Brian Ascher: Partner at Venrock

Following a career in product at Intuit, Brian has been at Venrock for 22 years. While the VC industry has changed a great deal in that time, Brian's approach has not. He invests in founders by building trust first. That trust, he says, is a prerequisite to adding value, offering feedback, making intros, or anything else. Brian explains why Venrock thinks "pattern recognition" can lead to bad decision making, but details how many of their investing theses build out as "franchises" around one or a few successful prior investments. Taking it a step further than "adding value," Brian and his Venrock colleagues strive to be an entrepreneur's first call - his or her first call with a problem, with something to celebrate, with a question, or maybe, eventually, with another great idea for a business or an intro to another founder.