC, where the VC delivered basically the exact same speech that Craig had just delivered to me. The crazy thing is that I had read the passage in the book only a few days before this meeting with Craig.

I didn't know what to think.  How could Henry Fonda be delivering the same speech as the VC in the book?   In fact, it Craig that recommended that book to me in the first place!  DIdn't he know that I'd figure it out?

Of course he did.   He was being funny, of course.   But, duh, I didn't get it.

Now that I know Craig better, I can't help but see the humor.  Maybe I had even told him I was reading the book.  I'm not sure I did, but I like to think so.

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Garage.com was big on adding value to its startup companies.  A huge part of Garage.com's added value was Craig. He had a rare combination of helpfulness and non-meddlesomeness. He was a little bit like a chemist.  He'd mix different people together and see what happened. "Barry, meet Larry.  Larry does this. Barry does that. Okay, now let's see if we can figure out some way that you guys can help each other out".

One such chemistry experiment took place after a meeting in Craig's office.

Even though Craig was the head honcho at VLG, his office was totally understated. It was the same office as the rest of the 70 or so other lawyers at VLG - with one key difference. Craig's desk was extremely organized.

Craig also had a collection of interesting little widgets in his desk.  He had one in particular that he would take out and play with while he talked to me.

"Barry, we need to find an investor for you.  I don't know if you read the Mercury News or not, but they published a list of the top-compensated Silicon Valley executives last year.  Right on the top of the list is a fellow named Joe Costello. Have you ever heard of him"?

"Actually, no -- never heard of him, Craig".

"Well, since you need money, and the Mercury News says that Joe has money, perhaps we should try to speak with him".

To me, this sounded like a good idea.  I figured that Craig would set wheels in motion, perhaps in time we could locate this Costello person - or maybe some other people from the list. Craig might spend a week or two on it - with the help from an assistant or two.  Maybe I could help, but I doubted it.

I replied with, "Sure Craig, sounds great.  How do we do that"?

Craig said, "How about I give him a call".  And with that, Craig picked up the phone and asked his assistant to get Joe on the phone. Craig hung up and waited. He spoke with me some more, and played with his widget.

Then, perhaps 30 seconds later, the phone rang.  Craig said, "Okay, put him on". Craig put the phone on speaker, and put the handset back in the cradle.

"Joe? This is Craig Johnson at VLG.  We haven't met. I have Barry Spencer here in my office.  Barry started a very interesting new company which looks like it's right up your alley.  I think you should meet with him".

It turns out that Joe had just read about Reality Fusion on a recent flight back from Italy.  Fortune Magazine had done an article on the company, Joe read it on the plane, and he was already interested. (This is another case of serendipity.)

A few days later, I met with Joe at the Garage.com headquarters.  He loved what we were doing, and within 10 minutes of meeting he said he'd invest.  (Someday I'll write about Joe. For now, I'll practice my writing skills and wait for the day that I'll be able to reach the level of eloquence necessary to express my deep gratitude for his 9 years of supporting Reality Fusion. For now, I'll simply say that Joe is "super fantastic".)

This introduction to Joe was typical of the assistance that Craig provided.  Some of the introductions we asked for, others times we were introduced simply because Craig saw a good fit.

Footnote: Craig was also the lawyer that helped me out of a jam with "Feebix".

Thank God for Speech Recognition

Hello .  I have discovered that it is extremely difficult to type with only one hand .  Fortunately my computer is equipped with Microsoft speech tools that allow me to use speech recognition from a long entries and for other entries were documents on my computer .  I've been using the speech recognition tools for a couple of days now .

this is the first time I've tried to use a speech recognition tools for my blood .  Let's see how it goes . 

Yesterday with the doctor's office so that he could check on the rest .  He assured me that my wrist is healing just fine .  you replace the bandage on the incision and gave me a new have cast for my hand .  Once the incision is completely healed to put a awful customer wrists for another month or so .  He told me that once I had that new cast on the deal that type much much better than I can right now . 

It's nice to see that Microsoft has perfected speech recognition .  I remember references to speech recognition as far back as 1982 when I visited John sax is office and Lotus development corporation in Cambridge Massachusetts .  He had a little comic strip on his door which showed a man from the CRT he held the microphone in his right hand he was very agitated he said, "up up up down up up over left left over left left left left down cocaine and delete that ".

having quite surprised by the length of the winter's here in Maine the data and other blizzard last Thursday there is about 15in. of snow that fell and found the and I'm really looking for to the spring, condone what boat and do some fishing with little guys avenue sailboat mumbled for choosing not to one spy and heels .  The intent on to the intelligently about that in the photograph and it began

but he didn't go into chopped onion and all the smart enough to be a good job, but again, would have added into the department of New York often talked about a possible that the U.N. should have bought them have much about any doubt when did you and I'm confident on top of contingent upon and about conducting into holders and a button in more than that of the board of all of a lot of the council can pick and a half on the platform inning to put the puck into the digital form of above the bulk of the game, and that reason," and sharing although the fact he noted above to go the the only one notable www woman another added to it, come a long island .  But in the UK but it didn't want to give a moment about the legal and legitimate innuendo and video component of contract about on the home, back until the did the data, but it needs and lock and lot .

so in summary I just like saying how often is to have these powerful speech recognition tools and how far they've come in as you did that well done, you do not . 

SexyGirlBlonde

A few days ago, I published a post entitled, Old School Books, where I discussed some of my favorite entrepreneurial books.

Notably absent from this list are some of the classic works of Mr. Guy Kawasaki.  Guy is a fantastic author - his book, Selling the Dream, occupied the precious real estate to the immediate left of my keyboard for a few years.  (By placing Guy's book to the left of my keyboard, it was within easy reach, but safely outside of the hazardous "coffee ring zone" to the right of my keyboard.  Most of my Intel and Microsoft reference books are decorated with rings of Sumatra coffee and Golden Dragon Ooolong tea from Peets).

Guy's books are great.  They are chock-full of powerful ideas and advice on sales, marketing, leadership, planning, and evangelism.  He has some cool case studies that further emphasize his teachings.  For a computer programmer hell-bent on succeeding in business, his books were exactly on target.

One day, I had the great fortune to receive a copy of Rules for Revolutionaries in the mail, sent and signed by none-other than Mr. Kawaski himself.  It was a happy day!

(Guy Kawasaki was also the first person to invest in my startup; Reality Fusion)

In a couple of his books, he talks about "Letting a Thousand Flower Bloom" - a phrase originally attributed to Chairman Mao, but recycled by Guy to apply to modern life.  I'll paraphrase (i.e. butcher) his overall point as; "Let your audience find the true value in your work".

For example, if you build a great little ladder for reaching high cabinets, but most people use it as a plant stand, then don't fight it; You've got yourself a plant stand business!

Here is a story of how I let a thousand flowers bloom, for a little while at least.

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In the fall of 1998, Reality Fusion received funding from Garage.com to market products based on our super-cool video interaction technology.  We hired a CEO and pursued a partnership deal with Logitech. The result of this partnership was a product called GameCam.

GameCam was a great product, for sure. Unfortunately though, it suffered in couple ways; first, with an MSRP of $140 - it was way too expensive. Second, we were banking on Logitech's marketing to help drive the sales of the product.  Logitech, a peripheral manufacturer, didn't have much experience marketing software products.

Sadly, GameCam found it's way to the sale racks in a hurry. (A few years later, Sony would reinvent GameCam as their product, the Sony EyeToy)

By the fall of 1999, Reality Fusion was in trouble.  GameCam was considered a failure.  At a pivotal board meeting (another story in the making) we decided to change course.

We decided to build an Internet Video Chat service.  It would eventually be called SeeSaw.

We set our sights on another company who had an audio chat service called HearMe. HearMe was on the verge of introducing video. More significantly, however, HearMe had a valuation of $1.5B.

When I was asked if we could one-up HearMe, I said something like, "no problem, it's just software".  The idea was to create an upbeat video chat experience where grown-ups, kids, friends and family could get together in "virtual rooms" with up to 100 people in each room. The rooms would be organized in a hierarchy of lobbies.

We designed the service, created a project plan and a schedule.  I was so confident in our plan that I scheduled a vacation immediately after our "proof of concept" deadline - I figured I'd need a break.

A couple of months later I demonstrated SeeSaw to the board of directors.  I was on vacation, in a room at the Bar Harbor Inn, in Bar Harbor, Maine. I was on a dial-up connection.  The rest of the board was in an meeting room at the offices of Venture Law Group in Menlo Park, California. We also had a few employees join us from the company headquarters in Santa Cruz.

To say the meeting went flawlessly would have been an understatement. The experience was almost perfect. The audio was great - with no hiccups, and the video windows were smooth and free of artifacts.  My son Nicky was jumping on a bed, while my other son Julian toddled around the room. The sights and sounds of "angry dad" trying to control the boys were transmitted flawlessly across the country.

This proved to be yet another serendipitous experience.  The meeting was a super-important milestone, we needed to demonstrate software that worked, and worked well.   And we did exactly that.   Afterward though, I realized that we were very lucky.    Soon after the meeting, the software simply stopped working. We discovered that some of our base assumptions were wrong. We had problems with interference between audio and video packets. This required a huge redesign.

A few more weeks passed, we regrouped and finally we were ready to launch SeeSaw.  This was a big event. Everyone in the company invited their friends and family to participate.  We sent video cameras to 50 or so close friends of the company.

We also did some grassroots promotional activities on the HearMe site - attempting to "convert" their user base.

These two groups of human beings were very different. Unfortunately, we didn't take this into consideration.  One group consisted of our fathers, mothers, uncles, sisters, close friends, wives - people that you might hang out with on Christmas day while wearing a funny holiday hat.  These people had names like Walter, Linda, Christy and Phil. The other group consisted of people who enjoyed anonymous on-line exploits.  They had names like LatinaTX, HookR, Hello78 and IWannaFUNKYou.

Back to those flowers.  I don't really know much about botany, but as it turns out, some species of flowers simply can't coexist with other species.  My wife's great uncle Giovanni tells the story of his experience on SeeSaw; "I was talking to Paul and Emma (my in-laws) and suddenly this man came into the room and took his clothes off!"

Over the course of a few hours, these naked flowers, their admirers and various other people took over the site. Over the course of the next 60 days, our membership grew from 0 to almost 95,000. At it's peak, we had 2000 users "video chatting" simultaneously.

One of our early adopters was a user named "SEXYGIRLBLONDE".  SEXYGIRLBLONDE was a "wee bit" of an exhibitionist. As such, she LOVED SeeSaw.  Click here to see a video of SGB in action. Don't worry, she keeps her clothes on.

I know that Guy Kawasaki wasn't all that happy that we let these particular flowers bloom, but I just gotta say ...  If you ever have a customer that's as happy with your product as SEXYGIRLBLONDE was with ours, then you're definitely doing something right!

If I was selling content management software for example, and my customer suddenly jumped up and starting doing a SEXYGIRLBLONDE dance - well, I'd seriously consider raising prices.

It took about 9 months to get from product conception to 95K users. We successfully absorbed most of HearMe's user base.

Sadly though, just as SeeSaw peaked, community sites were no longer in vogue and we had to change course yet again.

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Reality Fusion continued developing video conferencing services for other markets, and ended up launching 5 different video conferencing services in all. We also created the underlying technology that was used for another 4 services that were marketed by other companies.

Technical Folks

Downtown Santa Cruz is a wonderful place. Like any great city, there are plenty of tasty restaurants and interesting stores - but beyond that, Downtown Santa Cruz is just plain entertaining.  The sidewalks have a wealth of local color; From Umbrella Man, to YoYo Boy, to Angry Woman - you never know who you're going to bump into.

For a while, I considered a Micro-Entrepreneurial quest to create a set of Santa-Cruz-Personality trading cards based on the dozens of interesting people who live in, around, over and under the great city of Santa Cruz.  On one side of each card, I'd have a photograph of the person.  On the other side, I'd have stats.  For example, for Umbrella Man (a notoriously slow walker), I'd include maximum speed in feet-per-hour.  For Raging-Guitar-Man, and Small-Mexican-Violin-Man, I'd have musical stats - like "number of songs known". For RGM, this would be 3. For SMVM, it could be thousands - he seemed to improvise a lot.

I was also going to conduct interviews. I figured that I could assemble short life stories to be featured along with the stats.  Sadly though, despite support from close friends, I was always too busy to follow through on the trading card idea.

Speaking of interviews and interesting people I've met on sidewalks, that reminds me of a story - which also had it's roots in downtown Santa Cruz.

My first startup company was Cool Software; a small outsourcing company located across from the Palomar Inn on Pacific Avenue in Santa Cruz. Cool Software, like the name suggests, was very cool.  I commissioned a local artist to build a beautiful green and purple neon sign for the front window, which overlooked the Pacific Garden Mall.  We always had a wealth of super-cool outsourcing projects from Silicon Valley. We may have been better off skipping the sign, and naming it something like "Recurring Revenue Software" - but that wouldn't have been nearly as cool.

Anyway, when Cool was in it's infancy, we had 4 talented employees; 3 from Borland, and 1 from Microsoft.  This was a good starting point, but we needed more. I wanted to round out the team with some junior programmers and testers for a QA department, so I advertised in the local paper.

I have always had a hard time interviewing people. I find it hard to get a feel for someone in an interview.  You can look for the obvious warning signs like nose-picking, bad breath, needle marks and hairy-sandal-feet - but once you've established "base credibility", you've got to do more research. It's not easy.  Recommendations aren't that useful.  I suppose if someone couldn't find anyone to recommend them, that would be one thing. But generally speaking, recommendations are always positive and therefore useless.

One of the people I interviewed and later hired, was a girl named Jennifer.  I hired her because she threw my calculator across the room.  She wasn't trying to scare me, she was showing off her awesome ability to "stress test".  In some way, Jennifer was completely off the radar - I considered this a good thing. I think she ended up being a pretty good tester, if I'm not mistaken.

One night, while I was locking the front door to the office, I heard footsteps approaching from behind.  I turned to find one of the recent interview candidates standing on the sidewalk smiling.  His name was Jeremy.  He was a recent graduate from UCSC and was biding his time working at a local bookstore while he searched for something more interesting to do.

This was either a serendipitous chance encounter, or a planned strategic meeting on his part.  He asked me about "the job". Did he get it? I didn't believe in serendipity at the time.  I figured that he was genuinely excited about the job.  So I hired him.

Jeremy turned out to be an awesome hire and great a friend - he worked for me continuously from 1993 until just last year - 13 years in all. He is now VP of Engineering at ClipSync.  Perhaps I'll hire him again someday.

While Jeremy and Jennifer were pretty good at figuring out how to get my attention, other technical people weren't as effective - but ended up being great employees just the same.

I've had the pleasure of hiring and working with a wide variety of people. Over time, I've noticed a trend. Many brilliant, reliable, loyal, and otherwise highly competent technical people are terrible self promoters. On the other hand, most marketing and sales people, being marketing and sales people, understand how to sell themselves during job interviews.

If you are starting a company, and you want top technical talent, be prepared to "dig deep". Look for subtle signs of passion.  Interview in a relaxing, non-confrontational environment.  Take them to lunch, or out for a cup of coffee.

It may be a vast generalization, but I think that most programmers are not genetically disposed to tie-wearing. Important veins and arteries can be pinched, causing a noticeable decrease in apparent IQ. For this reason, I usually suggest that tie adorned interview candidates loosen their ties a bit and try to relax.

Don't judge technology folks by their interview skills, look for what really matters.   Look for people with a positive attitude who are loyal, hard working, smart, and up-to-date.  Oh, and don't hire assholes.   Even if you, personally, can put up with one or two "prima donna"s - that doesn't mean that your staff can.  Your staff is like a chemistry experiment - beware of corrosives!

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I don't have the full story, but I know that Umbrella Man, who's real name is Robert Steffen, was actually a former rocket-scientist/electrical engineer at NASA.   He also tried to run for president once.   His campaign was conducted from a cocoon of green plastic trash-bags on a bench in Downtown Santa Cruz.  He didn't win.  Man.  People are SO superficial!

(Umbrella Man Photo Courtesy of Rob Watson at Photo Phun)
(Nerd picture from my somewhere on my hard drive)

Old School Books

It is amazing how many anecdotes from Saturday Night Live seem to creep in to my daily life.

Yesterday I was talking to a guy about the pros and cons of aluminum gutters when I was reminded of Mike Myers' character "Middle-Aged Man" from SNL. Middle-Aged Man was a super-hero who "possessed powers and knowledge far beyond younger men". He would rescue those in distress by offering important advice about mutual funds, obscure uses for baking soda, or how to jump-start a car.

Another example is the term "Old School". Whenever I hear the term "Old School", I immediately think of Will Ferrell (formerly of SNL) in the movie, Old School.

I love the term "Old School".  It makes me feel better about myself.  Old School is a way for people like me to be cool even when we are not very cool at all. I use it all the time. My organizational skills, for example, are Old School. This means I have no idea where my wallet is right now.  It also means that my keyboard is flanked by 2 half-empty coffee cups and one tipped over bottle of diet Pepsi.

The way I dance is Old School.  This means that my son Nicky would rather be eaten by a pack of rabid otters than be seen anywhere near me when I'm dancing.

My music is Old School. I like Lynrd Skynrd.  I like Deep Purple. I like to sing real loud in the car.  It would be fun to play the drums on the dashboard, but I don't want to risk my "safe driver" status with the insurance company.   So instead I do that Stevie Wonder head wagging thing. While smiling.  And singing, "I'M AS FREE AS A BIRD NOW... AND THIS BIRD YOU CAN NOT CHANGE....".  Maybe you have seen me on the highway.

Even my home town hockey team, the Boston Bruins, are Old School.  That's why they wear those horrible yellow and black uniforms. Get it? Cool to not be cool. Which is very cool indeed!

Here are some wicked-good book recommendations from my private library. You will notice that these books are Old School.  It's not that I don't read new books - in fact I just read an interesting new book a week ago.  It was FREAKONOMICS by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner.  It was, like I said, interesting. Of course, it could have made an interesting pamphlet as well.  Or a cover story for the Inquirer.

Books that are Old School were written in a quieter, more contemplative world. The ideas in these books are both raw and pure.   

Take THINK and GROW RICH by Napoleon Hill for example. If you are starting a company, this is the first book to read.  It will get you off your tuckus. It was first published in 1937.  The book was inspired by Andrew Carnegie - an industrialist and the founder of Carnegie Steel. It seems that Mr. Carnegie set Mr. Hill on a mission to study the characteristics of great achievers. The result of this research is a "philosophy of personal achievement".

I think of T & GR as the original book on success.  You'll find that most other books on success are derivative works. I'm not saying you shouldn't read other books on success - but read this one first. It will make the others seem more credible.

This is a good book for your kids to read, but don't let them read it until they are older.  If they read it when they are too young, they might start succeeding at things like "get me the cookies, daddy".  Or, "daddy, I want a puppy NOW".

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Another classic work that includes the word "RICH" in the title is RICHEST MAN IN BABYLON, by George S. Clayson.

This book was originally published in 1926.  If you click on the link, you can buy this book for $7. It's probably the best $7 investment you will ever make - provided you actually read the book.

A simple description of the book doesn't do the book justice.  The book is about saving money, or rather, it's a day to day practical guide to building wealth. See? What did I tell you. Boring huh? So, trust me on this, go buy the book and read it.

If you had the best grandparent in the world, he or she would take you aside and tell you all about this book. I heard about it from a trusted friend. You get to hear about it from me (if you hadn't already heard about it).

It's interesting to compare these two books; Richest Man vs. T & GR. In fact, it would be super-cool to read them back to back. They're both timeless classics about money and success, but they're very different approaches.

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MYTHICAL MAN MONTH was written by the father of the IBM/System 360; Frederick P. Brooks Jr. If you search on Google for Fredrick Brooks - (click here) - you'll notice that almost every picture of him shows him smiling or laughing. I don't know about you, but I like people who laugh. Especially people who laugh at things as mundane as Software Engineering.

This book was originally written in 1975 - which is really old for a computer book. Due to Moore's law, computer books written in 1975 are like books on car repair from 623 B.C.  It contains Holy Truths of software engineering.  Amazingly, it is as significant now as it was in 1975.

If you read it, you'll learn about the process of software engineering. It covers scheduling, staffing, projects and things like that. It's about setting realistic expectations within an organization.  It's about human nature, computer science, and getting stuff done.

If your new startup company is going to develop software, you should definitely read this book.

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VOYAGE FOR MADMEN, Peter Nichols.  "Nine men set out to race each other around the world. Only one made it back". Sound familiar? Almost sounds like a venture capital portfolio -- doesn't it?

VfM is a a fantastic book set in 1969 about the Golden Globe Race.

The book is an amazing true story of a sailboat race around the world. At it's core, though, the book is about entrepreneurial spirit and competition.  These men had to overcome huge challenges as they sailed alone for months across thousands of miles of ocean. 1969 doesn't seem like that long ago until you realize that this was before satellite navigation, on-board computers, cell phones, etc.

Anyway, I really enjoyed this book. The inner flap reads like my last startup when it talks about "Success, Doom and Madness".

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CANON PRINTER MANUAL, Canon Inc, September 16, 1982.  Thousands of years ago I worked for Lotus Development Corporation in Cambridge, Massachusetts. One of my responsibilities at the time was to write software device drivers for printers. Back then, printer manufacturers didn't write their own drivers - they left this up to people like me; software developers.

Canon sent me a manual for a new printer. It was their very first ink jet printer. The manual is the absolute worst translation of a technical manual that I've ever seen. If I ever need a good laugh, I open up to a random page and start reading.

Here are some experts:

From page 5

In another specification, good character quality after pumping and no good one to have to use pumping is decided.

From page 17

If the printer receive this command in the data string of one line, whole data is printed as this dot interval mode.

From page 33

In case of the image data includes elongated character command.

I guess this was funnier when the manual was first written.  Anyway, I admit it - I couldn't translate Dr. Seuss into pig-Latin if you paid me. So, who am I to talk?

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I hope you get the opportunity to enjoy some of these Old School classics, as I have.  Good luck finding that printer manual, though.

Run for your Money

If Enya needed a hundred thousand square feet of office space, she'd probably find herself at the Pacific Shores Center on Seaport Boulevard in Redwood City, California.  It is one of the most spectacular office parks that I've ever seen. The buildings are beautiful, the grounds are lush and laced with interesting stonework, sculptures and pathways.

From my vantage point that day, it looked like the green glass buildings had risen out of San Francisco Bay. They stood alone on the horizon looking just a bit like a mirage.  It was a beautiful California morning. I was trying to "get right" for my meeting by taking a walk on Seaport Boulevard.

The night before I had been working very, very late. I was tired from coding and irritable after driving through traffic on route 101.  It was no-way-to-be before giving my second pitch to Draper Fisher Jurvetson. The first pitch, about 2 years prior, didn't go so well. Quite frankly, I was still annoyed.

I decided to go casual. I was wearing sandals, shorts and a short sleeve shirt.  Beyond the casualness, there was probably a little rebeliousness too.   Like I said, I was still annoyed by the meeting 2 years prior.

The company's second CEO was Paul Edelhertz. Paul was a great guy - he was fun to work with and highly ambitious.  Paul had flown in from Seattle for the meeting.  His suit was in a bag.  He planned to change just before the meeting - that way, he'd be fresh and wrinkle-free.  He was justifiably put-off when I showed up for the meeting wearing shorts.  He was right, it wasn't a winning strategy.

We were super early.  We had about an hour to kill.  I hate to be early, particularly if I could have spent the time sleeping off my code hangover from the night before. So I decided to go for a walk. I figured 25 minutes out, followed by 25 minutes back would get me to the meeting with plenty of time to spare.

I left the DFJ offices and started walking east towards the beautiful green buildings on the horizon.  The buildings were mesmerizing. I wondered if I could make it all the way to the buildings and back in 50 minutes. The closer I got to the buildings, the prettier they appeared. I wander between buildings, past a very elaborate exercise facility, along a shoreline path.  I noticed that most of the buildings were completely empty. What was up with that?

Then I looked at my watch. Holy shit. There were a scant 15 minutes before the meeting was suppose to start, and I hadn't started back yet. How did this happen? I thought I was being very careful with my time.

To my horror, I realized that I had no choice. I had to literally RUN back to the DFJ offices if I was going to be there on time.  I had about a mile and a half to go.

Reality Fusion's tired, red-eyed, knee-aching, shorts-wearing, grumpy, and extremely sweaty CTO arrived at the meeting just in time. I managed to walk the last couple hundred yards - allowing me to catch my breath.

I sat down the far end of the table.  Paul had been joined by two junior partners.  Paul shot me a "glare of death".  I was a bad, bad boy indeed.

It was the same room that I met Steve Jurvetson in a couple years prior. This time, there was no TV news crew and no 42" monitor.

We waited a minute or two, and then we were joined by Tim Draper.  The man Himself.  Tim sat at the opposite end of the table near Paul.  The meeting started with a technology demonstration.  I fired up our TeamView video conferencing software and invited a few people from Santa Cruz to join me.  I gave Tim a quick tour of some features, and quickly turned things over to Paul.

After Paul's presentation, Tim asked me a couple of questions.  Where did I go to school? I told him I dropped out at Northeastern.  College was really boring. At this point, my legs were crossed and I was leaning back in the chair.  I was waiting for Tim to send us on our way. Paul would be pissed, but hey, there would be other VCs.  I'd owe him one, but he'd get over it.

Tim asked a couple questions about the product.  I answered them as best I could.  I told him that it was just software. Anything could be done with software. All the omissions could be addressed, all the bugs would be fixed.  Nothing to worry about! We have a grand and glorious future planned for the company!

I didn't realize it until weeks later, but during that meeting, we successfully hooked one of the biggest fish in Silicon Valley.  It ended up taking several months of research, negotiation and due diligence, but in the end, after one last psychological hurdle, we were funded by DFJ.

The term sheet was signed during a TeamView meeting that included Paul, Tim, and 20 or so Reality Fusion employees.  Tim (left-most window) held the signature up to the camera so we could all see it. 

It was a super-cool meeting.

Tim Draper joined our board.

-------

When the funding finally closed, we had our first board meeting. Paul worked a couple of weeks mapping the new future strategy for the company.   He was careful to consult with the other board members to make sure his new strategy would be well received.  He presented it during the meeting.  He was proud of the presentation, and eager to lead the company forward.

At the very begining of the Paul's presentation, Tim said he wanted to meet with me in the hallway.  He had some news for me.  Paul continued with his presentation.

It turned out that Paul was going to be replaced by a new CEO that John Fisher (the "F" in DFJ) recommended.  Neither Paul nor I saw this coming. Paul was being replaced because he lived in Seattle and didn't want to move closer to the company's headquarters in Santa Cruz.  It was going to be sad to see Paul go.  He worked hard to raise the money.

After Paul finished his presentation, it was my job to give him the news.  I told him while driving him to the airport to catch his flight back to Seattle.

Jimmy and the Lug

The Big Lug was Reality Fusion's first CEO.  He was honest and enthusiastic with a big smile to match.  He was aggressively recommended for the job by the company's lead investor; Joe Costello.  Joe said he was a "marketing machine" - which was exactly what we needed at the time.

His name was Chad.

Chad liked baseball.  In fact, he was once arrested for running onto the field during a World Series game.  For most CEOs this would be a positive thing - a good thing to feature on one's resume.  But, sadly, in the case of this particular Big Lug, it wasn't a positive thing at all... for he was a Dodgers fan. Oh... but I digress.

Chad and I had been making the rounds in Silicon Valley.  We were meeting with VCs.  Our goal was to raise a Series "B" investment. On this particular day, we were meeting with Steve Jurvetson at Draper, Fisher, Jurvetson (DFJ) in Redwood Shores.

I was Reality Fusion's founder and CTO.  My job at investment meetings was (a) demonstrate the software and (b) answer technical questions. Since we didn't actually talk about the underpinnings of the technology, there wasn't much (b).  Beyond that, most would-be investors didn't care how it worked - seeing it work was good enough for them.  Consequently, there wasn't that much pressure on me during these meetings. I was all about vision and excitement.  I had the easy job.

Chad had the hard job.  He had to talk about things that didn't exist yet. Sales channels, marketing programs, partnerships, revenue, financials, etc. He had to convince investors that he could make things happen.

Chad wanted to hit a home run.  He and I practiced the presentation for several weeks.  We had a great board of directors and some awesome advisers. With these guys' help, we were able to instill the presentation with just the right blend of financial conservativeness and technological audacity.

DFJ was a top-tier VC firm led by Tim Draper - the grandson of General William H. Draper, Jr. - the father of Venture Capital in Silicon Valley.

Steve Jurvetson, well, is Steve Jurvetson!  He was the founding VC investor in HotMail, Interwoven and Kana. 

Here's a picture of Steve standing behind President George W. Bush.  Steve is the 4th from the left, click to make him bigger.

Steve is the Jimmy Neutron of Venture Capital.  He has brains, confidence, good looks and effervescent directness.

You can read all about Steve on the Internet.  My take on Steve is simple.  If Steve invested in Reality Fusion not only would we have the backing of a top-tier VC firm, but we'd have huge validation that the company was on the right track. Furthermore, Steve would be an awesome resource as we moved forward.

To this day, If I could choose anyone in Silicon Valley to have as a VC investor, it would be Steve Jurvetson.

So the meeting with Steve was big.  Huge even. But beyond the shear hugeness of this meeting, I was totally optimistic. Prior to this meeting, we had very little traction.  Most VCs seemed confused - like they didn't know what to make of us.

I thought that Steve would be smart enough and bold enough to understand the full potential of our technology. Where the other VCs seemed confused, Steve would simply "get it".  In fact, I was cocksure of it.

--------

Chad and I were waiting in a conference room at DFJ's headquarters in Redwood City. Their offices were located near a marina - I assumed that one or more partners made it a habit of sailing at lunch, or after work.  I was impressed that DFJ had rejected the Sand Hill scene for these cool, less-than-plush shore-front digs.

Sitting on the conference room table was our mega-huge 42" demo monitor. It can take 20 minutes or so to unpack the hardware and setup the demo, so we had arrived with plenty of time to spare.

While we waited, the receptionist stopped by to check on us. She told us that Steve was running late, he'd be with us as soon as possible.

People have different ways of killing time before meetings.  My particular methodology involved pacing, organizing the mess-of-wires behind our demo computer and looking out the window.  Chad was calmer, and took the time to focus on his presentation.  While I was looking out the window, I noticed a TV news truck pull into the parking lot and park outside.  4 people piled out of the van.

I love to watch TV news crews in action. The equipment is cool, and the whole "on a mission" thing is cool.  It's like being a firefighter, except you can drink more coffee, shave less often, and risk your life a lot less.  The 2nd floor window gave me a perfect vantage point to watch them unpack cases and assemble their equipment.  These guys looked like they were on a really important mission!

Just then, the receptionist came into the room one more time. She told us that Steve was on his way.  Good.  Finally! I was getting really tired of waiting. I looked out the window, and the news crew was gone - leaving the empty van behind.  With nothing else to watch, I sat down next to Chad and rearranged some wires.

After a couple more minutes, there was a faint knock at the door and then we were joined by Andreas Stavropoulos, a partner at DFJ.  While we were shaking hands with Andreas another man with a t-shirt entered the room.  Unlike Andreas, this man seemed totally out of place.  He looked like a roadie from Def Leppard.  Then, I recognized him. He was one of the men from outside the window. He was from the news crew.

He asked if he could film our meeting with Steve.  Wow!  This was exciting!  Apparently, they had heard about our award winning demo, and wanted to film our first meeting with DFJ.  Maybe they knew something we didn't.  Maybe we were going be funded by DFJ - and they wanted to catch the celebration on film.

We agreed, and then the four men from outside entered the room. They awkwardly hunkered down in the corner of the room - a couple of them sitting on the floor.  Perhaps they were afraid of getting soaked with champagne, or maybe Steve was so huge he could only be filmed from a distance.  Who knew?  The two men that were standing had a camera and a boom microphone, one of the two men on the floor had some sort of battery or recording device, and I guess the roadie-lookin-guy was a director or manager or something.

After the crew was ready, we were finally joined by Steve.

After some quick introductions, Steve sat down across the table.  Steve's hands were neatly folded on top of his notebook - he wasn't a scribbler - it was obvious that we had his full attention.

The first part of the meeting consisted of a technology demonstration. Unlike enterprise software, e-mail packages, web site wizards and other hot technologies of the time, our technology was visually exciting - a perfect demo for a TV spot.  I showed Steve about a half dozen applications - waving my hands like a magician. It was one of the best presentations that I ever gave.  Occasional nods of approval from the TV news crew and Steve's smiling face told me that everything was going great.

Then it was Chad's turn to talk about the business.  He was going to tell Steve how we were going to make tons and tons of money. Chad loaded up his Powerpoint presentation so he could deliver his pitch.

I'm not sure how far Chad got before Steve spoke up, but I don't think he got too far.  Steve apologized, interrupted and asked about 4 questions.  Steve wanted raw numbers. How many people will buy your thing? How much will they pay? Etc.

Steve did a quick multiplication in his head and said, "So, based on that, your company could be a $250M business - if all goes according to plan. Correct? "

I could tell that Chad was taken a little off guard. He wanted to give the presentation, it wasn't yet time for Q&A. None-the-less, Chad replied in the affirmative.  I think he said, "Well, yes..."

With that answer in hand, Steve said, "We're not interested in $250M opportunities - we want $1B opportunities".  And with that, Steve stood up and walked out.

---------

Andreas was left behind to deal with the carnage.  He wasn't going to rebut Steve's response, but rather, it appeared his job was to politely and respectfully explain the meaning of the word "no".  Then, he spoke about DFJ, their funds and whatnot.  I think we asked a couple of questions.  I don't know why. At this point the whole conversation was just words.  The words were used to spackle over the enormous crater that, only a few minutes earlier, was our brilliant presentation.

After a little while, Andreas left and the news crew scampered out the door dragging wires behind them.

I didn't watch the news that night.  I had a strong feeling that the whole deal was planned in advance - an ambush that would make an exciting TV spot. "Brilliant, but Ruthless VC plays Hardball with Rookie Entreprenreurs - details after Baywatch".

Afterall, DFJ knew what we were presenting - they had already seen our business plan and the financials.  Like most VCs, they had either heard of our demo, or had seen it at a conference.  They knew it was visual enough for TV. They knew what we were up to.  Would the news crew be there for a maybe?  Would they be there for a "hmm, interesting"?  Would a VC ever say "yes" on TV?  Nah.  None of these things. 

We were there so Steve could say "no" on TV.

--------

Many years later, with different technology, a different CEO, and after a completely different type of meeting, we actually did receive Series B financing from DFJ.  Tim Draper, not Steve Jurvetson, joined our board.

Corsage for Moritz

Finding a VC for your startup is like finding a date for a prom.

In case it isn't obvious from the killer hair-wave in my high school picture, I had no problem finding a date for my prom.  In fact, somehow I ended up with the awkward one-extra-date problem.  I was hoping that one of the two would notice my plaid pants and dickie and dump me first - but sadly, I ended up doing the dumping, with only a couple of days to go.

Later in life, I learned that my paisley charm could help me raise venture capital for my company.

Here is some important advice.

Don't be Pathetic. Remember that you represent an awesome investment opportunity.  You are looking for a financial partner who wants to profit off your imminent success. There are no guarantees, of course, but don't let that dampen your boyish (or girlish) charms.

Don't ask Just Anyone.  Be picky.  Do your research and find a top-tier firm that you'd like to be funded by.  Look for a good match.  For example, if your startup has a hot new virtualization technology, look for a firm that has invested in virtualization.  Then, look at the profiles of the partners and find THE partner that you need to talk to.  VCs usually take board level positions in their portfolio companies.  Find a partner who is on the board of a related company. This person is the person you want to talk to.

Pickiness helps you in many ways.  First, you'll waste less time - both yours and VCs.  Second, the fact that you aren't wasting their time will earn you points with the VC.  Third, your intensity-per-meeting will be maximized.  Finally, if you get a "no", perhaps you'll get a referral to a second or third tier firm. It's easier to work your way down, than work your way up.  So, start at the top!

It's surprising the number times I've met with VCs who agreed to the meeting with no intention of investing.  Sometimes this was my fault, sometimes it was the VC's fault. Remember to keep your targets in mind.

Here are some meetings to avoid:

• Some VCs take meetings as a favor to someone else.  These VCs will listen to whatever you say, and respond with something like, "That's fantastic". Then, you'll be sent on your way.  Not a good meeting.
• If you have cutting edge technology, some VCs will talk to you simply because they are curious.  They don't have any intention of investing.  Like Researchers in Fortune 500's, they can't really help you.
• If you plead with someone for a meeting, surprisingly, you might get a meeting as a favor to you - maybe you twisted their arm in some way.  Again, not a good meeting.
• Sometimes it's just a bad match.  Either the VC didn't screen properly, or you didn't give them enough info to make a wise decision.
• I even suspect that some VCs take meetings simply to increase their deal flow.

Don't be a Loser.  If you want to talk to Mike Moritz, get an introduction and make it happen.  Don't settle for a lesser, ostensibly more approachable source of funds.  Find people who know Mike - maybe they have board seats on the same company.  Meet with these people first.  Sometimes you'll find that your target firm has led investments, and other firms have followed. It's fine to meet with these other "follower firms" as a step towards meeting with your target.  Also, remember that a maybe isn't a no.  In particular, if a VC asks you to do something - like put together a list of competitors, DO IT.

Primp. Dress the part. For those of you who know me, this probably doesn't sound very Barry-like.  But I've seen the error of my ways.  You'll have 15 minutes to make an awesome impression - don't distract the audience with your Hawaiian shirt - just because you're so freaking cocky.

If you consider yourself a non-mainstream CEO, then find some nice non-mainstream clothes.  Wear a funny tie or something.  Tim Draper does.

Be Direct.  Even if your dream-girl had a fax machine, it probably wouldn't be a good idea to fax your "will-you-be-my-date" question to her. Similarly, don't fax your business plan, presentation, executive summary, resume or anything else for that matter to a VC's fax machine.

Every fax machine on Sand Hill Road is either out of paper, out of ink, or conveniently located over a trash can.

Also, don't use e-mail to start a relationship. Once you've met with a VC, it's okay to use e-mail to for due diligence - but don't use it for anything important.

Push for an Answer. Avoid situations where you have to wait for a reply. Sometimes VCs have a hard time saying no. They are sensitive enough to realize that you don't want to hear a no - but not sensitive enough to give you a straight answer.

If you get a no, ask for a reason.  Don't leave until you understand the reason.  Usually they'll say, "it's just not a good fit". Sometimes you might get a real answer though.

If you get a yes, be very suspicious. In my experience, 98% of all first meeting yes's were actually No's in disguise. In fact, the vast majority of immediate yes's resulted in no further communication from the VC.

Maybes are the best answer. This means that your VC is afraid of making a mistake. There are two types of maybes. If he's leaning in the "no" direction, he'll look for someone else to corroborate his "no" - after-all he doesn't want to overlook a Skype-in-the-making. You'll probably end up in a second meeting with one or two other peer-level partners.

If he's leaning towards "yes", he'll either ask for more info, or he will setup a meeting with a junior level "research partner".  He'll look for evidence that he's right before he sticks his neck out in front of the rest of the firm.

Don't give up. Read my story of a "no" that turned into a yes. Remember that homework is one of the the best signs you can get. Be persistent and try to get more than one VC interested in your company.   If all goes well, you'll get a term sheet.

A term sheet is a written acceptance of your prom invitation.  It's non-binding - which means that you can't become a total seedy slouch as soon as you get one.  Continue with your winning ways right up until the closing.   

Afterward, you can start wearing your Hawaiian shirt again.   But don't wear it with a dickie.

Knockers

There are two schools of thought on the 60 hour hyper-productive work week. The first says; wake up insanely early because you do your best work in the morning.  The second says; work super late until you are just too tired to continue.  Then, make up for it by sleeping late in the morning.

While I normally prefer the "get-up-early-approach", the exciting early days of Reality Fusion kept me working later and later at night.  As a result, I'd often find myself waking up after the kids had gone off to school.

One extremely bright October morning, I was woken by someone knocking at my front door.  I waited for Paula to get it.  More knocking.  I kept waiting.  More knocking.  Then, I was faced with the awful realization that Paula wasn't home and I'd actually have to get out of bed and answer the door myself.

Strange and mysterious things happen to the middle age male body when it's asleep.  Fluids shift from here to there.  Eyes get puffy.  Hair stands on end.  Facial muscles go "off line" causing speech to become slurred and drooly.  Personally, I find it comforting to close one eye for a while - because my eyes don't actually line up for 10 minutes or so. 

As you can see, suddenly waking a middle age male body can have terrible consequences.  In addition to the undesirable physical consequences, there is also the horrible "bad clothing choice" syndrome.  This is where you quickly combine some subset of wrinkly yesterday's clothes (usually from the floor) with maybe a bathrobe, or a smock, or an apron, or all of the above.

(mug shots of Nick Nolte and Rip Torn courtesy of various law enforcement agencies)

Katherine Jen was the Founder and Managing Partner of AsiaTech Ventures.  She and her two impeccably dressed colleagues were so excited about Reality Fusion that they decided to arrive a wee bit earlier than scheduled. Our meeting was scheduled for 10am.  She had arrived at 9:15.  My alarm had been set for 9:30.

Of course, I had no idea who could possibly be banging on my door at 9:15 -- I assumed it was a solicitor of some sort, or maybe it was a package. So I Quasimodo-ed my way to the front door.  I was ready to defend the house from solicitors armed with nothing but a bad case of morning breath. I opened the door.  With my one-open-eye I was able to see that I was probably not going to be receiving investment from AsiaTech Ventures.

But Katherine was a good sport, and she waited with her partners on the couch in the garage, while I took a shower and "got right" for the meeting.

The meeting was pretty quick - about 20 to 30 minutes was all it took.  I remember the 3 of them sitting on the couch in front of the workbench -- next to the band-saw.  (This couch and the coffee table in front of it would later become the workplace for one of my employees - but for now, it was my executive meeting room). Wires ran along the ceiling and floor.  I don't know if I gave her a demo or not, but Katherine seemed very impressed with our technology, the garage/office, and the few early risers that she met that morning. It turned out that Reality Fusion received an investment from AsiaTech within 24 hours. And not a small investment either.

A year later, when the company had moved into an old mansion on Mission Street in Santa Cruz, we would receive another on-site visit from another potential investor. Again, he was early.  Again, he invested. And once again, years later, this happened a third time.

This leads me to draw some some important generalizations.

First, on-site visits from potential investors are sincere signs of enthusiasm.  In fact, I think that on-site visits may even constitute a final formality for some investors.  Perhaps they've done all they can do from the safety of their Aeron chair, and now they need to go out and see for themselves.

Second, I believe that investors are swayed by REAL THINGS as much as by PowerPoint presentations and business plans.  If they can see what they are investing in, shake some hands, drink your coffee - they are much more inclined to invest.

Finally, the whole "early" deal might be a way of catching you with your defenses down. It's a way to get a behind-the-scenes view.  They want to know how you handle unexpected circumstances.  I've seen this before, in other circumstances.  So, you should try to be equally early when possible.

Remember, it's important to appeal to both the right and left halves of an investor's brain.  The left half needs to see a good solid plan and lots of detailed financials.  The right half needs to see and feel the opportunity, and believe in the overall vision.

Here's a handy diagram that I made. Feel free to print it out and tape it to the side of your monitor - or put it on your fridge.

   

Mission to Atherton

I was probably 20 something before I realized that UPS drivers weren't actually affiliated with the armed forces.  It was confusing though. After all, they wore uniforms.  They sat up high in big brown military looking trucks.  UPS actually contains the letters "US" - and I had seen the letters "US" on my G.I. Joe stuff when I was a kid.

Today, I was involved in a an important mission - and a UPS driver was about to play a key role in my operational plan.  The target?  Guy Kawaski's gate.  I was parked out in front of his beautiful home in Atherton.  Max and I had learned of his address, and we drove the 45 minutes from my "HQ" in Santa Cruz to get there.

I had just heard from John Meyer that Guy was starting a groovy new company named Garage.com.  Garage had an amazing team, including Craig Johnson, Bill Reichert, Bill Joos, and others.  Their idea was to connect qualified angel investors with prescreened new startup ventures.  As an entrepreneur, this sounded exactly like what I was looking for.  Hence, our mission to Atherton.

But something had gone awry; it was raining!  We were pinned down in Max's truck outside the gate near the shrubs.  The rain threatened to ruin the package that we had put together for Guy.  A business plan, some press material, and Polaroid pictures of my garage - just for effect.  It was then that I spotted the UPS truck.  Max held our position while I made for the truck.  I pleaded with the driver, "Need... Plastic.. Bag.  Quick. - PLEASE!"

With the bag in hand, I made my way back to the Max's truck.

Then, we carefully tied the waterproof package to Guy's gate.  As we made our retreat back to HQ, I nodded to my new buddy - the UPS driver.

-----------

A few days later I met with Guy in the Garage.com offices in downtown Palo Alto.  I was a little nervous - I had a huge amount of respect for Guy and his work at Apple.  I had read a couple of Guy's early books, and had them perpetually open on my desk next to my monitor.

At some point, you could read about the Fujitsu monitor that I had been using to demo my software.  Suffice to say, it was BIG.  In fact, it was way too big to carry up to the third floor of the garage.com offices.  And, of course as luck would have it, there was no elevator.

This forced me to do something you never want to do with Guy. Not 10 seconds after meeting with him, I asked for a monitor that would work with a "PC".  A "Microsoft-style" PC.

I have a vague memory of Guy wincing slightly, and then asking someone else, who asked someone else, who then produced a dusty old 13" VGA monitor from the corner of the office.  The thing was a "beater".

Once I had everything set up - I gave Guy a demo.  Despite the dusty little monitor, the software looked great. In fact, Guy said, "That's the best demo I've ever seen in my life".

In subsequent days I met with the other partners.  I worked with Craig Johnson the most.  Craig was the founder of Venture Law Group.

In October of 1998 Reality Fusion became the first company funded through Garage.com.

Mission Accomplished.