Bing Gordon, Partner at Kleiner Perkins and former Amazon and Zynga board member, discusses effective board directorship and founder coaching.
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“So I'd say in general, it's ask hard questions, but don't be an asshole.”
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More from Bing Gordon
Insight
Gordon: Most boardroom attendees never say anything useful
“You know, my experience in boards, most people who sit in a boardroom don't say a single useful thing, you know, so if there's only five useful things, if the goal, the high watermark is five useful things in three hours, and when there's five board members, n…”
Bing GordonNov 27, 2017▶ 13:4620VC: Kleiner Perkins' Bing Gordon on Lessons From Serving On Amazon & Zynga's Board, Why The Best Investors Are Good Listeners and Sceptical Optimists & The Most Important Value Add A VC Can Provide
AssertionNot checkable as stated
Gordon: No successful startup investor completely ignores valuation
“I don't know any successful investor in companies who invest that way.”
Bing GordonNov 27, 2017▶ 16:2020VC: Kleiner Perkins' Bing Gordon on Lessons From Serving On Amazon & Zynga's Board, Why The Best Investors Are Good Listeners and Sceptical Optimists & The Most Important Value Add A VC Can Provide
Insight
Gordon: VCs cannot help failing CEOs, only help successful ones scale
“You can't much help them when they fail, but how do you help them scale when they succeed?”
Bing GordonNov 27, 2017▶ 5:4320VC: Kleiner Perkins' Bing Gordon on Lessons From Serving On Amazon & Zynga's Board, Why The Best Investors Are Good Listeners and Sceptical Optimists & The Most Important Value Add A VC Can Provide
Insight
Gordon: Great investors optimize for expected value, not loss avoidance
“And Mark, I think great investors think about expected value, not loss avoidance.”
Bing GordonNov 27, 2017▶ 6:5920VC: Kleiner Perkins' Bing Gordon on Lessons From Serving On Amazon & Zynga's Board, Why The Best Investors Are Good Listeners and Sceptical Optimists & The Most Important Value Add A VC Can Provide
Insight
Gordon: Only execute M&A deals if willing to pay double
“My math is never do a merger and acquisition deal if you wouldn't pay double. Because the ones that work, basically a year later, they're twice as valuable as you thought they were. And the ones that don't work, the amount you spend probably doesn't matter.”
Bing GordonNov 27, 2017▶ 15:1920VC: Kleiner Perkins' Bing Gordon on Lessons From Serving On Amazon & Zynga's Board, Why The Best Investors Are Good Listeners and Sceptical Optimists & The Most Important Value Add A VC Can Provide
Insight
Gordon: Overpaying by 2x cuts a VC fund's at-bats in half
“The negative about that is most of the things that you think you're big game hunting for don't work out, and if you can do 30 investments in a fund and you overpay by double, and there's x percent are gonna be big winners, now you've cut your at-bats in half.”
Bing GordonNov 27, 2017▶ 16:0020VC: Kleiner Perkins' Bing Gordon on Lessons From Serving On Amazon & Zynga's Board, Why The Best Investors Are Good Listeners and Sceptical Optimists & The Most Important Value Add A VC Can Provide
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