This is a really interesting point:<p><i>When I was a V.C. at first, I would just ask my questions and kind of poke, poke, poke, poke. And now I’ll say: “Look, I’m going to ask some things, and this might be kind of awkward, but I’m just going to say it, and let’s work our way through it. And it doesn’t mean I don’t believe in you and your company. I just want to understand where you are and what you think. I’m going to ask some things and they might be wrong, but let’s figure some things out together.”</i><p>--<p>I've noticed that people have different assumptions about what it <i>means</i> to ask questions. Some folks (like the interviewee here) just ask away, because they want information -- their questions have no malicious intent behind them.<p>But on the receiving side, this can cause problems. Some people, when asked probing questions (or any questions at all), will get defensive. Just the fact that someone is <i>asking</i> must mean they think something is <i>wrong</i>. Questions like "Why did you choose Node.js instead of Java?" can be (and I think often are) interpreted as "The questioner thinks I made the wrong choice, so I have to defend my choice now."<p>People in the tech community seem particularly affected by this assumption. Interesting that this VC ran into that problem too.
This Q&A really hit home for me.<p><i>Q: Early leadership lessons for you?<p>A: I didn’t understand the role of simplicity and messaging early on. One of the things that happened at one of my start-ups was that I would get bored saying the same thing every day. So I decided to change it up a little bit. But then everybody had a different idea of what I thought because I was mixing it up.<p>So my big lesson was the importance of a simple message, and saying it the same way over and over. If you’re going to change it, change it in a big way, and make sure everyone knows it’s a change. Otherwise keep it static.</i>
> The other thing I would say is to stay close to professions that create and make things, and stay away from derivative professions like finance. I think makers increasingly have the power in our society.<p>Wow, interesting words from someone who works in finance.
FTA: <i>"I remember when I was in second grade, we needed a new TV. All my friends would just go to the store and buy one, but my dad bought a Heathkit, and we had to put together the parts."</i><p>What an awesome parent.
I think I get it. Let me try:<p>"Make America Great Again!"
"Make America Great Again!"
"Make America Great Again!"<p>Ok. Got it.