People will never go out of business.

The importance of soft skills of venture capital and startups.

There’s an episode of The Office where Michael is invited to speak about Dunder Mifflin at Ryan’s business school. (For those who have never seen The Office — Michael is the boss. Ryan is a glorified intern).

The scene cuts to Michael in the green room excitingly looking down at Ryan talking but he can’t hear what Ryan is saying. Meanwhile, Ryan is audibly shitting on Dunder Mifflin. Michael goes on to deliver his whacky presentation followed by Q&A. The students ask pointed questions to Dunder Mifflin’s aging business model. Michael gets beyond annoyed and defensive. Finally a student says, “By your own employee’s calculation you’ll be obsolete in the next five to ten years.” Michael is completely shocked and pissed. You can feel the awkwardness through the TV.

On the ride back to the office Michael tells Ryan to pack his things.

Ryan Howard : Look, I’m sorry, okay? I was just trying to do my presentation. And of course I was wrong to suggest that Dunder Mifflin might ever go out of business. But you don’t have to fire me.

Michael Scott : Fire you? No, no, no. You are moving to the annex.

Ryan Howard : To the annex? Where Kelly is?

Michael Scott : A good manager doesn’t fire people. He hires people and inspires people. People, Ryan. And people will never go out of business.

And this quote has stuck with me since the moment I heard it.

People will never go out of business.

For a long time I’ve intended to start a blog but honestly didn’t feel like adding to the noise of venture capital “thought leadership.” Plus, there’s a ton of helpful content out there already. How could I be different?

After many conversations with founders and teammates it finally hit me. Write about people. More specifically, the soft skills of venture capital and startups. Topics like empathy, EQ, patience, difficult conversations, active listening, thoughtfulness, adaptability, courage, and so on.

The qualitative side of venture capital that is often an afterthought and I’m most complimented on these traits when I work with founders.

So, follow me here on Medium as I dive into the soft skills needed to thrive in the world of startups and venture capital! I plan on writing at least once per month.

p.s. between us, let’s call this January’s post :)