Shifted gears today with the first taekwondo tournament of the year. First time in five years that I didn't spar, and it feels pretty nice to come home without bruises or worse. OTOH the reason I didn't spar is that I've apparently outlived the local competition.
I've volunteered and judged at over a dozen tournaments, but for some foolhardy reason the dojang decided that today was the day I'd get some sparring referee experience. I started off slow&easy-- my first match was a couple of six-year-olds (think of tiny Michelin men rolling around and bouncing off of each other) who dutifully proceeded to duke it out for two one-minute rounds. All offense, no defense, and they were really getting into it. At the end of the match, the "winner" decorously (and with absolutely no warning) leaned over toward me and projectile vomited. My reflexes saved my [-]shoes[/-] day and my next comment was "Cleanup on ring #1!"
A later match involved two young adults of very junior belts. I'm considered oversized for taekwondo at 5'10" and 180#, but each of these guys had me by at least six inches and 40 pounds. Each believed that they were proficient enough to add head shots to their competition. (Guess what causes 95% of all tournament injuries.) We declined to humor that opinion and it was a good call. Within 30 seconds of the first round, one fighter had conclusively determined that the other had neglected to don his protective athletic cup. Things heated up considerably after that, and I felt like a chimpanzee between two silverback gorillas. But I learned a lot and I'll understand the process much better next tournament.
What exactly is the new business climate?
Z
They ran out of euphemisms and amplifiers for the word "sucks".
It's beginning to dawn on VCs that the 1990s will never come back, and one cheery soul said that his research indicated the median time from startup to exit has gone from as little as 30 months to 9.6 years. "Exit" is usually being acquired by another company rather than IPO, and that length of time is sadly affected by survivor bias. Everyone who's left is a long-term investor now.
Amid all of this doom & gloom, I believe the opportunities & values have hardly ever been better!
