Question: Please describe a typical day of a venture capitalist.

(Brad) The short answer is that I don’t have one.  However, I’m sure that’s not very satisfying, especially for those of you out there with voyeristic tenancies.  So – I’ll use Monday as a typical day.  In the spirit of 24, I’ll leave out the bathroom breaks. 

5:00am – 6:00am: Wake up. email, read RSS feeds, blog.
6:00am – 8:00am: Run, shower, get to office.
8:00am – 9:00am: Meeting at my office with CEO of a portfolio company to discuss strategic opportunities for his company.
9:00am – 10:00am: Email
10am – 10:30am: Phone call with a limited partner concerning Fair Value Accounting rules.
10:30am – 11:15am: Meeting with CEO of startup about his new business and feedback for ways he can make progress.
11:15am – 1:30pm: Lunch with partners at The Village Tavern.
1:30pm – 2:30pm: Doctor’s appointment.
2:30pm – 3:30pm: Conference call with CEO, COO, and GC of a portfolio company about strategic activity.
3:30pm – 4:00pm: Meeting with exec looking for a new job.
4:00pm – 4:30pm: Meeting with CEO of company I’m an advisor to – review sales performance issues from Q1.
4:30pm – 5:00pm: Meeting with CEO of a startup about potential financing and next steps.
5:00pm – 5:30pm: Phone call with partner at another VC firm about a company we are co-investors in as well as a company I am an investor in that he is considering leading a round for.
5:30pm – 6:30pm: Drink with my wife Amy at The Kitchen.
6:30pm – 8:30pm: Dinner at The Kitchen with CEO, CTO, and VP Product from one of my portfolio company to review several product and partnering initiatives for Q2.
9:00pm – 10:00pm: Email at home

I’ve found that my life runs better when it’s highly scheduled (vs. doing a bunch of random phone calls throughout the day.)  I used to do a lot of ad hoc stuff throughout the day and found that things ran a lot better for me personally when everything was scheduled.  My minimum scheduling slot is 30 minutes so I often have lots of little chunks of time throughout the day since many meetings and calls take 5 to 15 minutes.

Note the conspicuous absence of golf.

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