“What’s next?” That’s the simple question that serial entrepreneurs between the approximate ages of 45 and 55 ask themselves and hear from their peers. What’s next? The world is your oyster! You’ve got lots of options. You’ve got a solid net worth, a great network, lots of energy, wisdom from scars, battles, and trophies. What will you do next? You could…
The last one has a lot of appeal, but are you really ready to be put out to pasture? No! So let’s look at your other options.
Being a VC is exciting, right? You raise money, meet with exciting, passionate young entrepreneurs who are just about to make all the same mistakes you made years ago. And don’t forget about the spreadsheets. Oh, the spreadsheets you’ll see! Unfortunately, you won’t be able to actually affect those spreadsheets. You won’t get your hands dirty actually running the companies.
OK, so you want to be comfortable. Take one of the many corporate jobs you’ve been teased with for the past 5 years. That would do it. Steady paycheck, awesome benefits, add to that retirement account with ease. Planned vacations. Sounds good, right? Yes, on paper it does sound good.You’d be bored to tears because you won’t be using those God-given talents that made you a successful serial entrepreneur. That’s your juice! You have to use it…or lose it. And, finally, what would you learn there, because you love to learn about new tech, new markets, new opportunities.
We are just naive enough, crazy enough, or possibly brilliant enough to believe that we CAN have it all!We’re all experienced serial entrepreneurs who want to continue to have our hands dirty in the mix. Yes, we see a lot of spreadsheets, but we made those spreadsheets from scratch, and we change them when stuff changes. We are a team, and our network is much, much wider than just one of our individual networks, so building a team is that much easier. We have multiple portfolio companies at the same time. Some will fail, and some succeed. A few will be spectacular. You’ll never be bored and you’ll never stop learning because your hands will always be in the mix of running a startup, building a team, raising money, and working the spreadsheets.You’ve got massive equity in your vertical. Build your portfolio at The Combine.
