RH: iMinds' initial focus was to provide hands-on support to a burgeoning number of start-ups in the mid 1990s. We quickly evolved into a "Venture Catalyst" model -- that is to say, we became the "catalyst" working on strategy, sales, marketing, customer traction for many companies, by taking hands-on roles as part of the management team. We worked with about four dozen such companies - ranging from PacBell and US West to IDG Books and many others. In 1997, we created our first fund to accommodate these investors and test out our performance as a venture management firm. Since then, we've evolved into a more "pure" venture model - still borrowing the creativity from our "catalyst" roots to create programs like "Meeting of the Minds" and "iMinds CIO/CTO Council".

Our evolution from Consumer spaces to Enterprise and Communcations has been a matter of market dynamics and team skills. In 1996, a good deal of the "bankable" start-ups were dot-coms. We became involved at early stages in Wit Capital, Goto.com, Impulse Buy Networks, DotBank, eTeamz and eCircles - all of which were acquired or went public. In 1999, we made our first Enterprise Software investment -- Epicentric. Epicentric fit our unique model nicely - we worked hands-on with the two founders, brought in "catalysts" to accelerate the business, hired a seasoned CEO, introduced other investors, management team members, and customers. Since 1999, over 95% of our investments have been in enterprise applications, communications or infrastructure. Our team of five today has experience predominantly in the most relevant aspects of an enterprise -- product/technology, operations and marketing/sales areas.

MoM: People that know iMinds notice that the partners have different, complementary roles. What exactly is your role and strength? How does it complement the other partners? Is there a balance?

RH: I've always likened running a partnership like iMinds Ventures to a good marriage. There needs to be balance, understanding of each partner's strengths and weaknesses, and overall patience and hard work. Carl Nichols, Alan Fisher and I each have different focuses and different personalities. One of us tends to focus more internally, one of us tends to focus externally, and one of us straddles the mid-ground, having held internal and external career roles. One of us has a marketing/sales background, one of us has an operations/strategy background and one of us has a product/technology background....you get the picture.

We've surrounded ourselves with a very strong team that provides great industry knowledge, ability to understand the fine details of a deal, and understanding of technology. Edgard Capdeveille, Associate, comes from a background of enterprise applications and integration. Gregg Malkary, Associate, has worked within a variety of technology settings ranging from wireless infrastructure to application hosting environments.

I tend to be the one who gathers most momentum from the outside, via contacts with entrepreneurs, other VCs, customers and news/information. I tend to think like a Marketeer (can't shake my earlier Apple, Paramount and Yahoo days) and am always concerned with how iMinds is building a long-term brand, working with other industry participants, driving new deal flow, and communicating with our Limited Partners.

We've received many compliments over the years from our many industry partners and friends of the family who feel that this balance makes for optimal investment strategy and execution...allowing us to pay attention to details, while capturing big-picture trends in which to invest.

MoM: As a Venture Catalyst, what do you find most intriguing about your work? What makes you get out of bed every morning and go to work? What keeps you up at night?

RH: The most interesting part of our work is the people. Sometimes I look back on a week's worth of calendar and am shocked to see the huge variety of people I've interacted with in one week: entrepreneurs, investors, limited partners, consultants/catalysts, vendors, CIOs, i-bankers, recruiters, co-workers, industry analysts, writers, marketers, venture capitalists, board members, and job-seekers. I can think of few other jobs that come in contact with this many participants in the high-growth technology business. It's an exciting, and sometimes tiring, task to learn how to prioritize these interactions and shape the best ones into lifetime alliances. What gets me out of bed each morning is this challenge - and the fun of deciphering and conceptualizing new business opportunities. It's an extremely rewarding and creative job.

iMinds Ventures was a creation -- it started as a means of lending a hand to entrepreneurs with their start-ups, and it has evolved into a financial and professional network.

MoM: Having a Sales and Marketing background, how are you helping your portfolio companies grow their revenues? How do you work with individual companies? How do you help your portfolio as a whole?

RH: I have found that my sales background has been helpful to our companies - particularly in tough economic times when customers, sales, channels and value proposition are such a focus. In the period of 1995-99, a good idea with a good team could actually produce a good return to investors. Since the stock-market decline (April 2000) and the IPO market shut-down, good ideas and teams are no longer valued on their own. Execution and a viable product that customers NEED to have (not a "nice to have" but a "need to have") is on everyone's mind. This positions my skills -- and iMinds Ventures on the whole -- very strategically. It's what we do best.

We've developed an approach to working with start-ups that is "Customer Centric" [more details on this in future iMinds newsletters]. Our main focus is the sales process, designing beta programs, landing initial clients, customer feedback, developing a strong sales/marketing team, and developing "Customer DNA" from the early starts of the organization. Developing "Customer DNA" means developing a certain attitude and focus, and it means putting the customer at the center of all functional activities of the young startup (sales, marketing are obvious, but how about finance, strategy, operations, HR, and R&D?).

Of course we work with companies by participating in board meetings and answering key questions between meetings. But we're after more than that. We work hard to establish relationships at the VP level, provide helpful contacts to industry support, customers, vendors, etc. and provide meaningful feedback on the sales and business development process.

Recently, we've created the innovate program, the "iMinds CIO/CTO Council" [see article, this Newsletter] because we recognized a gap in terms of what VCs are providing to their portfolio companies. The intent of the program, in part, is to provide our portfolio companies some access to CIOs and CTOs in the industry who can provide helpful advice, support, and possibly even customer entrees.

MoM: Not many people know this, but Harvard Business School has written up a case about you. The case is used in the first-year Leadership class and it deals with your values and how you balance your life. What are the balances and compromises that you deal with today?

RH: Here's how the case study came about: a former professor, Linda Hill, was heading up the "LEAD" (leadership, organizational behavior, HR, etc) program for all first year students. The professor asked to profile me as someone 10 years out of HBS, so students could think about their own future careers and issues they would face. The 2-part case and interview tape covers career progression as well as issues of work and family balance, spirituality, enjoying your work and crafting a career and working day-to-day in the (profit-oriented) business world. I really enjoy going back to HBS each year to be part of the classes as 800 students go through this case because it gives me an opportunity to make an impact with some of the world's future leaders. MBA students spend 2 years tearing apart and re-constructing many businesses - but they rarely are given the time to reflect on what's really important in life and what they can contribute to the world.

For my own part, issues of work/family balance and work/spiritual balance are key. A happy person is one who feels in balance, so we encourage that at iMinds. There's no doubt about it, being in venture capital has a lot of positives - you get to work with a great array of people each week, you are helping young companies get started and you are doing something positive for the economic environment. There are also negatives - your first priority is to get a good return for your investors, and this sometimes involves making trade-offs that affect people in a negative way. For example, you might determine that selling a company would bring the return to your investors you had envisioned, but may be counter to the needs of the people working at that company. Or you might suggest budget cuts as a Board member, which negatively affect members of that organization. Greed, avarice, pompousness...all traits associated with venture capitalists over the years, have given the industry a bad reputation. There are a lot of us in the industry who are also focused on balance, family, friendships, people, community, and spirituality -- all things that can be considered while making a very good return for investors! I don't mean to sound "Pollyanna-ish", but the industry should pride itself in those who are as proud of their accomplishments as people as they are of their ROIs.