Reduce, Reuse, Recycle ... Return, Reflect, Repent

One of the action phrases for the environmentally minded is "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle"... as in reduce what you use, reuse it many times, and recycle it rather than trash it if you have to discard it.

This weekend is the high point of the Jewish high-holydays. Tonight and tomorrow is the Sabbath of Repentance, and Sunday night through Monday is Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. On these days, in Jewish tradition, the creator of the world is sitting in judgement and we are all supplicants to be written in the book of life. Ancient words ring through the synagogue, and who cannot be moved by them:

"who shall live and who shall die, who at the predestined time and who before their time, who by water and who by fire, who by sword and who by beast?"

The mantra for these days might well be "Return, Reflect, Repent". The word for repenting in Hebrew is actually very close to the word meaning return, and as well as repenting, we talk about returning to our best selves, returning to God, to doing the right things instead of the wrong things. Reflection is my twist on the heavy prayer quotient of these days. From before sundown on Sunday through to nightfall Monday Jews will spend several, up to 15 hours, praying. It can be uplifting, and it can be very hard going. Nigel Savage, founder and executive director of Hazon has written a beautiful piece on the prayer marathons of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, which I recommend to all. The net of it all is lots of time to reflect... not a bad thing for our times.

On Yom Kippur we fast, and we seclude ourselves away from almost all of the everyday world. Many do not drive, do not shower, and we certainly don't use very much in the way of electrical goods like TVs or PCs. We reach, for that one day, the nirvana of "reduce, reuse, recycle" - our ecological footprint on the world is as small on Yom Kippur as on any other day.

This Monday will be a pretty good time to be a Jew and a Venture Cyclist: "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle ... Return, Reflect, Repent".

While you can, and if you haven't, please go ahead and sponsor Hannah or me for the Hazon 2006 New York Bike ride.

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Real cyclists ride recumbents

For all those who poo-poo the power of a recumbent, check out the story of Greg Kolodziejzyk who set the Human Powered Vehicle 24 hour distance record this summer on a specially designed recumbent bike with an aerodynamic faring.

While you can, and if you haven't, please go ahead and sponsor Hannah or me for the Hazon 2006 New York Bike ride.

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VC:VC The Long Now

In his wonderful book, The Clock of the Long Now, Stuart Brand explores the work of Danny Hillis towards building a clock that will tick once a year, chime once a century, cuckoo once a millennium, and run for 10,000 years.

The notion is that we do not spend enough time thinking about time, and when we do, we think about now, the short now. If pushed we will think as far into the past as the birth of our grandparents, and as long into the future as the lifetimes of our grandchildren... altogether a span of around 200 years. Fashion provides an ephemeral now that is gone before we fully recognize it. Societal change frames a decade or a half century, and our own lifespan is optimistically set at a hundred years. Civilizational cycles occur over centuries, and religion allows us to think in terms of a few millennia. Only those concerned with geology and paleontology, or perhaps astronomy and cosmology, think in truly long timeframes.

Hillis, as reported in Brand's book, is seeking to expand how we think about time. Our impact on this planet now spans millennia, as exemplified by our creation of nuclear waste which must be disposed of in a way that will be safe over huge stretches of time. By creating a clock that lasts 10,000 years we might learn to think about energy sources that renew on their own, mechanisms that are self-healing, effectively forever, in the face of friction and wear, climate and human action.

The book is a great read because it is entertaining and thought-provoking. It is also a great context for thinking about venture cycling and venture capital.

Even as many think of cycling as a simple "back to nature" kind of transportation, that 10,000 year clock, makes me realize how mechanically sensitive a bicycle is (remember my 5th gear problems, and Hannah's mechanical problems at the start of the Hazon NY ride?). A bike is actually as much about the short now as it is about the long now. A bike is a great way to live in the present, smell the roses, stop rushing forward. Obviously admiring nature brings us to longer view issues around caring for the environment, too, but I am just as likely to be wondering if I will be fit enough to ride in 30 years, as about any concern for 3,000 years (or more) in the future.

In the early stage venture capital world we take the long view. The trouble is that we are being compared to many other kinds of investors for whom the longest practical timeframe is a calendar quarter, and more often the issue is about price movements today, or this minute.

An entrepreneur's fear is that venture capitalists want an "exit" within a couple of years. The long view that we espouse at Sigma is that we understand companies take five or even seven years to develop. Our funds are structured with ten year lifespans, and only the first three or four years are concerned with starting investments. The balance of the time is for the companies to mature and grow.

When people ask me, as many do, whether the current stock market news is good or bad, I always reply, "ask me in ten years." This is my way of saying that at least I don't worry about current stock market price movements. Our work is about growing companies over five years or more, and although a good stock market can help with that, we need to show we can build value in companies even if the stockmarket is not a rising tide, lifting all boats. This is long term thinking for most investment professionals, but it does pale in comparison with 10,000 years.

John Maynard Keynes said "in the long run we are all dead". Yes, we are, but our descendants are not, and if we have any sense of responsibility or stewardship for the world in which we live, we should spend at least some of our time thinking about the long now.

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Cycles

Cycles: 1

Since returning from the Hazon NY Ride, I have been out on my bike four times for a total of around 50 miles. I notice I am faster and stronger than beforehand, and am really enjoying that. I am also aware that at next year's NY ride I will need to be stronger for the long uphills. Nigel Savage's suggestion of using a recumbent exercise bike for hour long sessions, set at the highest setting, is probably the right training for me for that.

My bike has re-developed the problems I had reported early on with slippage in 5th gear (also in 7th I notice). Last night I dropped it off at Wheelworks for them to work on - hopefully they will nail it down this time.

Cycles: 2

This evening is the beginning of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. Although "shanah" means year, it also comes from the word meaning cycle or repitition. The Jewish New Year is always couched in the context of cycles - the cycles of the seasons, the years, our life. We spend this time of year thinking about how we could do better and be better in the next yearly cycle, and this culminates 10 days from now with the fast day of Yom Kippur (the day of atonement). This work is called "teshuva" which means returning ... returning to God, returning to our better selves, returning for another cycle, a new cycle.

I am enjoying thinking about these cycles from the new vantage point of being a venture cyclist. Autumn is arriving in New England, and at some stage I will stop riding my bike due to the weather. I am experiencing this bicycle cycle for the first time, and will look forward to returning to riding in the spring.

I am happy to extend the traditional new year greeting for a sweet and happy new year to all who are reading.

While you can, and if you haven't, please go ahead and sponsor Hannah or me for the Hazon 2006 New York Bike ride.

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