#4 Dave Hersh, How to Get Your Startup to IPO and Go Public

Many founders hope to one day take their company public on the stock market and have it be worth over $1B+ in market cap. To Dave Hersh, this dream is a reality with Jive Software, a company he founded and lead for 8 years and through 3 different business models. Dave also happens to be one of my personal mentors and friends. This week we have the honor of interviewing Dave, who runs a brilliant startup blog and often talks about founder's impatience. I ask Dave many tough and interesting questions this week like: You were involved with Jive for 8 years and stepped out right before it went public. Can you tell us why? What did you learn about work/life balance? Can you tell us about any bad startup ideas you had before Jive and how you knew Jive was different? What are the top 3 most common mistakes that you see startup founders make? What’s the best piece of advice you have ever received about starting companies? A few years ago, you became a Venture Capitalist with the top VC firm Andreessen Horowitz. What has being a VC taught you about startups and founders that you didn’t realize while being a founder? How has the way you approach and think about startups changed over the years?