Back in the dark ages, when we had VHS tapes — weird boxes that held a video on a strip of tape — there was an old saying, “be kind, rewind.” It was so that the next person that got the tape didn’t have to sit for an extra five minutes rewinding it — if you are old enough to know dial-up modems, it was the same level of annoyance as signing onto the internet. Rewinding a tape before you gave it back to Blockbuster was just a kind gesture to do.

I believe empathy is an underutilized skill in leadership. Successful leaders are often portrayed as authoritarians with an unbending will, but this is a weak leadership style to adopt. Ultimately, a true leader should focus on building trust, and an effective way to achieve this trust is through empathy.

We are going to dive into three different topics here: why constructive feedback is necessary, how to give feedback, and how to make sure the other person hears the feedback. I’ll also be weaving in personal stories to help you understand best practices.

From my point of view as a venture capitalist, I have realized that many startups share a common struggle: how to determine valuation. There are plenty of articles on how to value your specific startup and the different methodologies behind it, but what many of them neglect to recognize is that for most early-stage (pre-seed) startups, valuation is most likely determined by the surrounding market, or by the investor themselves (hence the abundant use of convertible notes).

After my recent interactions with several entrepreneurs, I realized that I needed to write an article about the importance of being receptive to feedback. It is just as important to be professional and open when receiving feedback as it is when listening to it, because one without the other leads to a zero-sum game.

While the benefits of delegation may be clear, actually delegating is not always an easy thing to do.

What drives entrepreneurs to take the risks of starting new businesses? Motivations vary. However, money is rarely, if ever, the primary incentive.

When people ask me for tech career advice I find it helpful to lay out the three paths I’ve encountered most in my career: founder, executive, and employee. I’m leaving out investor because the best path to being an investor that I’ve seen starts with being successful (or failing) at one of these three first.

If you are eager to start a startup but not ready yet, there are a few steps you can take that will give your startup a head start, even if you still don’t have a startup idea.

In a time of such polarizing leadership, there’s a good opportunity to reflect on our paradigms and retool our thoughts on how to be the leaders our employees, co-workers, friends or family deserve. This is the first post in a three-part series walking you through the idea of leadership versus management and the challenges I had making the shift.

Taking ownership of a failure or shortcoming is difficult. Our egos, self-worth or even careers can take a massive hit when we execute poorly or fail at a task. When we are wrong or when we fail, our natural reaction is to become defensive and blame someone else, but this just exacerbates any previous problems we had.