The Raging Insterno

I watched Man on Wire last night, the compelling documentary chronicling the successful and criminal wire walking exploits of Phillipe Petit, his 6 years of planning for,  and his crossing of the World Trade Center Towers in 1974.  While watching the movie, which by the way I highly recommend, I was most struck by two things. The first was the clear and utter genius of Phillipe Petit. The second was the degree to which his “posse” would go to support his ambition.

To be sure, genius comes in many forms. But it is often much harder to define, than to just experience and know.  For some, genius was the first time they listened to Beethoven’s Symphony Number 9 or watched Michael Jordan beat the Utah Jazz in the NBA Finals or Rafael Nadal beat Roger Federer for his first Wimbledon championship. For others, perhaps it was watching Steve Wiebe get to the kill screen on Donkey Kong. For Phillipe Petit, his genius, his extraordinary creative power, was in not only daring to believe that the seemingly impossible, was possible, not only daring to believe that the undoable was worth doing, but also in doing it.

While the documentary is a revealing insight into the capacity of the human mind to dream beyond, and the human spirit to achieve those dreams, it also got me thinking about genius in a more relevant setting, that of a venture capital investor on Sand Hill Road.

As someone who sees 10 new entrepreneurs per week on average, pitching new business ideas, I’m quite aware that genius is the siren song of the venture capitalist. They, or the companies they represent,  stand out, like true works of art. And while many times it is hard to articulate why they stand out, like Justice Potter Stewart said about pornography,  ”you know it when you see it”. And so we chase them, and fund them. And often, they work out fantastically well.

But that is only half the story. Yes, we often are attracted, like a moth to light, to genius, and we are often shackled by our own needs to believe–our own blind love for the genius. Like Petit, to accomplish the impossible, to scale the towers that had just been built, required immense surreptitious coordination and support.  And coordination that would require its crew be both willing and able to take on the obvious legal risk involved, but also the immense personal risk knowing that their actions could quite possibly lead directly to the death of Petit. But therein lies the power of genius. It attracts and reels in sycophants willing to go to inordinate lengths ignoring fact and truth, to support the ambition of genius. Such is the power over its followers.

So what again does this have to do with venture capital? It has everything to do with venture capital. Because like the sycophants that helped Petit achieve his dream, however strange it was, Sand Hill Road is the sycophant of genius. And like Petit’s love interest in the movie, who subjugated her dreams to help Petit reach his, only to find him immediately abandoning her after his conquest, genius in Silicon Valley can also be the kryptonite of venture capitalists (no, i’m not implying in ANY way that VC’s are supermen!) if they don’t take great lengths to focus intensely on the realities of building businesses  rather than the glare of the white hot light of the genius. And that, that is the genius of the best venture capitalists!

I hosted a little pizza and beer party and a 50-person screening of what is clearly a contender for an Oscar, King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, broke out. Filmmaker and day-job ESPN College Football announcer Ed Cunningham, he the illustrious guest author of this blog, along with the new hot director in Hollywood Seth Gordon, who earlier in the day signed on for the new Vince Vaughn movie, joined us for the gathering. And you know you are arriving when Aint it Cool News is covering you!  Brad Stone, he of the NY Times and outing Fake Steve Jobs fame, had a few thoughts on the screening today. Thanks, Brad. Given the success of the film in early markets, and the integral role the audience at Clearstone are sure to play in future markets, I’m sure that all filmmakers will now consider it a karmic imperative to screen their movies at Clearstone Silicon Valley before opening in the Bay Area.

Below are important links for film buffs:

In the spirit of a true narcissist, I’d like to say that I had a *little* bit to do with Ed’s  (I just love linking to this picture of him) new documentary, King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters. A very little. I mean, a little, like the little karmic help I’ll give my fantasy football quarterback  needing a touchdown on a final drive of a Monday Night Football game to get into the playoffs by switching places on my couch. Or "little", like the little help you give the dealer in Vegas to pull a face card on 12 by holding your breath. So in the spirit of trying to earn my keep, I can’t encourage you enough to wait in line to see this documentary that follows the competition among a handful of folks that seem almost caricatures of themselves, to enshrine themselves as the greatest classic video game players of all time. If you liked Trekkies or any other geek coming of age movie (Sixteen Candles), or play or play video games, you’ll love this documentary and hopefully the full length feature that will be coming out of this documentary.

King of Kong is opening August 17th (NY, LA, Seattle and Austin), and on the 24th (Berkeley, SF, SD, DC, MN, Chicago, Boston). Go see it, or contact me if you are interested in attending a pre-screening in the Bay Area.

Ed Cunningham (I love this picture), he of a "north of 20" Wonderlick score (slightly better than Congressman Heath Schuler’s) and frequent guest columnist on The Commute, knocked this one out of the ballpark. King of Kong is a brilliant movie, worthy of a DLS bachelor party screening last year even. Here’s a great review of the film, scheduled to be released on August 17th. Here is another review you might like.  If you are a gamer, or a geek, or both, this movie will move you.

Apparently, I haven’t done enough to help out my good pal in promoting his new movie.  But, a stern phone scolding and $50 has got me revved up for my loyal audience, who is unfortunately on a cruise in Greece and unable to read this until after the movie debuts.  But, I did promise! And the fact that "Aint it Cool News" proclaimed the film "absolutely brilliant", makes this a bit easier! I’ve always been a gifted follower.

I had the great fortune of being able to go to the Sundance Film Festival this past February (or at least I think it was February).  I believe there is a picture of this on the blogs’ photo link, if you want to see a grown man, a belly, and a big beer.  So how did I get to Sundance?  Well, by plane, of course.  Actually, a friend of mine, who occassionally reads this blog and perhaps has a comment or two, was involved with the project "New York Doll" and invited me, along with 132 of his closest friends.  Now, its one thing to invite 132 of your closest friends when perhaps you have some "juice".  You know, access, tickets, invites to a few parties where one might oogle at the beautiful folks and perhaps get a few free shots of something. It is quite another to invite them when you can’t even get them past the bouncer in the line to ride the shuttle bus between towns up there!   (I’m joking, Ed….it was a blast!) The film reviews have started rolling in, and opening weekend in NY and LA is upon us this Friday and Saturday.  Go. Please. It is "a non-stop thrill ride".

I had very low expectations for the film, given that Ed’s own brother and sister in law had stated that they had already seen it and it was very shaky, AND, I had already known the coda, the little twist/secret that really enhances this film in non-obvious ways.  Luckily for me, the family would also probably have panned The Godfather and the Pope’s appearance at the gates of heaven.  This was not shaky at all (apparently, in full disclosure, they had seen the "rough cut" as opposed to what debuted at Sundance to rave reviews)  Bottom line is that the movie is well worth seeing, especially if you are a music fan without much knowledge of the band. Scary thought, but after the movie, I downloaded 5 NYD songs on iTunes.  Good thing Dad still pays my credit card bills! 

It appears in some reviews that serious music critics aren’t too happy that the film really isn’t all about the New York Dolls, an apparently seminal influence to many of our biggest rock success stories. Rather, it is a human interest story about the birth, death, and rebirth of one of its members as he struggles to reconnect and reconcile his present with his past.  Luckily, most of the reviews have been stellar, which is good, because I am in the credits (or at least I better be) and have a backend on that $50 Ed paid for the plugs.  And, if you ever want to see an amazing intersection of glam rock and the mormon religion, this is a good place to start!  Some of the early reviews are in:

"Greg Whitley has found a unique way to document a period in rock history, looking at it through the childlike eyes of someone who lived through it, but only barely. "New York Doll" is a fascinating study of a man who once had fame and fortune and lost it all, but was able to get a second chance once he found God."

"Many fine documentaries are made chronicling the rise and fall of rock bands, the tragic character flaws and fantastic excess often making for enjoyable cinema. But "New York Doll" is not one of those films. It is not the story of an influential rock band, but of one of the band’s members — and 30 years after the band broke up. And it’s one of the best documentaries of the year."