See original post at BRYCE DOT VC:
About this time last year as I walked down the Embarcadero, en route to my office, I thought there was a 50/50 chance I’d have an FBI agent waiting for me in the lobby.
A few nights prior, only weeks after moving to the bay area and days after having a new baby, I went to a dinner at Bin 38 that got turned into a meme. What followed was an amazing spectacle of mud slinging, grand standing and finger pointing unlike any I had ever found myself in the midst of. Heavy accusations were made, threats of FBI investigations were implied and career ending personal attacks were levied.
I wondered to myself, my partner Mark, our attorneys and the limited partners of our fund if I could recover. Based on the awful accusations that were being made could entrepreneurs ever trust me again? Would the investors in the new fund we had just closed ask for their money back?
It was a massiver personal blow and, for a few days, it felt like my world was crashing down around me.
Then a funny thing happened.
Within days the headlines slowed to a trickle then vanished altogether. As the voices of grandstanders and fingerpointers quieted new voices of supporters and advocates, many of whom I hardly knew, began to speak up. Those FBI investigators I was so certain were waiting in my lobby never arrived, but many others did wait in that same lobby to show support, offer help or just lend an ear.
The past year has been the most transformational of my career. We’ve been more active in making new investments than ever. We’ve seen two massively profitable exits (TripIt and Instructables). And I went from being a VC no one had ever heard of, to being the only VC no one had ever heard of on a list of 7 other VCs everyone else knew.
I learned a lot of lessons after stepping through the doors of Bin 38.
The one I’m most grateful for today is that no matter how bad a situation we find ourselves in there is a way forward. That when we think we’re on the brink of ruin we’re not. That the most insurmountable trials often appear right before our biggest breakthroughs. And that, in fact, the personal insights and learnings we achieve in passing through these trials are the foundation upon which breakthroughs are built.
About Nathan Kaiser
