Nivi is rational, honest, and fearless. If you are a road, get underneath him. If you are money, get in his pocket. If you are a wall, get out of his way. I saw him take Venture Hacks from a random idea to the site and blog you see today, through sheer relentlessness. I’d back him on any thing, any day.
I started working with Rob and the Songbird team within 24 hours of meeting them. He is a friend who has supported me ever since then—whether or not he had the time to do it, whether or not I deserved it. He is on the very short list of people I introduce entrepreneurs to. He is also on the very short list of people I would bail out of jail at 4 in the morning.
My go-to real estate agent for startups. She helped us with Songbird’s search for office space.
If he will pay for shares in your company, give him the shares. If he will take them for free, give him the shares. Just give him the shares. I did.
Jeff gave me my first job when I dropped out of the Ph.D. program in 2000. We have been working together ever since; on companies like Songbird and Veracode. He was crazy enough to support me as an EIR at Atlas Venture while we were working on Venture Hacks. He is an entrepreneur-friendly investor to the extreme. His secret power is instinctively finding win-win solutions. Get Jeff on your board—I did.
Startup CFO who takes care of business. My go-to CFO for the initial stages. Her secret power is optimizing contracts.
From a distance, I watched Eugene take Datapower from absolutely nothing to selling the company to IBM. Amazing.
You’re lucky if you can get these guys to work with you.
Nivi is an extraordinary individual and a great guy to work with.