Seth Levine, Managing Director, Foundry Group Insights

"People like to say we're in a bubble right now, and I don't even know what that means. I think "bubbles" are overrated. We have a cyclic economy - maybe it's an up cycle and maybe it's a down cycle. But I think people like to speak too much in superlatives."Seth Levine,

Let's get back to the bubbles later. Larry asked Seth, What's the difference between managing directors and managing partners? (On a personal note, I remember when Larry was 'the' managing director of our European firm, 191... he was the only managing director.) You'll have to listen to Seth's explanation of why they have five managing directors.

More interesting (to me) Larry asked, "What's it like working out of the same office with those guys?" Well, they've worked together for at least seven years (Seth being the new guy and he's been around for 7 years). Chris and Brad have worked together for over ten years!  While the Foundry Group itself is new, the five of them have relationships dating back up to a decade or slightly longer. Seth said, "This is a great group to work with. We started out as colleagues and became very good friends. In part, it's because of that friendship and the level of comfort we have with each other that we decided to form the investing end of it."

"A lot of people read Brad's blog or Ryan's blog and Jason's blog, 'Ask the VC' or Seth Levine's blog as well as the Foundry blog, but they don't necessarily see the personal side of my partners.  I do get this question a lot, particularly around Brad because he has a 'little bit larger than life' personality.  It's a little hard to describe..."

Next week in part 2 of this interview, Seth tackels the question, "Is an Advisory Board or Advisors Really Necessary?

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