On the road: London

On a recent trip to England, I stepped out of my comfort zone, despite being in a familiar place. Here’s a short recap of a whirlwind 24 hours in London.

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How to Fail

So much of what we do as venture capitalists is focused on success, or what success could look like if a series of hypotheses about a business ends up being correct. The allure of a unicorn valuation, a multi-billion-dollar exit or impacting the lives of tens of millions of people drives founders and VCs alike.

Failure is more likely than not.

But success, or at least the perception of success, is fluid. It can change dramatically within a person from year to year and there’s an even greater variance from person to person. I suspect few people really take a meaningful look at their own shortcomings.

Last week, I flew to London to attend ClearScore’s annual conference. ClearScore is a wonderful company close to my heart. QED incubated the business with its terrific CEO Justin Basini and I serve on its Board as chairman. ClearScore is a company I know well, attacking a vertical I know well, embracing expansion across geographies and product lines I know well. I’m comfortable.

But after lunch last Thursday at Kings Palace, I was nervous – even a little uncomfortable at first. For the next 60 minutes, I sat in an armchair on a stage and recorded a podcast in front of a live conference audience of around 300 external guests.

‘How to Fail’ with Elizabeth Day is a wildly successful podcast with 34 million downloads that embraces failure and shines a light on the lessons learned when things don’t necessarily go right. Approaching almost 200 episodes, Elizabeth has interviewed some of the biggest names in politics, science, sport and the arts, from Bernie Sanders and Greta Thunberg to Stanley Tucci and Rick Astley. I was honoured to be invited to join this incredible list, even though I wasn’t sure that I could bring as much to the table.

We touched on a number of topics from how I feel talking about failure to whether I treat failure differently in my professional and personal life. Elizabeth was a gracious host and she put me at ease even though I was firmly outside of my regular talk tracks of fintech and unit economics.

I spoke about my regrets of never fully connecting with my Welsh heritage as a youngster and about how long it took me to put my head and my heart together when it was time to leave Capital One.

Maybe the most meaningful part of the discussion for me was discussing my own ambition. It’s not really something I speak about too often, so I was nervous articulating my own imposter syndrome and my personal drive to do better. Even at 65, I still feel like I have something to prove – I call it the monster of my own ambition.

I think that’s why I enjoy being around people with energy. I want to keep pushing, learn new things and spend time on intellectually curious challenges with like-minded people.

It’s probably also the reason why I love cycling so much – something else I wish I had started sooner. When I need to focus and visualize, I picture the Stelvio Path, an iconic Italian bike climb of more than 6,000 feet over 15 miles. Sunshine and warm weather at the bottom, snow peaks at the top. It’s a brutal test of stamina and determination and I’ll never forget riding here with my sons, Dylan and Harry.?

The circle of how my professional life feeds my personal life is actually stronger than I had realized.

There is still so much to do and I don’t want to let life pass me by thinking I didn’t conquer something that could have been conquered. Not all things can be conquered, but I’m determined to try.

I can’t wait to share the episode with you later this summer.

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ClearScore Conference

My live podcast with Elizabeth was just one part of a jam-packed agenda. We heard from veteran Westminster communications strategist Alastair Campbell and cabinet minister Rory Stewart (now the co-hosts of ‘The Rest is Politics’ and ‘Leading’ podcasts), plus British explorer and writer Sir Ranulph Fiennes.

There were also breakout sessions on the macro environment with British economist Lord Mervyn Kin; on AI with Stemettes CEO and social entrepreneur Anne-Marie Imafidon; and on finfluencers with Damien Jordan, Timi Merriman-Johnson and Alice Tapper.

Friends and family

One of the things that I enjoy most about traveling is getting to spend time with colleagues, friends and family, including my son, Harry, who will be pursuing a Master’s degree in history at King’s College London in the fall.

I also got to spend time with three of our four London-based investors (Head of UK and Europe Yusuf Ozdalga , Head of Asia Sandeep Patil and Principal Alexandra Piedrahita Piedrahita) for dinner at Zaika, a terrific Indian restaurant on Kensington High Street on the corner of Hyde Park, a stone’s throw away from Kensington Palace and the Royal Albert Hall.

I couldn’t be more grateful for the incredible work each one of them is putting in. The quality of deal flow we’re seeing because of the time they’re spending on the ground building the brand is unparalleled. My thanks to you all.