One Match Fires

A couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to interview Ron Conway and Mike Maples for the Stanford Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders lecture series. Both are very talented angel investors, who fund early stage start-ups. They share some fascinating thoughts about how they evaluate new opportunities that flow their way, what they do to help young companies, and talk about nurturing your passions. One great line from Mike Maples is that if you are lucky enough to have a great education from a great university, and you are NOT doing something that you love to do, then you have flunked an important cosmic IQ test. He uses a bunch of other great metaphors. For example, he talks about angle investors using a single match (that is a small investment) to light a forest fire (get a big return).

This is one of thousands of podcasts and video clips at the STVP Educators Corner, run by the Stanford Technology Ventures Program.