Flybridge held our CEO UnSummit earlier today for all the leaders of our portfolio companies.  It was a fabulous day and full of energy, and we will be posting more on some of the many insights these phenomenal leaders had about their companies and best practices.

But today is about a more timely issue, namely the election.  It was obviously the elephant in the room at the CEO UnSummit and I spoke to that directly in my introductory remarks. I have pasted in below what I said in the event it is of interest more broadly.

My intro remarks certainly took a different turn early Wednesday morning around 3am, so before we talk further about today I thought I would take a few moments to talk about the elephant in the room, especially as many of you have asked for thoughts on what the election means for all of us.

While I am no means a political expert, I have lived through many cycles in my 22 years as a venture capitalist and have a few thoughts on managing a company through uncertain times. The first and most important observation is not to panic. If you were excited about your market opportunity and the strategy you and your team are executing on Monday, you should be excited about it today. The big technology and macro market shifts that drive the markets we are all participating in tend to meaningfully outweigh any increases or decreases in GDP, fluctuations in currency markets or what party controls what branch of government. Remember, this is a long game we are all playing and that short or even medium term periods of uncertainty generally don’t have a lot of impact on the likelihood of success or failure. That said, periods of uncertainty do have an impact on short term results, as customers who may be ready to invest with you may find it equally easy to put that decision off for a quarter or two until the dust settles. Thus, I would encourage you to, on the margin, be cautious and conservative with your incremental spending decisions. Further, short term fear and uncertainty can have a real impact on the capital markets, and while we did not see the large drop in the S&P it looked like we might see late Tuesday night, I would guess that the fund raising markets for each of your companies will be more challenging than not in the coming 6-12 months, so if you have an opportunity to raise money now, take it but don’t spend it, and if you need to raise money in that window, think about ways to defer, or at least minimize, that need.

More difficult, and I am treading on more tenuous and potentially emotionally charged ground now – but I will do so as there are certain values we hold strongly as a firm – is what this election says about our society and what we can collectively do as both company leaders and leaders in our community on a go forward basis. A few thoughts come to mind on this front. First, is to remember we live in a fabulous country and our political system has been remarkably resilient over 200+ years and we should respect the democratic process even if we may disagree with the outcome of this particular election. Second, is to take the high road and focus on what we can all do moving forward. If the divisive rhetoric of the campaign, with its anti-immigrant, misogynistic and racist overtones made you sick to your stomach, let’s address that in ways we can control and actively seek to model a culture of inclusivity in our companies and create opportunities for people who were born outside this country, people of color, women, different sexual orientation and generally embrace diversity in all of its forms. It will not only set an example for others in our communities, it will make for stronger companies. Finally, it became clear with the surprising nature of this election that those of us in the tech community living in our coastal bubbles, have potentially lost touch with the impact that the rapid pace of change has had on the American workforce, so I would encourage all of you to think about ways we can improve our communities and our country, not only by building great companies, as entrepreneurs are indeed the engine of economic growth in this country, but also by thinking creatively about whether there are ways to hire team members outside our mainstream cities, or to get involved in educational opportunities for those less fortunate, or to think how our innovative approaches to business can be channeled to address issues with a social objective in addition to a profit objective. And with that, I will get off my soapbox.