There’s always so much encouragement for graduating classes. “You are the generation.” “You will change the world.” I’m sure you are and you will, but how? How will you make a difference? I’m not going to tell you how to change the world; that’s up to you.

What I am going to give you is my advice on what will help guide you to make that difference. In my 30-year post-grad career, these are the words of wisdom that helped guide me—both personally and professionally:

Life is short. As you embark on the rest of your life, consider what you want it to be like and what you want to accomplish. Pretend for a moment that rather than graduating, starting your career, and moving on toward the rest of your life, you are at the end of it. How would people remember you, as both a person and a professional? Write your eulogy now. Think about how you want to be remembered by your family, friends, and colleagues. Let this shape you.

Do something you’d do even if you didn’t get paid to do it. If you don’t, then life will end up a chore. My dad was a chemical engineer who designed large-scale process plants. I remember seeing him get up every morning and go to work, and I don’t think he passionately loved what he did. He did it because he felt it was his responsibility. Life will be more fulfilling if you do what you love.

When I was finishing my MBA, the highest paid jobs were in investment banking and consulting. They were also the jobs with the highest prestige because they tended to attract the best and the brightest. Because of this, they were alluring for many graduates—when you have been out of the job market for a couple of years racking up student loans, working for a top-tier company with a solid paycheck made sense. I knew that neither of these routes was right for me. My choice to go a different direction ended up serving me well in the long run. I’m lucky enough to have found something I love doing. Not to say that it’s not work and it’s not tiring. It is. However, I constantly think about how lucky I am to do what I do—and get paid to do it.

It’s OK to be impatient, but don’t rush things. There’s a fine line between chasing your dreams and not being willing to lay a long-term foundation for success. When I finished graduate school, I saw a few people in my class who wanted a shortcut to success. They suffered from the “get rich quick” syndrome. Early on, they took risky bets with second-rate companies in hopes of accelerating success. With very few exceptions, that strategy did not work. Unfortunately, when they wanted to return to the mainstream, they didn’t have the foundation of success upon which to build.

Take risks with smart people. It’s fine to take calculated risks with your career, but when you do, make sure you understand the risks along with the reward. Make sure you take risks with the best people you can find. It will make all the difference in the end. If you want to start a company, recognize the risks you’re taking and do a gut check about how much you believe in what you’re doing. If you passionately believe in it, then do it with your eyes wide open and surround yourself with the smartest people you can find.

There is always next year, but at some point you start running out of next years. As you move forward in your career and in life, you’ll find yourself putting things off until next year. But there are only so many next years in your life. I’ve generally never passed off an opportunity to have a great life experience—be it travel, learning how to fly or play piano, or taking courses that weren’t directly relevant to the path I was on. The more you can do to round out your life outside of work, the more fulfilled you will feel in the end.

Don’t be one-dimensional. Life is more than your career. Life is about being a responsible, interesting person, and in my opinion, one of the greatest gifts in life is having close friends. As you move forward on your journey, you’ll find good friends are few and far between. I am fond of saying that I don’t need more friends, I just need more time to spend with the friends I already have.

Best of luck in your journey—and don’t forget: The journey is its own reward.

Successful founders – the ones that eventually become serial entrepreneurs – are a breed of their own. After almost 28 years of meeting, partnering with, and coaching some of the most amazing founders of today, I’ve discovered a pattern of several significant attributes that lead to success.

There are no ordinary founders, they are all extraordinary in some way, and the most successful founders are usually exceedingly extraordinary. Whether it’s their personal story about how they got to where they are (child prodigy, perhaps? Or a unique personality that overcame the odds?), or their unequivocal passion to change something for the better – there are unmistakable qualities that define the founders I am more inclined to back.

If you have an idea and want to start a company – you’re one step ahead of the pack. To get even further, I’d suggest applying these 9 key attributes into your founder’s toolbox.

1. Have a positive motivation

You’d be surprised the number of people who come to me and say, I want to start a company — without an idea for a company. This isn’t enough. The most successful founders have a driving passion and are compelled to change the world. Time and time again I’ve found the serial entrepreneurs are the ones who have this desire to change the world and have a clear vision on how to do it. The motivation cannot simply be a desire for the prestige of starting a company or the success. This is the foundation for a horrible company culture that will never survive. It has to be about having the vision, the passion, and the belief that they will change the world. I promise you, if you build a great company, the rewards will follow.

If you don’t have an idea or a passion – then my advice is to go work with someone else for a while. Learn about how to steer an engineering team, how to motivate and manage people, or how to spec a project on from concept to launch. The ability to do this on someone else’s dime is an incredible luxury. It’s also an opportunity to expand your network (which you’ll need when you eventually start that company).

2. See patterns where others see chaos

Part of my job as a venture capitalist is to identify patterns before they become clear. I try to see what’s happening on a macro level and identify the right themes in which to invest. The best entrepreneurs are the ones who come in and not only see but also articulate the patterns in the market when around them is chaos. Opportunities arise out of emerging patterns before others can see them. If the path were clear, everyone would do it. Chaos is a good thing. In the midst of confusion, great entrepreneurs see the future as clear as day and they feel compelled to realize that future. They’re the ones who come in and complete the sentence, “Imagine a
world where…”

3. Contagiously believe

In the beginning, there really isn’t anything but the idea. All founders have is their belief that their idea is right. They can’t have any doubt, because if they do, people won’t follow them. If there is one inch of doubt in your mind, you won’t be successful at assembling a team of people to jump on board with you – from investors, to rock star individuals that likely already have a better paying job. You have to show them that without a doubt, this company and this team will be a success.

This is a big hurdle to overcome, and it only comes with having a passion and clearly understanding the pattern (vs. getting lost in the chaos). You need to convince people that what they’re doing isn’t nearly as exciting as what you’re doing. You have to have to clearly articulate your vision like an evangelist. You have to will the company into existence.

If someone comes in to meet with me and says, “I’m not sure I’m gonna do this. Are you interested in it?” (Which, believe it or not, happens), I know it won’t work. I have to get infected by their passion. I have to want to be on their team.

4. Sweat the details

All too often people will say, “How do I do market analysis on a market that doesn’t really exist?” In my opinion, when you’re putting your time, energy, and reputation into starting a company, arguably you’re making as large an investment if not more, than I am. You owe it to yourself to do your homework. You need to find out what the competition doing, how big the market is, what the 20 obstacles that you must overcome for success are, and, of course, why you will succeed. It’s important to put together the whole landscape of what you’re counting on for this to be a successful venture.

If you don’t do that, you’re cutting yourself short. I mention this because it’s kind of amazing to me when I meet entrepreneurs and they really haven’t done any homework on how big the market size is. Or, you ask them about what is this person doing, or what is this company doing, or have they heard of this or heard of that, and they say, “No, I haven’t really done any of that research.”

5. Lead by example

Not all entrepreneurs make great leaders. The ones who clearly articulate a strategy and a purpose are the ones who generally surface as long-term leaders. Great leaders and leadership happens by example. If you take off for a three-hour lunch or leave everyday at 3:00pm to hit the gym while your team toils away through all hours of the night, you’re not setting a good example and it’s a short-term recipe for disaster. If your team sees you working just as hard or even harder than they are, they’ll be more willing to put in the long hours and support you on your journey.

6. Never compromise on the team

As the saying goes, there’s no “I” in team. You’ll also note there’s also no “I” in founder or entrepreneur. However, the most successful founders recognize that they win when the team wins. I can’t stress how important it is to be able to understand that you win as a team and are productive as a team.

Hire great people, give them the responsibility to succeed, and recognize them when they do. Don’t compromise on people. Great people want to work with other great people. If you want a mediocre company, just hire a few mediocre people and step back and watch it dwindle out. Great companies come from great people and great teams. It seems obvious, but I’m amazed how often CEO’s don’t act on marginal performers. They can become a cancer to an otherwise healthy company.

7. Solicit advice and be decisive

The most successful founders are the ones who ask for advice on key decisions and come back with their own, well-reasoned decision. The ones who end up being less successful are the ones who either ask for advice and do as they’re “told,” or on the flip side, are the ones who don’t ask for any advice at all. A great CEO will solicit opinions from differing points of view, process the information and make a decision. The key, ultimately, is to make clear, timely decisions with as much relevant information as possible. It’s important to also understand that not making a decision is in itself making a decision. You won’t always be right, but being decisive
is important. When you’re wrong, fix your mistake as quickly as possible and move on.

8. Commit to the vision

I’ve seen some amazing results that have carried the culture of a company simply from founders and CEOs committing to the vision. John MacFarlane, the CEO and founder of Sonos (one of our portfolio companies) has a vision of filling every room in the house with music. He is passionate about wanting people to rediscover the joy of music.

John is incredibly committed to the vision and is willing to do whatever it takes to fill the Sonos customer value proposition. He’s able to hire some of the best people around the world purely based on his commitment to the vision. Despite having been extremely successful as a company, it all happened because John is determined, focused on the vision and leads by example.

9. Never ever, ever give up

There are so many reasons why a start up company should fail. Larger companies have the resources, the people and the money to survive. The reason why start-ups do succeed is because someone has a nugget of an idea, a passion to make it work, and the people who are dedicated to the vision, as well as dedicated to adjusting along the way to make it work. It’s rare that a company we invest in turns out exactly the way the original business plan envisioned.

The most successful founders are the ones who, when up against a wall, will stay up all night trying to figure out how to get through it, and when they wake up in the morning they’ve scaled the wall and figured out the solution.

Exceptional founders are those who go on to become serial entrepreneurs. They are able to do so because these essential attributes afford them the skills and practice to be successful for the long haul. They are the visionaries, evangelists, innovators, leaders and team players that make tomorrow better.

*Originally posted by Geoff Yang on The Next Web, here.

Today we are excited to announce our investment in Tastemade.  When we first met the founders of Tastemade, they had left Demand Media as founders to pursue their dream of building a modern media company built on content native to todays social platforms, innovative technology and a disruptive content creation platform.  They believed that by initially targeting a new content network built for the Internet around food and food lifestyle, they could create what traditional networks like Food Network, Cooking Channel, or Travel Channel did – with one difference: building it for a connected, broadband world.

We believe Tastemade represents the best of the new breed of Internet video networks, and will deliver exceptional content and services to consumers worldwide.  In the short 6 months they have been in business, Tastemade has 100 channel partners, 9 million monthly viewers, and 1300 hours of compelling content.  And that’s just the beginning.

Congratulations to Larry Fitzgibbon, Joe Perez, Steven Kydd, and the entire Tastemade team on your coming out party.  I can’t wait to see what the future brings.

Today, our Redpoint portfolio company, Bluefin Labs, is announcing its merger with Twitter.  When we invested in Bluefin about two and a half years ago, we bought into the vision of matching and measuring social response to TV viewing; and deriving insights into engagement and reactions to ads and programs.  A spinout out of the MIT Media Lab, Bluefin uses heavy data science to gain never before available understandings to reactions to TV by matching millions of people’s social postings, such as tweets, to actual programs and ads.  By doing so, Bluefin is able to create the world’s largest and first ad hoc, real time focus group.   This information can then be measured and mined for deep insights that can help brands, agencies, and TV networks make actionable, and valuable decisions.

The combination of social and big data coupled with the largest audience and advertising market (ie TV) was what we got excited about, particularly in combination with the rapidly evolving entertainment industry. This is a space we have been excited about for years, from early investments in Netflix and Tivo to more recent investments in Fanhattan, Machinima and Sonos.

Bluefin was a classic start-up story.  Founded by an MIT professor, Deb Roy, and his principal PhD researcher, Michael Fleischman; Bluefin started in a small space in Cambridge, MA.  Later, JP Maheu joined as CEO as Bluefin began to transition from a science and development project to revenue producing business scaling to multiple large accounts.  Today, Bluefin has an excellent professional management team anchored by Jeremy Rishel, Tom Thai, and Anjli Midha.

I will miss working with Bluefin so closely, but am confident that this partnership with Twitter will change the landscape of understanding TV viewership and interaction.  I can’t wait to see what the future holds.  Thanks for letting me be part of the journey.