“There are lot of ways people get non-economic payback - learning, networking, an…” — Gil Penchina

Focus. It's powerful to do just one thing and pour all your energy into it.

A mistake I've made is investing in my idea rather than the entrepreneur's. Sometimes I'm excited about an idea that is similar to the entrepreneur's idea - but not the same. A smart entrepreneur will convince me it is the same, until I write a check!

I was one of the early folks at eBay, and by 1999, it was completely overrun by consultants from McKinsey, Bain, and BCG. It went from being a cool, fun startup to an MBA factory.

All I do is talk to people, email people, take meetings with people, and do interviews. Then I work at maintaining relationships with my investors because the trust people place in me is my business model.