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1.8 Rich Wong
Fund: Accel Partners
Posted by sdesh on 2009-10-21
Have had a terrific set of meetings with Rich Wong at Accel. He was engaged, thoughtful, and very straightforward. Moreover, after a substantive meeting, Rich leveraged his rolodex to get us key meetings with industry players that we needed to reach.
What really separates Rich is his ability to not only clearly assess the situation, but more importantly to brainstorm intriguing possibilities together on-the-fly. Many VCs are great at first part (situational assessment), but not so much so on brainstorming together.
Part of the reason is because of Rich’s unique background. Of course, he is Accel’s mobile guru, and has incredible depth there with his executive experience at Openwave and investments in AdMob and GetJar. But beyond that, he brings substantive marketing depth from his P&G days (having run a product line), as well as running Covad’s marketing operations. It enables him to provide depth in numerous areas beyond traditionally known areas. For example, with our company Tapioca Mobile, we were able to meaningfully discuss with Rich how we can enter the “below-the-line” promotional marketing space (which is a total separate space from the well-known “above-the-line” digital advertising).
If you a meeting with Rich, I believe there are two keys for a successful meeting:
1. Be Prepared – In addition to having your standard VC pitch, have 2-3 ideas teed up to brainstorm. Rich is incredibly sharp and will be able to dive right into the discussion.
2. Help Rich Be Prepared – Rich prefers materials sent to him in advance, so he can go thru them beforehand. It will help him assess the situation sooner, so he can better brainstorm together with you.
