Put on a Smile

Earlier this week, I was feeling annoyed by some of the things that venture capitalits do. While sitting in my car waiting for an upcoming meeting, I called one of my friends to vent my frustrations.

Allan: "K, remember our former employer, T*** Tech?"

KH: "Yeah?"

Allan: "One of the VCs I met claims that the product we built there did not work - that he was on the board of our customer and thus he knows. The way I remember it is that our stuff DID work, and that it was the customer's previous supplier's product that did not work. In fact, our product was the one that saved the customer. They were so happy and grateful that they came and threw a party for us."

KH: "yeah I remember"

Allan: "That VC is wrong - it bother me - because he is now telling another VC that I worked for a company whose product did not work"

KH: "Hmmm...."

Allan: "I am tired of these VCs"

KH: "You know, Allan, do you have a Bible in front of you?"

I was surprised to hear this questions. I've known KH for a long time but we've never had a conversation quite centered around the Bible - I was smiling when I heard this question.

KH: "If you go to Ephesians, it says for us to derive joy out of God, not other people. We need to keep in perspective what's really important - and that what others say or feel towards us is really not relevant."

KH: "Remember that you are doing right now what you wanted to do 10 ten years ago - start companies. So put on a smile and enjoy the opportunity."

This unexpected piece of advice and wisdom brightened the rest of my day. Sometimes we just need to be reminded to put on a smile and rise above all things....

Thanks KH! We've come a long way since the days where our conversations mostly consisted of reviews of the latest movies or what we did over the weekend... :)