Simon Greenman

One thing that has really changed in Europe, since I was last here in the early 90s, is the availability of cheap airline flights. With cities such as Barcelona, Berlin, Venice and Prague all within a two hour flight, weekend trips to these world class cities is very doable (even with the hassles of Heathrow airport). We took a brief trip to Prague in early September.

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Judy turned 40! We are writing from Venice as we celebrate this milestone birthday. We have played the total tourist, taking in the Murano glass factories, watched the pigeons at San Marco square, stood at the top of the Rialto bridge that towers over the Grand Canal, ate seafood pasta, and sipped wine while floating in a gondola as the sun set over the canals.
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Judy and I arrived in London at the tail end of the wettest Summer on record. And records began in the 1700s. The skies did seem to part for our first few weeks in the country. We got a chance to experience the charm of Hyde Park and see the crowds leave their tributes to Princess Diana at Kensington Palace on the 10th anniversary of her death. We took in the Notting Hill Carnival, which is second only in size to the Rio De Janeiro carnival.
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Judy and I lived in Amsterdam this past Summer. While we have been a tourist here before, living in the city allowed us to experience the real charms of this town of canals. It is a city we found more pleasant the more we explored and sampled it. It shocked at times, with corner “shops” for prostitution and soft drugs as common as the local Albert Heijn supermarkets.
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So we finally moved to Europe and I am writing after a month of cultural immersion and assimilation. It is has been 13 years since I lived in Europe and while it is somewhat familiar, I feel like a foreigner. So what are my initial impressions? Unfortunately I am going to come across as an ugly American, even if I am a Brit my birth. But a few rules for American newcomers to Europe: Continue Reading »

Somewhere around this past New Year I think I was hit with a temporary case of insanity or at least guilt from too much holiday cheer. But I decided to run a marathon. My brother in law, Al Pacheco, who is a serious and accomplished runner signed on as my coach. Little did I know how serious a coach he would be and how inocuous the words ¨I would like to qualify for the Boston marathon” sounded at the time.

Well what a three months! Continue Reading »

We just returned from an incredible two week tour of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. While it is almost embarrasing to post these pictures as they look so opulent, the (truly undoctored) pictures hopefully give a sense of the beauty of these South Pacific islands.

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Denver has just been hit by a massive blizzard. It has been snowing continuously for over 24 hours shutting roads, airports, offices and shops. The national guard has been called out to help rescue stranded motorists and it is likely to be quite a few more days before we can get back to normal.

Cherry Creek, which is normally awash with Holiday shoppers, has ground to a halt with the major form of transportation being skis and snow shoes. Many cars are foolishly attempting to navigate the streets but are getting stuck. Fortunately the neighborhood spirit is strong and people are willing to give a push at the drop of a hat.

Evergreen Innovation Partners (EIP) is a very interesting company pioneering a new approach to bringing innovations to market. It is an interesting twist on the traditional VC model of investing capital in a portfolio of early stage companies run by talented entrepreneurs and nurturing the companies through the growth life-cycle. Rather they invest capital in a portfolio of early stage consumer product innovations developed by talented inventors and then nurture the products through the life-cycle of commercialization. Continue Reading »

New York magazine recently published an article entitled Can’t Get No Satisfaction: In a culture where work can be a religion, burnout is its crisis of faith by Jennifer Senior. I think she nailed this one and I have been sharing with friends and colleagues ever since.

We all assume that burnout is a simple function of how many hours we are working. But in fact those who are most satisfied with their jobs are often the serial entrepreneurs who are working 24×7 for years. Why? Continue Reading »