Partnership — Boulder Ventures Ltd.

*The author and his wife explore their partnership on the Big Bear Glacier, high above Revelstoke BC. Photo by Topher Donahue*

The most important decision that Mountain Guides and Venture Capitalists make in their professional careers is with whom to partner. Choosing the right partner in guiding and in business is the key ingredient in a great fund or a great guiding company.

Because they involve risk and uncertainty, partnerships in the mountains are special. In our role as Mountain Guides, we’re responsible for a Client’s experience and safety. Clients rely on our skill to deliver the best outcome possible given the route, the weather, and the fitness of the participants. While we’re often good friends with our Clients, our professional duties as Guides are paramount in this relationship.

When we choose to climb as partners, we give up our guiding responsibilities and entrust ourselves to each other as equals in pursuit of the objective. That’s a hard thing for experienced Mountain Guides to do. We’re used to making difficult decisions under conditions of uncertainty, we like being in charge, and we’re loath to give up that authority to anyone else. But success on a big objective in the mountains requires a strong partnership.

VCs also hate giving up control over their investment choices, but it’s the rare investor who can build an enduring venture fund without partners. Instead, the best VC funds maintain an equal partnership of successful GPs over multiple fund cycles, and demonstrate their longevity by passing along their talent, credibility, process, and insights to the next generation of partners.

Peter Roshko and I have been equal partners in Boulder Ventures since 1999. Jonathan Perl joined us in 2002. Together, the three of us raised, invested, and realized four venture capital funds over the past twenty years. Our success together in Boulder Ventures has resulted in an enduring venture capital partnership, and so much more.

Peter backed Kishen Mangat in his second startup, BroadHop, in 2009. Kishen’s ambitious vision then was to create a software product that would manage the complex needs of 4G carriers, a task only possible in hardware products at that time. That vision was rewarded when Cisco bought BroadHop in 2013, and Kishen took on an operating role as the head of its new software division.

Over ten years, Kishen grew his Cisco division to $500 million in annual revenues and 2000 employees around the world. Through his technical leadership and management skill, Kishen positioned Cisco to be the leader in the emerging market for 5G carrier software, and himself as a leading expert in the field.

Kishen is also a gifted alpinist and has devoted himself to the highest standard as a traditional rock climber and skier. Equally at home leading Eldo 5.11, long routes on El Cap, and steep powder turns in the Canadian Rockies, Kishen possesses the full quiver of skills we admire in a climbing partner.

Kishen’s last day as a Cisco executive was February 14, 2022. The next day he joined Peter, Jonathan and me as an equal partner in Boulder Ventures.