The venture capital all partner meeting for Judy's Book

July 8, 2004
The meeting with Ignition went fairly well. It was the standard all partner meeting. 8 white guys and 1 female sitting around a big conference room. The meeting was at 12:30PM. Lunch time. I've found that lunch time is a good time to present to partners. Generally, people are perkier at lunch time even if they're distracted by their food. My partner and I gave our powerpoint presentation. I must admit it wasn't my best performance. I was a bit rusty from the long July 4th holiday weekend. I warmed up though as the presentation went on -- I could tell that we were getting buy in from enough of the room. I got a bit worried when Martin Tobias seemed unusually negative and then he gave me the dreaded crossed arms signal -- fortunately, he later relaxed and by the conclusion of the meeting we were having a good conversation about online local search. What is going to get small to medium sized businesses comfortable with moving their marketing spend online. Was Judy's Book a platform that consumers would endorse and gravitate toward -- and if so, why? While the answers weren't there -- it's the lively debate and conversation that shows that they're engaged and bought in. The meeting ends abruptly. Rich tells me he'll call tomorrow - -i.e. today. It's 2PM and he hasn't called yet. I'm feeling unloved and a little annoyed. Patience isn't my strong suit though it's important in this process. At 3PM I break down and call Rich - -he tells me that he's on another call and he wants to call me back. He also tells me that it was a good meeting and that Ignition wants to move to the next level -- i.e. I interpret that to mean that they'll send us a term sheet. It's now 4PM and he still hasn't called. Patience my friend. Patience.