All achievements, all earned riches, have their beginning in an idea. – Napoleon Hill

In the realm of ideas everything depends on enthusiasm. In the real world all rests on perseverance. – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning. – Benjamin Franklin

If you are not willing to risk the unusual, you will have to settle for the ordinary. –Jim Rohn

One year ago today, I joined Menlo Ventures as a Managing Director. It’s been quite a year! And it’s been quite an adventure in venture.  I’ve worked non-stop and have enjoyed every single moment. I’ve never worked harder and it’s all fueled by my passion for the courageous founders who give life to disruptive ideas and who ultimately fuel our economy. When you love what you do it never really feels like work- it feels like living.  I thank the founders who have had faith in me and my team and have blessed me with the chance to work with them. Thank you to Uber, Fab.com, Warby Parker, Tumblr, Machine Zone, Mr. Number, Shaker and almost 20 seed companies we’ve backed through our new Talent Fund (like OrderAhead, Urbansitter, Parse, Comprehend, SendHub, Exec and more). The Menlo 2.0 initiative has been a great team effort and results have been in the chance to back so many new companies. I thank my team for the faith they’ve show in me as well. Menlo didn’t have a seed program a year ago and it has been an invigorating experience. Our consumer practice has grown in parallel with example lead investments in such companies as Uber (we put $20m to lead the Series B), we led Fab.com’s Series A and participated in it’s Series B, we led Machine Zone’s Series B. We feel blessed to be working with such amazing founders and their incredible teams executing at lightening speed.

I never thought I would have such a chance as this. As an immigrant kid from a family of humble origins I never felt like I belonged. All I knew was to work hard. I still remember how nervous I was coming to Sandhill Road my very first time straight out UC-Berkeley. Coming to 3000 Sandhill Road as a fresh, first time entrepreneur I remember every detail in vivid detail. The blue skies. The sense of so much potential. The feeling that the world was so full of potential and the dream of having someone on Sandhill Road believe in my dream. I entered a world I didn’t know and world that seemed so far away. I never want to forget that feeling. Everytime when I am parking and I see a team of founders excitedly bounding up to their meetings with investors it fills with me with hope and inspiration.  Back then I realized that this place was as close to a meritocracy that I had ever seen. I also realize it is not perfect. We need more people of color and more women in venture and as first time entrepreneurs. I have a responsibility to open up as many doors as possible. Last week, I started a new practice of open office hours to open source access to venture. The first one had over 15 founders show up. I plan to continue this practice because I remember how hard it was to get that first meeting. 

At it’s core Silicon Valley cares most about talent, execution and character and hard work. The circumstances of our birth has little do with whether one can succeed or fail in Silicon Valley. So many have come here with little but their dreams, including me, and through perseverance, hard work and talent have made it here. We can always optimize our filter more so that more people of all backgrounds can get support as entrepreneurs. I am committed to this and will make it a big focus of my 2nd year in venture.  I have also joined the Board of Build National ( http://www.build.org) along with Jack Dorsey and Reid Hoffman to help bring entrepreneurship to kids in school districts like East Palo and others like it across the country. Their programs are are so inspiring and the students starting their businesses are just awesome. I have also co-founded 1% of Nothing (http://1percentof.org/) ot help bring a culture of giving from the inception of startups where we give a part of our equity to charities we believe in. I’ve been blessed to have Hunter Walk and Jenny Stefanotti join forces on this and we have exciting announcements to make in the year ahead.

The number one lesson I have learned in my first year comes down to really one giant realization: 

It’s All About the People. Great people beget great people. People are the greatest asset class.

You have surround yourself with great people and back the very best people in the world. In return, you have to give them your very all to create value for them. To bring them more great people to join them in their journeys. Great people inspire greatness and raise the bar for all of us. 

Here’s to a second year of learning in venture. I called it Adventure Capital. In the end the adventure and the road we travel together to create a better world for all of us is all that matters.

Cheers,

Shervin Pishevar