I had dinner with my good friend and Bazaarvoice co-founder, Brant Barton, on Tuesday at the new Sway in West Lake Hills (yummy) and we talked about lessons learned in angel investing. It was on my mind as I’m doing an AMA (Ask Me Anything) webinar with my good friend and often investing colleague, Josh Baer, on Tuesday, Feb. 5 from 4-5pm CT (you can sign up here). During my conversation with Brant, I distilled down to seven lessons learned (in the spirit of Lucky7, of course). Brant is reading Jason Calacanis’s book on angel investing and told me that many of these are in there (maybe all of these, I haven’t read the book), so you may want to turn to that to really dig in as I’m going to do my best to keep this post short. My hope in sharing these with you is that it ignites more angel investing in Austin - it is vital to our startup ecosystem here. We are doing better on that front in Austin than ever before, but I believe we are only scratching the surface here. And I hope these lessons have an impact beyond Austin angels and startups as well.
A 'proper' vegan breakfast - updated
From the encouragement of my wife, Debra, who is reading Wheat Belly, about a month ago I added raw kale to my vegan breakfast smoothie recipe. I wanted to wait to write about it until I decided it was a permanent ingredient of my recipe. As this article points out, Kale is chock full of nutrients. It is also pretty filling, adding more heft to my smoothie. It alters the taste - making the smoothie a little less delicious but it is very delicious still. For the recipe, I use a healthy portion of the stalk and "floret" or whatever the leafy part is called.
A 'proper' vegan breakfast
I just ran into my friend Rip Esselstyn, who had a major impact on me at Bazaarvoice. Seeing him today made me want to share my story and also the breakfast I have every morning (my recipe below) for the past two years. After all, it is the first week of the new year and if you are like most people, you are thinking about carrying out your new year's resolutions and health is probably near the top of your list.
A quick (restaurant) review of Sway
Last night I ate at Sway - the new restaurant from Delfo Trombetta, the entrepreneur behind La Condesa. Delfo asked me to invest in Sway, and I passed. I'm regretting that decision now (just like I regret passing on investing in Uchiko and Uchi Houston when Tyson Cole asked me). Restaurants are tough investments, but when they hit - they can really hit big. La Condesa is a favorite in Austin - located conveniently downtown just a block from the W Hotel. La Condesa has amazing and progressive Interior Mexican food. Sway, on the other hand, has amazing and progressive Thai food. It was quite a treat, and I highly recommend it. It has only been open a few weeks, and it was already the second time my Bazaarvoice co-founder, Brant, had been! Brant is a foodie - I turn to him first for new restaurants to try.