AC/DC is back. The new album, Black Ice, has some great cuts on it. And after seeing them in concert on Tuesday night, I can tell you that they still rock. If you have a chance to see them live don’t hesitate pay what you gotta pay to see them. You won’t be disappointed.

While Rob Hayes and I may have been the only VC’s in the audience On Tuesday, I started wondering “What can AC/DC tell us about VCs and entrepreneurs?” Here’s a lighthearted take:

For Those About to Rock (We Salute You) Entrepreneurs are the rock stars of the tech world and starting a company has never been easy. It takes a tremendous amount of courage do so so. At First Round we still think it’s a great time to start a company (we remain active looking for and investing in early stage opportunities), doing so in the face of the current macro-economic climate takes a little extra conviction. To the entrepreneurs with whom we meet everyday, more than ever, we salute you.

What Do You Do for Money Honey Pitching skills are more important than ever. Notice I said, pitching skills, not Powerpoint skills. Entrepreneurs should be prepared, know your vision, know your market, know your strengths, articulate why you want funding, what milestones you will achieve / questions you will answer, how long it will last. Be succinct. And remember that every interaction with a potential investor is a chance to make an impression. Whether it’s good or bad is up to you. Do it well and you may leave potential investors Thunderstruck. (See Also: Shoot to Thrill)

You Shook Me All Night Long There’s a lot to be said for the opening line of this song… “She was a fast machine.” In early stage businesses, everything has to happen faster. Proving or disproving the thesis, adapting the product to user feedback, and, in a worst case scenario fail faster and cheaper. And, of course, when communicating with a board or management team, the “Telling me no lies” line is music to my ears.

Back In Black Back in black?!?! Forget about getting back, just get in the black! And stay there! (See Also: Money Talks)

There’s been much in the press lately about the economy and the impact on consumer retailers this holiday season. There will be no argument from me that the Friday after Thanksgiving 2008 may will likely more resemble Red Friday than Black Friday.

The impact of the economic slowdown is beginning to hit other parts of the economy as well. Today the Wall Street Journal has a cover story on the slowdown in charitable donations. So while I would never be so glib as to suggest that shopping is a core aspect of patriotism, ask yourself if there is anyone you can make a charitable gift. As horrifically craptastic as the financial markets and economy have been (and will be), I promise you there is someone who truly needs more than you.

If you have plans to travel somewhere exotic over the holidays, find a way to spend a few days helping the local community. I have a friend who has done this on a few continents and she now understands the places she has visited better than any tourist. If you have kids, think about giving them $25 to donate to the charity of their choice. It’s a gift which will last for their entire lifetime.

The economy sucks but that’s no excuse. We all have much for which we should be grateful. Time to give it away.

I’ll be sending a little bit extra here.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Thank you to everyone who joined us for the First Round Capital “Office Hours” yesterday at the University Cafe in Palo Alto. While the economy is tightening, it was a great reminder that the Valley still has no shortage of entrepreneurs with great ideas and lots of guts. These are the folks who will help to turn the tide on the economy.

As is the case with any beta release, we’d appreciate your feedback. In the comments below, please let us know what we could have done better. This is as much your event as ours, help us improve it. From my perspective, the biggest disappointment was running out of time before we could meet with everyone. Coincidentally, the thing that had me most fired up was witnessing the interactions between people while they waited. So as we look to our next Office Hours, we’ll look to find a way to balance a more scheduled approach with one that will allow / encourage spontaneous connections between founders.

Josh, Rob and I were energized by the event and the 50+ people with whom we were able to meet yesterday. Thank you. This is something that First Round Capital is committed to doing again. We want to help make it easier for founders to meet with the venture community - and we also want to find a few great ideas fund! More geographies and more dates to be announced. Stay tuned for more details.

Congratulations to the Tampa Bay Rays and the Philadelphia Phillies. There’s some tremendous baseball ahead in the World Series. In Boston, 2008 was a great season but there will be no joy in Red Sox Nation this year.

For me, it’s time to turn the page on a baseball season that began on a Saturday morning in the dry March heat of the Cactus League. Now, on a Sunday evening the first chills of October have arrived, the hot stove is readying and the wait for next year has begun. Until then Bart Giamatti’s “Green Fields of the Mind” has special resonance. Good bye Summer ‘08.

Green Fields of the Mind by Bart Giamatti

It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone. You count on it, rely on it to buffer the passage of time, to keep the memory of sunshine and high skies alive, and then just when the days are all twilight, when you need it most, it stops.

That is why it breaks my heart, that game–not because in [Tampa Bay] they could win because Boston lost; in that, there is a rough justice, and a reminder to the [Rays] of how slight and fragile are the circumstances that exalt one group of human beings over another. It breaks my heart because it was meant to, because it was meant to foster in me again the illusion that there was something abiding, some pattern and some impulse that could come together to make a reality that would resist the corrosion; and because, after it had fostered again that most hungered-for illusion, the game was meant to stop, and betray precisely what it promised.

Of course, there are those who learn after the first few times. They grow out of sports. And there are others who were born with the wisdom to know that nothing lasts. These are the truly tough among us, the ones who can live without illusion, or without even the hope of illusion. I am not that grown-up or up-to-date. I am a simpler creature, tied to more primitive patterns and cycles. I need to think something lasts forever, and it might as well be that state of being that is a game; it might as well be that, in a green field, in the sun.

Remember when you were in college and you had lots of questions about how the world worked and yet being around a university environment you still felt safely isolated from the crazed gyrations and threats of the real world? If you wanted to think of the world off-campus, you could sign-up to meet a faculty member for Office Hours and discuss the world in theory (realty was still Graduation Day and Senior Week away).

Well, all of the recent doomsdayism and naysaying has made me a bit wistful for campus life. I remember the safety of those college days. And I miss them. So do my colleagues. In that spirit, Rob Hayes and I will be holding our own Office Hours. On Tuesday, October 21st from 11am to 1pm, we’ll be camping out at the University Café in Palo Alto.

Despite what others may be saying, at First Round we still think it’s a great time to think about starting a company. At Office Hours, we’d love to meet with entrepreneurs, people thinking about becoming entrepreneurs or folks who would like join a start-up. We’ll be available for a bunch of informal ~15 minute chats. There’s no agenda. Ask us what we think of the market environment or share an idea for a company – we’ll be sure to have plenty of napkins available to help draft that first product plan. We’ll listen, share our perspective and pay for the coffee (which may be of more value than our advice).

When: Tuesday, October 21st , 11am – 1pm
Where: University Café, 271 University Ave, Palo Alto, CA 94301

More details and RSVP (not required) here.

We’ll plan to meet people as they arrive, but if you have time constraints send me a note and we can lock down a slot.

EDIT 10/22/08: Thank you to everyone who attended the event. Please let us know how we can improve for next time by posting your feedback in the comments section of our “thank you” post.