So my computer decided to mysteriously restart in the middle of my previous attempt at this post.... very frustrating. I'll try not to make any sudden movements this time around. I think the worst thing you can do when you're retyping something like this is to attempt to recreate what you just did. It will never come out flowing as nice as it did the first time, because you're bound to leave out one clause that sets the whole paragraph off. Better to just start all over again.
So, last night I went to the Union Square Ventures "Holiday" party. It was really interesting to be surrounded by so many people tied to the New York venture scene. The tone of the conversations was very different than those I've had in California. People in New York are much more directly focused on the deal at hand. There's definitively less smalltalk and people always have a deal on their mind. Conversations tend to stray a lot more on the West Coast.
I have this bad habit of asking people where they're from at these things and expecting a certain type of answer. At GP meetings or ILPA, you're always "from" somewhere... representing an institution like Case Western or the Alaska State Pension Fund. Last night, my, "So where are you from?" questions got answers like, "Westchester"... or... "I know Brad." Not everyone there was so "institutional." No one seemed to care where I was from either, which is nice, because anytime I go to the Private Equity Analyst conference, whenever I answer General Motors, I might as well paint a big bullseye on my face. "Hey everyone... look... its a big LP that puts out lots of money. Get him!!"
The funny thing at this party was that I'm sure that a good number of the people there were probably writing blogs that I read. I got into a conversation with Matt, the CEO of Return Path, who is a really personable guy, and I couldn't remember whether or not I read his blog. Turns out that I did... he writes OnlyOnce. It was also great to meet the GothamGal (Fred's Wife) although she chose to show up as her alter ego, Joanne, so there was no cape involved. I think that anytime a significant number of people in a room are invited by Fred, they should be required to wear, "Hello, My blog is..." nametags, so we can match the person to the postings. I'm sure they do that kind of thing at BloggerCon.