In climbing, just like in venture capital, being early is the same as being wrong.
Read More
When I first moved to Colorado full-time, I got into a lot of trouble with Chip Wilson. We skied and climbed together all over the place in the early ’80s, and had just enough skill and more than enough drive to put ourselves where we never should have been.
Read More
To mountain guides and venture capitalists, where matters. There are only a few great ranges in the world suitable for guiding and even fewer that are outstanding day in and day out. In places like Revelstoke, Chamonix or Telluride, there’s a lifetime of guiding to be had. The guides that live there become masters of their complex terrain, attracting clients from over the world, all year long.
Read More
Rob Slater was one of the strongest and most versatile climbers of my generation. An expert at big wall, aid climbing, his first ascent in 1984 of El Capitan’s Wyoming Sheep Ranch remains one of the neckiest leads ever on the Big Stone.
Read More
It is remarkable that everywhere you go climbing or skiing in the world, you can find an IFMGA-certified mountain guide to take you there. It’s also a testament to the power and consistency of the IFMGA standard that certified mountain guides around the world have the same set of skills and competencies.
Read More
As mountain guides and venture capitalists, it is our job to form authentic relationships with our clients and entrepreneurs. All of the value in our business comes from the effort.
Read More
Effective communication between a guide and client is fundamental to their relationship and to their shared success on the objective. The more challenging the terrain, the more important this communication becomes.
Read More
One of the characteristics of great entrepreneurs is that, to a person, they are ruthless sandbaggers. Great entrepreneurs consistently under-promise and over-perform, and through their example, inspire this behavior throughout their organizations.
Read More
At the dawn of mountain guiding, late 1800s through the start of WWII, it wasn’t hard to identify the mountain guides — they were the guys that led the way to the top of the peak, often dragging an English client behind them.
Read More
Venture capitalists and mountain guides are risk managers. They use their experience and talent to bring order and success to an otherwise chaotic and dangerous endeavor.
Read More
We’ve learned a lot from the CMH guides over our years together in the field, and one of them is to disseminate information about mistakes throughout our organization and portfolio companies. That way, when we do make mistakes, they are Original Mistakes, not the same ones other people have already made.
Read More
We guide our clients on good days and bad, sometimes to the top, sometimes not. We learn every time we succeed and every time we fail, but most importantly, we always return to climb again.
In mountain guiding and in venture capital, durability is the key to success.
Read More