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Ryan Blair, HashtagOne: From Gang Member, To Entrepreneur, To Anti-VC

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He eventually founded and sold consumer health firm ViSalus to a public company and is now back making investments, in technology companies, as a venture capitalist here at Los Angeles-based HashtagOne (www.hashtagone.com). I'm a bit of an anti-VC, as you know. I love entrepreneurs. What's the theme of your investments?

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What Makes an Entrepreneur? Cojones (7/11)

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This is part of my series on what makes an entrepreneur successful. I originally posted it on VentureHacks , one of my favorite websites for entrepreneurs. I started the series talking about what I consider the most important attribute of an entrepreneur : Tenacity. Entrepreneurs are inherently risk takers.

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Want to Know How VC’s Calculate Valuation Differently from Founders?

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Back in 1999 when I first raised venture capital I had zero knowledge of what a fair term sheet looked like or how to value my company. And for some strange reason entrepreneurs didn’t share this information. I just want to figure out what a fair valuation is.&# I figured all the VC’s talked so we should.

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The Power of Getting the Band Back Together

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The truth is you really don’t know how your teammates or your bosses will perform in good times and bad. You hire people who look good on paper. You join teams that got good write-ups on TechCrunch, have great VCs, have star CEO’s, whatever. Writing a book will be fun. After 6 months – you know.

CTO Hire 320
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People Management: Startup Teams Should Dip but not Skip

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As your organization grows and you hire senior staff where you are no longer managing every employee directly the issue of how to manage people that are not your “direct&# reports arises. This applies to both founders and to VC’s that work with them. I see two common mistakes in companies (not just in startups, in fact).

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A Few Key People Really Can Make a Huge Difference

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I’m an entrepreneur at heart so I’m always inspired when I hear stories about innovation. It’s why my investment philosophy is called, “ the entrepreneur thesis.&#. I was meeting with a first-time CEO of a very promising young startup recently and offering my advice on what his priorities should be.

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On Leadership, Teams, Success & Happiness

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So yes, I want to hire somebody with really high IQ and EQ but not somebody who is more knowledgeable at your specific skill set than you are. I’ll write that post one day – it is a very interesting story. These are the skills I look for in entrepreneurs and leaders. I thought you were supposed to be VCs?

CTO Hire 363