On one of the many Boards I served on during twenty years as a venture capitalist, another member was a seasoned corporate executive. He had retired from being the CEO of a $3.5 billion (in revenue) company, and “in a moment of weakness”, as he described it, was recruited by a partner with a VC firm as the CEO of a startup company. In three years he led the startup on a growth path and successfully sold it. When we met shortly after that, I congratulated him and asked whether the experience was good enough to start a second career. He looked at me and said “Absolutely never. Startups are so small. They may present […]