Steve Mushero User Manual

Like you, I'm a busy person who values efficiency, getting stuff done, and also personal relationships. So this is a manual on how to best communicate & interact, as I like User Manuals and/or Manager FAQs, and this one is inspired by @zachcoelius, who has a nice one here.

I'm very easy to find, here, in email, we website, and on Twitter, Medium, and Substack. Please let me know any feedback or suggestions on how I could make it better.

What I Do

I spend the vast majority of my time helping early-stage startups mature their technology and technology teams, processes, and products, often as interim CTO or Tech Advisor. I HIGHLY value introductions to interesting companies I can help.

Communications

I live in email, period. I have all the messaging clients (including WeChat, by far my favorite), but please email, email, email. I work hard to reply quickly, within an hour, or certainly a day. I expect the same from you, i.e. reply within the same or the next day.

Generally try to avoid calling, texting, or DM for general things, unless it's urgent, though it's fine to ask questions or coordinate something this way that might need lots of back & forth. Aside from email, text is best, DMs okay, and calls suck.

Email is also my to-do list. If we talk about something and you want me to actually do it, please send me a reminder. Failure to do this often results in a failure of me to do anything. I check emails many times per day, 7 days-a-week unless I'm otherwise engaged, e.g. skiing or camping in the Maine woods.

If you don’t hear back from me within a few days, feel free to bump the thread once.

I do my own scheduling. As with email, if we have not set up a calendar invite there is a good chance I forget it.?

I respond to most Twitter and ignore most Linkedin DMs unless I know you.

I practice SINGLE opt-in introductions quite often for folks I know, as I only link folks to people I'm fairly sure are useful, and find double opt-in a waste of time. I love introducing folks to others who can help them. YMMV.

I work in Palo Alto. That means things like coffee and in-person things are best in that area.

Meetings

I like meetings, but try to avoid them, as they are time sinks.

I'm happy to chat over coffee with my friends & folks, but for all others, let's have a purpose and agenda. We can also often migrate a meeting to Zoom, or in many cases, just email.

Investing

I love ideas, especially ones that are useful and have a market and some traction, especially in B2B and enterprise spaces. I am not really a B2C guy.

I don't invest much these days, though I do connect folks to investors from time to time. I don’t invest in crypto, web3, hard sciences, bio, chips, or energy, though I do work in and on SaaS or other software related to some of those areas.

Please send me a deck, a summary or at least a paragraph to chat further.

Being "Helpful"

This is Silicon Valley, and a key tenet here is being helpful. Really. In the end, we all sink or swim together, and helping others is the currency of the 'valley. That means, feel free to let me know if there is a way I can provide leveraged value to you, without requiring a lot of time on my part. That includes introductions, ideas, feedback, information, etc.

Personal

I try to be my best every day, and I welcome feedback on how when, where, and how I fall short of that objective.

I place great value on helping and working with smart teams who listen, and am especially inclined to help women and folks of color, at all levels - this includes hiring, mentoring, investing in, advising, and promoting them anywhere and everywhere I can.

Links

Twitter:?I'm always on Twitter, so it's a great place to learn more about me & my musings.

Linkedin: I only connect with folks whom I've actually met.

SteveMushero.com: My site with more info about me, press, talks, etc.

Medium: Where I write about many things, mostly tech these days.

SubStack: Where I write about no-tech things.