Est. 1985 · Boulder, Colorado
The Boulder Ventures
Almanac
Seasonal wisdom for guides, clients, and serial entrepreneurs
Compiled from 6 years of Perspectives · 2020–2026
The Two Rules
Have Fun · Don't Get Killed
55 essays. 11 funds. 60 companies.
One mountain, never left.
How to Read This Almanac
The Year Has Four Seasons.
So Does a Portfolio.
A farmer's almanac tells you when to plant and when the frost will come. This one works the same way, except the crop is companies and the weather is the market.
Boulder Ventures has published a Perspectives essay nearly every month since October 2020. Read together, they sort themselves by the season they're about, which is rarely the season they were written in. Winter essays are about surviving. Spring essays are about discipline. Summer essays are about the rope team. Fall essays are about judgment, timing, and knowing when the window closes.
Each season in this almanac carries 3 things: the essays that belong to it, a page of field notes (the aphorisms, verbatim), and one story told in full, because around here every lesson has a named person and a scar attached.
"In venture capital, the Client is the entrepreneur; the Weather is the market environment; and the Route is the portfolio company. The VC is the mountain guide."
December · January · February
Winter
"There are no bad ski conditions, only bad skiers."
Doug Coombs · Coombs' Law
The Season of Durability · Essays of Winter
- Durability is the Key to SuccessDec 2020
- Our Goal is to make Original MistakesJan 2021
- There is no such thing as safeFeb 2021
- In Good StyleDec 2021
- Don't Let the Perfect be the Enemy of the GoodJan 2022
- Never Leave Snow to Find SnowFeb 2022
- Becoming YourselfDec 2022
- The DealJan 2023
- DinyFeb 2023
- High on K2Dec 2023
- Revy the BernerDec 2025
- The Geography of RiskFeb 2026
Field Notes for the Deep Season
It takes a decade to find out if you're any good, as a founder or as a VC. Survive long enough to develop the skills.
Uli Inderbinen summited the Matterhorn more than 300 times. The last at age 90. Always return to climb again.
Risk can be reduced. It can never be eliminated. AAA-rated and "same as cash," until it froze.
Once you've found the right aspect and elevation, keep skiing right there. Never leave snow to find snow.
Good is achievable. Great is sometimes in reach. Flawless is possible. Perfect is not.
Focus on what you control: effort, attitude, toughness, practice, ability, fitness, preparation. Not interest rates.
No one ever lost their VC job because of the deal they didn't do. That is the problem.
The Winter Story
The Haggy
Canadian Mountain Holidays bought a Swedish Army vehicle on eBay to haul guest luggage. It burned to the ground: the warning lights were labeled in Swedish, and the driver wasn't. CMH disseminated the story through the whole organization so nobody would repeat it. That's the policy here too: every mistake is shared across the portfolio, so each company only ever makes original ones.
From "Our Goal is to make Original Mistakes," January 2021
March · April · May
Spring
"If she thinks the likely outcome is a 10, she tells the Board it's a 6."
Sandbag Excellence · The Lesson of Henry Barber
The Season of Discipline · Essays of Spring
- Mountain Guide PinsMar 2021
- Sandbag Excellence: The Lesson of Henry BarberApr 2021
- No Tasty TalkMay 2021
- BoulderingMar 2022
- Stacked BlocksApr 2022
- Safety First, Then DrinkingMay 2022
- Food and WineMar 2023
- Sound & FuryApr 2023
- Boards MatterMay 2023
- The Artist's MillApr 2026
- When Guides FallApr 2026
- A Few Small PlantsMay 2026
- What If OpenAI Craters?May 2026
Field Notes for Corn Season
Ruthlessly under-promise. Relentlessly over-perform. Leave a couple of things in your pocket every quarter.
When the rope comes out, it's all business. State the obvious, in clear precise language, no matter how uncomfortable.
Will this comment make a material impact on the company's trajectory? If not, keep quiet.
Boards come down to 2 questions: who runs the company, and who owns it.
There is always a path up through the stacked blocks, but it requires patience and attention to detail, and it is rarely simple.
Celebrating shared success properly is a professional skill. Safety first, then drinking.
Cisco went from $80 to $8 to $130. The infrastructure thesis can survive the flagship's crash, if you're durable.
The Spring Story
A Few Small Plants
Barney Feinblum has been backed by Boulder Ventures 4 times: Celestial Seasonings, then Horizon Organic, then Fresh & Wild, then Luke's Local. Same person, 4 companies, 4 decades. That's the whole model in one career: back serial entrepreneurs, keep the relationship longer than any single deal, and trust that "you can change the world with a few small plants."
From "A Few Small Plants," May 2026
June · July · August
Summer
"Nurturing an authentic relationship with our serial entrepreneurs is our most important duty and the source of value in our partnership."
Authentic Relationships
The Season of the Rope Team · Essays of Summer
- Authentic RelationshipsJun 2021
- Good VC vs Bad VCJul 2021
- Slater's LawAug 2021
- Living in the FutureJun 2022
- What We DoJul 2022
- Satisfying WorkAug 2022
- PartnershipJun 2023
- Guiding in BoulderJul 2023
- Markers and MarginsAug 2023
- Cry Like an AngelJul 2025
- Ken and PattiAug 2025
- Our CultureAug 2025
- Team AscentJun 2026
Field Notes for Rock Season
Authentic relationships are durable, honest, risky, complex, formed through progression, and rewarding. Built over careers, longer than any single deal.
A good VC closes on the signed term sheet. A bad VC begins negotiating once it's signed.
The Tower's not over until the ropes are on the ground. No fund is a success until LPs are paid.
DPI is the only long-term measure of a fund's success. The trilogy: People, Culture, DPI.
Decide the conditions for commitment before you're emotionally invested. Retreat with margin beats summiting without it.
Culture is the only sustainable advantage. Everything else can be copied, bought, or hired away.
The hardest routes fall to teams whose members could each lead, and chose to share the rope.
The Summer Story
The Refused Handshake
On the summit of Sentinel Spire, Kyle extended his hand. Rob Slater (big-wall climber, Goldman trader) refused it. Twice. "The Tower's not over until the ropes are on the ground." Applied ever since to every unicorn round and paper markup anyone has ever wanted to celebrate: a venture-backed company is not a success until the return is fully realized by its shareholders.
From "Slater's Law," August 2021
September · October · November
Fall
"Too wordy. What do they do?"
Merc Mercure · Brevity
The Season of Judgment · Essays of Fall
- If you're right about the entrepreneur…Oct 2020
- Being a Mountain Guide and being a VC is the same thingNov 2020
- Where MattersSep 2021
- Good Judgement Comes from Experience…Oct 2021
- Being Early is the Same as Being WrongNov 2021
- In Sicily, with HastonSep 2022
- The Competence HierarchyOct 2022
- Do the Right ThingNov 2022
- TouristsSep 2023
- Brevity · How to Ski Vail on a Powder DaySep 2024
- An Alternative History · An Educated Jew · Coombs' LawOct 2024
- WitchdoctorsSep 2025
- BreakthroughsOct 2025
- Building BridgesNov 2025
Field Notes for the Shoulder Season
Every great technology business can be described in 2 words. If you can't, you don't understand it yet.
Timing is the thesis. Being early is the same as being wrong.
When a market catches fire, the busloads arrive with fresh capital. We're Guides. We're never Tourists.
Witchdoctors aren't stupid — they're evil. And they always lose. Guinea Worm: 3.5 million cases in 1986. 14 in 2023.
No amount of money, politics, or ancestry buys an IFMGA pin. Most VCs were born on third base.
In guiding, incompetence can cost lives. The worst thing in venture capital is losing someone else's money. Act like the stakes are the former.
Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement. Everyone was making it up as they went along.
The Fall Story
The Merc Test
Kyle: "Merc, I'd like to lead the Series A round for Hauser Chemical Research." Merc: "What do they do?" Kyle: "They use ethanol column extraction to make active pharmaceutical ingredients from plant substances at scale." Merc: "Too wordy. What do they do?" Kyle: "They make Taxol for Bristol Myers Squibb." Merc: "Is that a good business?" Kyle: "$720,000 per kilo. BMS ordered 200 kilos." Merc: "Approved."
From "Brevity," September 2024 · In memory of Merc Mercure, founder of Ball Aerospace (Satellite Manufacturing)
Kept Year-Round
The Laws of the Range
Slater's Law
A venture-backed company is not a success until the return is fully realized by its shareholders.
Not over until the ropes are on the ground.
Coombs' Law
There are no bad ski conditions, only bad skiers.
Control what you control. Distributions in all market conditions.
The Merc List
Every great technology business can be described in 2 words.
Too wordy? You don't understand it yet.
Sandbag Excellence
Ruthlessly under-promise; relentlessly over-perform.
Call it a 6. Deliver a 10.
Original Mistakes
Share every mistake across the portfolio, so each company only ever makes new ones.
Remember the Haggy.
Markers and Margins
Decide the conditions for commitment before you're emotionally invested. Keep reserves.
Retreat with margin beats summiting without it.
No Tasty Talk
State the obvious, in clear precise language, no matter how uncomfortable.
When the rope comes out, it's all business.
Durability
We learn every time we succeed and every time we fail, but most importantly, we always return to climb again.
The trait above all traits.
The Annual Register
Businesses, in Two Words
| Ball Aerospace | Satellite Manufacturing |
| Array BioPharma | Cancer Drugs |
| ArcherDX | Cancer Tests |
| Black Bear Energy | Commercial Solar |
| BroadHop | 4G Software |
| Clarabridge | Callcenter Software |
| Datavail | Database Services |
| Lefthand Networks | Ethernet Storage |
| LineRate | Proxy Services |
| Rally Software | Developer Tools |
| Xifin | Billing Software |
"Is that a good business?"
The Complete Operating Manual
Rule One: Have fun.
Rule Two: Don't get killed.
For the mountains and the portfolio.
"He never left his mountain.
The rope is still not on the ground."
The Boulder Ventures Almanac · Compiled from Perspectives, 2020–2026 · All quotes verbatim · boulderventures.com/perspectives