About Me — Doug Keeports

Sequoia Capital breaks the 10-year fund cycle — At an estimated $45 billion market cap, Sequoia Capital isn’t in the mid-market. But 50 years ago, they started simply enough by investing in start-ups that would eventually grow into some of the largest technology companies of our age, including Apple, Google, Oracle, Nvidia, GitHub, PayPal, Linkedin, and YouTube. Through…

Felice Brothers, “Jazz on the Autobahn” — But it will be as loud as a mushroom cloud It will sound like Final Jeopardy — Ian and James Felice Imagine going 160 kph in the B52’s “gigantic Chrylser as big as a whale,” top-down, with Lou Reed in the backseat driving on a German expressway headlong towards the…

“The real work is being done outside by someone digging in the ground” — This talk is like stamping new coins. They pile up, while the real work is being done outside by someone digging in the ground. — Rumi Talk is cheap. As the Delta variant spreads, impacting hospitals largely in the anti-vaccine States, both right and left pundits stamp out their divisive…

“Candy Everyone Wants” by 10000 Maniacs — If lust and hate is the candy, If blood and love taste so sweet, Then we… We give’m what they want. — Dennis Arnold Drew and Natalie A. Merchant If you’ve not seen Natalie Merchant perform this “10000 Maniacs” song from their 1987 album, “In My Tribe,” please watch it…

Is the heart ever strong enough? — My fingers found the two cigarillos in my breast pocket but no lighter. It’s my habit in the summer to bring cigars for a hike on the nearby Roaring Run Trail. I like to stop at a quiet bend along this rocky woodland stream about a mile and a half…

Steve Jobs’ parting gift and how western science is closing in on eastern teachings — “Actualize yourself” — Marc Benioff on Steve Jobs’ parting gift “Spooky Action at a Distance” That’s how Einstein characterized “quantum entanglement,” which is the unexplained phenomenon of how a pair of matched electrons seem to “instantaneously know” what the other one is doing even when separated by great distances and with no identifiable means of…

Don’t let the everyday frustrations of business pull you apart — In a mid-sized company, it’s not the competition that’s your enemy. It’s the way that the everyday chaos of running the business pulls you out of focus and away from who you are. …

Writing concise answers to the right questions — the value comes in the act of creating it — One-Page Business Plans are gaining greater acceptance and have easy appeal than a shelved plan in a 30-page binder. However, its biggest value isn't the words on the page; it's in the process of creating it. That's why facilitation is critical. Marathon Planning Session vs. A One-Page Sprint Perhaps you're looking to create your first business plan…

I couldn’t do it before I started remote freelancing — After the third story in my series, “Motorcycle, Hammock, Haiku,” I now know what it takes to enjoy solo motorcycle camping. But, of course, it didn’t start that way. First, I had to work through the right gear, destinations, and weather. But the biggest obstacle was finding enough time. A…