Every argument clarity score on this site is built from rows on this page. Each
question and answer was assessed with names hidden, the host's own answers included, on
four things from 1 to 5:
directness (does it answer the question asked), coherence (do the ideas follow),
precision (concrete details and clear references), compression (says a lot per word). The weighted
mix (30/30/25/15) is the exchange score. A person's published score averages their exchange
scores on raw tape only, at least 8 of them, shrunk toward the cohort mean.
Full method →
Answered produced feed
D 5 · C 5 · P 4 · Cm 4 4.60
Q You know, you mentioned that the third fundraise being a year and it being the most challenging. When did you see things very clearly inflect? When did the Excel brand really hit with LPs and bluntly fundraising was much, much easier? What do you think it was that changed in LPs' minds and in the brand of Excel?
A Yeah, I think it was several things. I mean, the period when it got easier was in the mid nineties and there on thereafter, you know, we had some wrinkles in the post 2000 era. We bounced back from that pretty quickly, but you know, it got easier. And if that was a function of us being known as a firm, I mean, Accel, when we started, it was Jim and Arthur, Arthur and Jim, you know, it wasn't Accel. It became Accel in somewhere in the, in the nineties. And we became really dominantly known for communications and software investing. We became a brand name in that context, not as a venture firm, but in that context in those industries. And we spent enormous amount of intellectual energy building that brand within those industries. Trade shows in those days, and marketing pitches, and panels, and such, and such, and such, and such. We just kept beating that drum, and it eventually started. I think the other factor is, it became easier in that era, too, because the whole business became easy. You know, the IPO market opened up broadly. Money was flowing. Times are good. I mean, the nineties were a period of great prosperity in the country. Call it an economic boom, but it was certainly an economic surge, which ended up peaking in 2000,
AI assessment note: “the period when it got easier was in the mid nineties”
Answered produced feed
D 5 · C 5 · P 4 · Cm 4 4.60
Q You know, you mentioned that the third fundraise being a year and it being the most challenging. When did you see things very clearly inflect? When did the Excel brand really hit with LPs and bluntly fundraising was much, much easier? What do you think it was that changed in LPs' minds and in the brand of Excel?
A Yeah, I think it was several things. I mean, the period when it got easier was in the mid nineties and there on thereafter, you know, we had some wrinkles in the post 2000 era. We bounced back from that pretty quickly, but you know, it got easier. And if that was a function of us being known as a firm, I mean, Accel, when we started, it was Jim and Arthur, Arthur and Jim, you know, it wasn't Accel. It became Accel in somewhere in the, in the nineties. And we became really dominantly known for communications and software investing. We became a brand name in that context, not as a venture firm, but in that context in those industries. And we spent enormous amount of intellectual energy building that brand within those industries. Trade shows in those days, and marketing pitches, and panels, and such, and such, and such, and such. We just kept beating that drum, and it eventually started. I think the other factor is, it became easier in that era, too, because the whole business became easy. You know, the IPO market opened up broadly. Money was flowing. Times are good. I mean, the nineties were a period of great prosperity in the country. Call it an economic boom, but it was certainly an economic surge, which ended up peaking in 2000,
AI assessment note: “the period when it got easier was in the mid nineties and there on thereafter”
Partly produced feed
D 3 · C 4 · P 4 · Cm 3 3.55
Q Can I ask, did you completely align on strategy when you were in those early days? Jim, if you go back to that first conversation, did you completely align on strategy, and where did the name come from, too?
A Yeah. Arthur and I, knowing each other briefly at school, came together at Citicorp in the early seventies, and that era was also, you know, it was a very formative period for us. We did a number of really interesting projects, and it was a time when you could take six months learning a business or whatever before you had to pull the trigger, so it was a very analytical, thought-driven process, and then when we joined Fred in 78, it became much more. Fred was a, you know, a hip shooter, very entrepreneurial. It was a really, really interesting blend of talents and ways of approaching the business. We became more entrepreneurial. I'm not sure he ever got more disciplined, but voted him two to one, so it worked that way. So strategies, the diversity of portfolios that an individual partner would have, and I, for whatever reason, during that period in the Adler days, focused on the communications industry. It was emerging. Fortunately, I made an investment in 1975, which was a combined cable modem, satellite modem. It was an incredible groundwork. I ended up running. The CEO died. I ran it for a while. So I became pretty steeped in communications early on. Similarly, Arthur, Had similar experiences in the software industry and became one of the early prominent software investors. So when we started Excel, it was pretty clear to us. We wanted to focus. It was a time to focus. You c…
AI assessment note: “it was a very complimentary and critical focusing strategy”
Partly produced feed
D 3 · C 4 · P 4 · Cm 3 3.55
Q Can I ask, did you completely align on strategy when you were in those early days? Jim, if you go back to that first conversation, did you completely align on strategy, and where did the name come from, too?
A Yeah. Arthur and I, knowing each other briefly at school, came together at Citicorp in the early seventies, and that era was also, you know, it was a very formative period for us. We did a number of really interesting projects, and it was a time when you could take six months learning a business or whatever before you had to pull the trigger, so it was a very analytical, thought-driven process, and then when we joined Fred in 78, it became much more. Fred was a, you know, a hip shooter, very entrepreneurial. It was a really, really interesting blend of talents and ways of approaching the business. We became more entrepreneurial. I'm not sure he ever got more disciplined, but voted him two to one, so it worked that way. So strategies, the diversity of portfolios that an individual partner would have, and I, for whatever reason, during that period in the Adler days, focused on the communications industry. It was emerging. Fortunately, I made an investment in 1975, which was a combined cable modem, satellite modem. It was an incredible groundwork. I ended up running. The CEO died. I ran it for a while. So I became pretty steeped in communications early on. Similarly, Arthur, Had similar experiences in the software industry and became one of the early prominent software investors. So when we started Excel, it was pretty clear to us. We wanted to focus. It was a time to focus. You c…
AI assessment note: “when we started Excel, it was pretty clear to us. We wanted to focus.”
