Category Archives: Personal

2012: A Year of Building

Posted on January 8, 2013 by Ben T. Smith, IV

If you think about it, every year takes on a character, or theme, of its own depending upon goals we’ve set, decisions we’ve made and unplanned events that take place along the way. 2011 was driven by a few great … Continue reading →

Posted in Investments, Personal, Silicon Valley, Startups, Wanderful Media | Tagged Accelerator Ventures, alabama, Associated Press, CEO, investment, mobile, newspapers, Online advertising, silicon valley, Stanford, Startups, tablet, technology, venture capitalists, Wanderful Media | Comments Off

Ben Smith, Mark Boslet: Career Building Like A Startup: Thoughts On Reid Hoffman’s “The Start-up of You”

Posted on April 23, 2012 by Ben T. Smith, IV

In the 40 years since the publication of What Color Is Your Parachute, the job market has collapsed, collapsed again and changed almost unrecognizably. The time has come for a new job hunter’s bible. Our vote goes to Reid Hoffman’s … Continue reading →

Posted in A.T. Kearney, Deals, Personal, Relationships, Silicon Valley, Spoke Software | Tagged A.T.Kearney, Carnegie Mellon, LinkedIn, Mark Pincus, McKinsey & Company, merchantcircle, relationships, Risk, Startups, Tepper, UC Davis | Comments Off

The less discussed, other sinister plot at groupon. – surya says too much. – surya says too much.

Posted on April 17, 2012 by Ben T. Smith, IV

For all the critics from the sidelines of any game, politics, business, investing, startups, parenting, charity, and even football. Some people are hitting Groupon now. “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the … Continue reading →

Posted in Personal, Silicon Valley, Spoke Software, Startups | Tagged relationships, Risk, Startups, venture capitalists, web entreprenuer | Comments Off

After seeing where I put my blog content change, I have decided to start posting my blog content to my own blog. This should be an interesting process.

Posted on January 29, 2012 by Ben T. Smith, IV | Comments Off

peHUB » Ben Smith: Silicon Valley Is A Multi-Inning Game, Relationships Are How You Play

Posted on November 7, 2011 by Ben T. Smith, IV

I heard two things recently. “Silicon Valley is a multi-inning game, relationships matter.“ And. “I am all business, I don’t care about relationships.” The first statement came from a seasoned venture capitalist with 20 years of experience. His point is … Continue reading →

Posted in A.T. Kearney, MerchantCircle, Personal, Relationships, Silicon Valley, Spoke Software | Tagged jeff weiner, merchantcircle, relationships, Startups, venture capitalist, venture capitalists, web entreprenuer | Comments Off

It’s called Fishing Not Catching

Posted on July 29, 2011 by Ben T. Smith, IV

It is called fishing and not catching, and it is the dirty secret of Silicon Valley. Unless your startup hits a grand slam, or you are its founder, CEO or a key engineer, your post-exit payday isn’t more than a … Continue reading →