All Synagogues share a yearly calendar for readings from the Torah (Five books of Moses: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy). Each week Jews in Synagogue read the same section from the Torah, and during the year we go from the beginning of the cycle "In the beginning God created heaven and earth." to the end "And there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face..."
Today was Simchat Torah (Rejoicing with the Torah), the last of the fall holidays in the Jewish calendar, which marks the end of one Torah reading cycle and the beginning of the next. We read the end of Deuteronomy and the beginning of Genesis. There is a lot of rejoicing (hence the name) with singing and dancing. This is reinforced with much wedding imagery. The Torah is often compared to the wedding contract between God and the Jewish people. The reading is conducted under a makeshift chuppah (wedding canopy), and the reader of the end of Deuteronomy is called the Chatan Torah (bridegroom of the Torah) and the reader of the start of Genesis is called the Chatan Bereshit (bridegroom of Genesis).
Simchat Torah is, by my count, the seventh holiday starting from Rosh Hashanah just three weeks ago. At most three of those can coincide with a Saturday (which happened this year), so we have at least four, and in other years up to seven, extra days in Synagogue. Even on a "light" year, with three overlapping Saturdays, this is lots of extra Synagogue time, and I know I am not the only one who finds this fairly exhausting.
However I was able to cap off this year's festival season this afternoon with a wonderful bike ride with my friend Hillel Bromberg. He led me on a 20 mile route out to Weston and back which was 80% overlapping with the route of the ride Jason Glasgow and I took last Monday. It was an afternoon ride, and so at the warmest time of the day, but at 60 degrees (F), about the same as last Monday at 8am. We had sun and clouds, lovely fall colors, and light traffic. I was about as out of breath at the Campion Center as I had been last week, and noticed that I really am stronger about an hour into the ride (or is it after the first hill, I still don't know). I am strongly aware that these rides are among the last I will get this year before the real cold sets in, and am grateful for each one ... Thanks, Hillel!
Furthermore, I am really enjoying extending my connections with friends by riding with them, which is structured yet relaxed, and has a route but not a goal. Venture Cycling has its rewards.
Technorati: cycling friends Simchat Torah Genesis Deuteronomy
VC:VC Follow-on rounds
After receiving a venture capital investment, a young start-up will use the funds to grow and will either need further investment or will not. Very rarely, a young company becomes so profitable using just those first dollars, that it doesn't need any more funding to go on to a successful outcome. Alternatively, some young companies fail, and hence don't need any more investments.
The majority of companies which get a first round of financing do need more, called follow-on rounds, of financing. There are basically two distinctions we make regarding follow-on rounds.
First, is it an up-round or a down-round (or flat)? Second, is it an inside-round or an outside-round?
At the time of the first round of financing, the company sells shares to the VC firm(s) at an agreed price per share. If a follow-on (subsequent) round of financing involves selling shares below the first-round price, then it is a down round. Selling at the same price gives us a flat-round, and a higher price (best of all) is an up-round.
The whole purpose of VC funding is that the company uses the funds to add more value than the dollars that were added, and so if we achieve that purpose we always have up-rounds. Everytime we sell shares there is a dilution (more of the pie is given away), but if the share price more than makes up for it, everyone can feel good. Obviously we don't feel so good if it is a down round. The earlier investors have paid more for something that is now worth less. A flat round is generally a fudge to make people feel that "at least it wasn't a down round". However, if we invested several million dollars a year or two ago, and now the share price hasn't changed, we clearly have not made great use of the original money.
VCs will "protect" themselves from down rounds with what are called anti-dilution agreements, that allow them to claw back some shareholdings in those circumstances (at the expense of management and founders). This is based on the premise that management is responsible for running the company and responsible if it does not achieve its targets.
On the matter of inside vs outside rounds, the question is whether a new investor is "leading" the round. To lead a round of investing generally requires an investor to offer a significant amount of the funds and to offer a price. An outside up-round is what we all aim for. An outsider (not an existing investor) comes in, sizes up the company and the opportunity, and with no axe to grind offers their opinion as to the value of the company, and backs it up with several million dollars of their own money. Previous investors can boast that someone from the outside has validated the growth of the company and the value that has been created. It is all still on paper, since previous investors are not selling their own shares for the new cash ... rather the company is getting the new cash to fund the next round of growth.
An inside round is where existing investors take the lead, name the price, and invest the funds. No-one can say the round comes from disinterested investors. Perhaps the price was chosen to make the company seem more valuable than it really is, or perhaps to make it seem less valuable. There are situations when existing investors could desire either outcome. Sometimes investors are so excited about the promise of the company, they prefer not to let outsiders invest, and so keep more of the ownership themselves. Sometimes investors have no choice, if they believe there is any chance of success, or don't want to give up on the company (yet), and they have to do an inside round for lack of an outsider offering acceptable terms. There are lots of complicated possibilities, but this gives you the gist.
So how does venture cycling compare to venture capital in this regard?
The first round for me was the work up to the Hazon bike ride. The follow-on has been an inside up-round. I have been cycling on my own and with friends, and have enjoyed the benefits of the investment earlier: I am fitter, faster, more comfortable on my bike - but that is basically my own evaluation.
What about the next round? My venture cycling will not take me to Israel in May 2007 because in my venture capital life we will have our annual meeting at the same time. I certainly plan to be at the 2007 New York ride, and I see that will be the next "outside round" where disinterested parties can see how I have progressed (if at all). I wonder whether it will be an up-round or a down-round?
Technorati: venture capital cycling
On the road to Damascus
My good friend Jason Glasgow took me up on an invitation to go out on a morning bike ride on Monday (Columbus day). The traffic was light, and we went from Newton Centre out to Weston almost to Lincoln and then came back on a parallel track, covering over 22 miles in all. Jason was a great guide ... Thanks, Jason!
It was a glorious, glorious morning. The air was fresh and crisp, the sun was shining and some of the roads had been recently repaved. What more could a venture cyclist ask for? Although I am not as fit or as young as Jason, I felt like I didn't hold him back too much (I hope to do something about one of those distinctions). Going uphill, I managed to keep up better on the second half of the trip ... I seem to warm up over the first 45 minutes or so (or perhaps after the first good climb). On the downhills, the extra weight and better aerodynamics of my recumbent meant that I was faster than Jason, with less pedalling on my part.
Jason saw my 5th gear problem first hand. Many seconds after shifting up into 5th, the chain would slip up and down, seemingly for no good reason. Oh, well, Wheelworks will keep trying.
As we completed the climb up one of the more challenging hills, we stopped in the driveway of the Campion Jesuit Center in Weston. I noted that some of the more colorful language a cyclist might use to describe how out-of-breath they feel right at that location could be considered a religious plea by a charitable Jesuit who overheard, or perhaps an epiphany.
I have no plans to cycle to Damascus.
Technorati: cycling recumbent
It was a glorious, glorious morning. The air was fresh and crisp, the sun was shining and some of the roads had been recently repaved. What more could a venture cyclist ask for? Although I am not as fit or as young as Jason, I felt like I didn't hold him back too much (I hope to do something about one of those distinctions). Going uphill, I managed to keep up better on the second half of the trip ... I seem to warm up over the first 45 minutes or so (or perhaps after the first good climb). On the downhills, the extra weight and better aerodynamics of my recumbent meant that I was faster than Jason, with less pedalling on my part.
Jason saw my 5th gear problem first hand. Many seconds after shifting up into 5th, the chain would slip up and down, seemingly for no good reason. Oh, well, Wheelworks will keep trying.
As we completed the climb up one of the more challenging hills, we stopped in the driveway of the Campion Jesuit Center in Weston. I noted that some of the more colorful language a cyclist might use to describe how out-of-breath they feel right at that location could be considered a religious plea by a charitable Jesuit who overheard, or perhaps an epiphany.
I have no plans to cycle to Damascus.
Technorati: cycling recumbent
Chain of Events
Still suffering somewhat in 5th gear, I have been conversing regularly with Scott at Wheelworks. He wondered if my gear changing technique was correct. I wonder that as well. The evidence that it is fine would be the fact that I only suffer these problems in one gear, not the other eight. He then wondered whether this happened in all of the chain rings (the front 3-gear cassette) or just one. I tested that question and found the same problems in 5th gear for each of the three chain rings.
A day or two later Scott called me and said he had woken up in the middle of the night thinking it might be the chain. I will be bringing my bike back in sometime soon to see if replacing the chain fixes the problem ... Ideally I will have Scott come out for a ride with me to see if he can observe the phenomenon in vivo.
In a second chain of events, Dorit's grandmother passed away earlier this week. Dorit and Hannah are, as I write, flying home from the funeral in Glasgow which was yesterday. Their trip to Glasgow meant that my business trip to New York was cancelled (so I could be around for Asher and Rina). This meant that I had the chance to get out for a bike ride yesterday in the beautiful fall weather, which would otherwise not have happened.
Of course, all this threw me off my blogging rhythm. If a blog post doesn't fall in the woods...?
A day or two later Scott called me and said he had woken up in the middle of the night thinking it might be the chain. I will be bringing my bike back in sometime soon to see if replacing the chain fixes the problem ... Ideally I will have Scott come out for a ride with me to see if he can observe the phenomenon in vivo.
In a second chain of events, Dorit's grandmother passed away earlier this week. Dorit and Hannah are, as I write, flying home from the funeral in Glasgow which was yesterday. Their trip to Glasgow meant that my business trip to New York was cancelled (so I could be around for Asher and Rina). This meant that I had the chance to get out for a bike ride yesterday in the beautiful fall weather, which would otherwise not have happened.
Of course, all this threw me off my blogging rhythm. If a blog post doesn't fall in the woods...?
Technorati: cycling
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