A VC« I've Had Enough | Main | Transatlanticism »
Transparency
Transparency is good. It's that simple.
Except in matters of national security, I can't think of another situation where obfuscation is a good idea.
People ask me why I blog. I tell them that it helps me in my business. It allows me to reach more people and connect to more people (many of whom I know only through my blog) than I could ever do over the phone and email. It helps me get out ideas that I am interested in and foster discussion of them so that I can figure out where to invest. It gets me out ahead of the curve.
But on top of that, it allows me to disclose myself; who I am, what I like, who I love, what I listen to, who I am going to vote for, and many more aspects of myself, to the world. If you are not going to like me, you'll know it from my blog. If you are going to come see me, you'll know me before you even meet me.
Some people I've met with recently ask me if I think its weird or funny that they "know" me from my blog a lot better than I know them. It doesn't bother me. Blogging makes me transparent. And I like that.
Comments (4) | | TrackBack (11)
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d83451b2c969e200e55036725a8834
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Transparency:
» Want To Get To Know Me? Click Here from JoeTerrito.com
Fred Wilson posts this great explanation of why he blogs. (Source: Jeff Jarvis.) It's all about transparency:... It allows me to disclose myself; who I am, what I like, who I love, what I listen to, who I am going... [Read More]
Tracked on May 4, 2004 8:07:06 PM
» Want To Get To Know Me? Click Here from JoeTerrito.com
Fred Wilson posts this great explanation of why he blogs. (Source: Jeff Jarvis.) It's all about transparency:... It allows me to disclose myself; who I am, what I like, who I love, what I listen to, who I am going... [Read More]
Tracked on May 4, 2004 8:19:08 PM
» Want To Get To Know Me? Click Here from JoeTerrito.com
Fred Wilson posts this great explanation of why he blogs. (Source: Jeff Jarvis.) It's all about transparency:... It allows me to disclose myself; who I am, what I like, who I love, what I listen to, who I am going... [Read More]
Tracked on May 5, 2004 3:23:23 PM
» revisiting transparency with a vc from meta-roj blog
long, long, ago... it seems when i was putting more thoughtful pieces together in this space, i bounced off transparency as a business advantage, and did so in a typically oblique sort of way. i'm a fan of transparency, in... [Read More]
Tracked on Jun 13, 2004 12:00:58 PM
» revisiting transparency with a vc from meta-roj blog
long, long, ago... it seems when i was putting more thoughtful pieces together in this space, i bounced off transparency as a business advantage, and did so in a typically oblique sort of way. i'm a fan of transparency, in... [Read More]
Tracked on Jun 13, 2004 12:02:50 PM
» Why Did We Invest in NewsGator from Feld Thoughts
NewsGator announced our investment last week. I received a number of nice notes from folks in the RSS world. I also received a bunch of questions about why we invested, how the process worked, whether we were going to do other RSS investments, and wher... [Read More]
Tracked on Jun 28, 2004 11:12:26 PM
» Why Did We Invest in NewsGator from Feld Thoughts
NewsGator announced our investment last week. I received a number of nice notes from folks in the RSS world. I also received a bunch of questions about why we invested, how the process worked, whether we were going to do other RSS investments, and wher... [Read More]
Tracked on Jun 28, 2004 11:16:58 PM
» Why Did We Invest in NewsGator? from Feld Thoughts
NewsGator announced our investment last week. I received a number of nice notes from folks in the RSS world. I also received a bunch of questions about why we invested, how the process worked, whether we were going to do other RSS investments, and wher... [Read More]
Tracked on Jun 28, 2004 11:19:09 PM
» Why? from The Whine Rack
Over the past year, new people that I met at school slowly discovered that I had a blog. Often, the question posed (by those without blogs) was why? As in, why do you blog? Why do you sound so different online? Why didn't you tell me this? And so on,... [Read More]
Tracked on Jul 12, 2004 12:11:29 AM
» utazási életre fogjuk szakma windows is from endreblog
[Read More]
Tracked on Sep 22, 2004 6:31:00 AM
» verziójához jóval visszatértek változó from gáborblog
[Read More]
Tracked on Apr 7, 2005 5:12:07 AM
Posted May 3, 2004 in Venture Capital and TechnologyComments
Have you gotten to the point yet where you feel that in meetings people (business owners seeking money, particularly) are "playing" to aspects of your personality that they pickup from your blog? That would be the only thing that would worry me.
Posted by: KMD | May 4, 2004 9:09:10 AM
Transparency is everything Fred. People who try to dodge and weave are sooner or later found out. We all fear deep down being found out to be a fraud. The truth is, though, if we're open and honest in a brave and truthful way, than there's nothing to "discover," no smoking gun, nothing to fear.
Don't worry though, playing to Fred's personality will only ensure that folks don't get his money .
Posted by: Jerry | May 4, 2004 7:35:00 PM
Well, I can tell by this entry that I like you already. I'll be back to read more. ;-)
Posted by: Heather | May 5, 2004 1:31:31 AM
The downside of transparency is the possibility that somebody will think of your next great idea before you do. Unfortunately, sometimes that matters.
Posted by: Kevin | May 6, 2004 1:05:38 AM
Main RSS Feed of All Posts
VC and Technology Posts Only
