True University 2013 Yearbook

2 days, 24 classes, 31 speakers, 88 companies, 298 attendees. True Ventures’ third annual True University was the best yet—a remarkable educational experience, a forum for deep conversation and connection, and a clear reminder to us at True why we do things the way we do.

In his opening remarks at True U, Jon told attendees, “If you have a question, or a problem, or an issue that you need help with, I guarantee you, the answer is in this room.” That is why we started True University in 2011—to foster deep connections among Founders and their teams to help one another build the best businesses possible—all while encouraging education by bringing in world-class speakers and experts.

From the amazing Robin Abrams, we learned that the challenges addressed by the CEO and leadership team come from many directions and require speed, agility and trusted partners. Think fast, stay focused on your customer, and be relentless about finding product fit.

Puppet Labs Founder Luke Kanies taught us that the cadence within the company sets an important tone. Puppet Labs has very specific things they do routinely: every week, every month and every quarter. While they keep iterating to improve upon what they do, consistent tone and content helps communication across the organization as they grow.

Xconomy Chief Correspondent Wade Roush gave us a crash course in talking to the media, emphasizing the importance of telling your own personal story—who you are and who your team is—rather than always focusing on your product.

Chris Hopkins, who heads the venture capital unit at the U.K. Department of Trade & Investment, showed us how the U.K. government is committing to building better global innovation.

Leadership expert Jim McCarthy offered detailed tactics for recruiting insanely talented people and setting them up for success, including implementing a structured, thorough interview and hiring process and routinely engaging in honest, one-on-one sessions with team members.

It’s impossible to recap the depth of knowledge shared by each of the 31 True U speakers without writing a really long post, so we will take this opportunity to say a huge thank you to the incredible speakers who took the time to share their thoughts and wisdom with us. You made the event, and we are incredibly grateful.

This was the first year we held True University at Stanford, and we were all blown away by the Graduate School of Business’s beautiful buildings, cozy courtyards and impeccable accommodations. And of course, the Palo Alto sun didn’t hurt.

For many of our portfolio companies, True University has become as much about connection as curriculum. To support our Founders and their teams to that end, we focused some of our time together on creativity, teambuilding and plain old fun.

Feet First joined us on Tuesday afternoon for a few hours of teambuilding that attendees affectionately referred to as “Field Day.” Bonds were formed amidst life-sized Jenga games, a rubber chicken toss and an “in place horse race.”

On Wednesday afternoon, a group from The Second City led us in an improvisation workshop, which showed us how to create an environment in which people are comfortable taking risks. Hilarious, creative and far more applicable than any of us expected, our exercise in improv led to a deeper commitment to support one another’s ideas, and to discover the new places we can get to when we just say “yes.”

Thank you to everyone who attended, spoke, planned, served and supported True University. We are incredibly grateful for all you did to make this event a huge success, and we are looking forward to making it even better next year!

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