I didn’t set out to create an industry. 

“Something Ventured,” a piece covering the early days of the venture capital industry really helped me get a better grasp of the nascent stages of Silicon Valley. To hear the stories of 

Three lessons stood out from the documentary:

1. Opportunity is in R&D

We’ve seen venture capital investments in technology startups in Africa, but to what extent are we seeing VCs go after foundational issues. One of the first VC investments in the U.S. led to the development of silicone, whose applications are a mile-wide. A few years ago, Bright Simons wrote a good piece on how Africa needs to find more leapfrogging technologies to solve issues like infrastructure. Who on the continent is working on developing new generator technologies? Experimenting on genetic engineering that is tailored to African DNA structures? What about new oil pipeline technologies? Who on the continent is going after these folks a

2. The folks who are going to invest in the wave of startups need to be somewhat contrarian  

In Something Ventured, the folks who launched the industry – Don Draper, Arthur Rock, etc 

3. Get a good understanding of how ruthless VC can be, and then double that.