Pinpointing Problems Worth Solving (Part Two of Three)

March 19, 2014.Reading time 10 minutes.

In my last post, I wrote about how many startups fail because they try solving problems no one really has or cares enough about to spend money to solve. I mentioned that while poor execution is responsible for many startup failures, you can’t execute your way out of a bad idea. In the venture capital […]

Pinpointing Problems Worth Solving (Part One of Three)

December 13, 2013.Reading time 10 minutes.

Finding a good problem to solve with a startup can be like finding a needle in a haystack. “Haystack. End of Summer” Claude Monet One of my favorite blog posts is Paul Graham’s How to get startup ideas. Paul is one of my top-five bloggers, along with Marc Suster, Ben Horowitz, Nir Eyal, and of course […]

The Undervalued Witness to History

November 4, 2013.Reading time 5 minutes.

During my 20 years as an operating executive, when I would interview a job candidate I would often think: “Is he/she a ‘maker of history’ or a ‘witness to history?’” Candidates would tell great stories where they play the hero: “I created a cross-function marketing allocation process around quarterly initiatives, which included members of each […]

Named one of the “25 Angel Investors in New York You Need to Know” by AlleyWatch in 2014, Jeff has been a venture investor for ten years, an angel investor for eight years. Jeff is CEO of Arcview Ventures, the manager of The Arcview Collective Fund, the first member-managed fund in cannabis. He also serves as Chairman of the Evaluation Committee and Treasurer of the ARC Angel Fund. Jeff has been actively advising startups at Reitler Advisory Group and publishes insights to his blog www.finkabout.it.

He is a frequent panelist, speaker, and judge on venture investing and pitch competitions in NY. Jeff has also guest lectured and held office hours for many incubators / accelerators including Start-up Leadership Program, 37 Angels, NYU Polytech Incubator (New York City and Brooklyn), DreamIT Ventures, and FashInvest. Prior to his work with angel and seed groups, Jeff was a partner of Odeon Capital Partners, an early-stage venture capital fund. Prior to Odeon, Jeff was an operating executive at CA, Inc., and Cheyenne Software, Inc., where he served as GM of the Unix Division, VP of Corporate Development, VP of Corporate Marketing, and Director of Product Management. Jeff also serves as Chairman of the Board of WellLife Network, a not-for-profit offering residential, clinical, and day programs to 25,000 individuals with developmental, psychological, and behavioral disabilities in NYC’s five boroughs and Long Island.

Fink About It

Category: Start-ups

Pinpointing Problems Worth Solving (Part Two of Three)

Pinpointing Problems Worth Solving (Part One of Three)

The Undervalued Witness to History